Knitting with four needles

[DoubtfulCat]

I’ve bought a knitting kit because I really want to be able to knit properly and I also want to step away from the phone of an evening. I’ve never used 4 needles though (in fact there are 5 in the kit) and wondered if you had any tips for me, or suggestions of videos I could look at for help?

(I’m a novice and not very crafty, although I’m fairly dexterous at drawing, cooking, etc so I hope this lack of rhythm with it will pass with practice.)

I'm posting to see what videos etc anyone else recommends as I have never mastered this technique. It's like wrestling a hedgehog to me 😂

However, I can recommend using the magic loop technique if it's knitting in the round that you want to learn rather than the four needle method. This uses a double pointed needle connected by a long cable and I use it to make hats and socks. In fact I rarely use straight needles any more as I can use my double pointed needles for working backwards and forwards and they can hold many more stitches than straight needles.

I learned from this video

The secret is: you only knit with 2 at a time. I'm knitting a sock on 4 needles at the moment, I can't get on with circular needles for small things with all the cable dangling about.

So are the other two just sitting there? The pattern says you cast stitches onto each of the four needles and then knit them with the fifth needle.

This is quite a straightforward video
https://www.woolandthegang.com/en/tutorial/how-to-knit-on-double-pointed-needles?srsltid=AfmBOoqCdUd897xSYakHeSkuEXHW4bEFRh6vd7sb36FOp8lBB2tZGVED

its sometimes difficult to find a video where the basic knitting technique is the same as mine, often they ( mainly US ones) are different so I tend to search uk ones.
The circular needles mentioned above are indeed great for bigger items but won’t work for smaller ones like socks or the top of a hat. The first few rows on double pointed needles are always always fiddly as there’s a tendency for your knitting to twist but this does get better after the first couple of rows.
i love knitting in the round, hope you conquer it OP!

Yes, you need one spare needle to actually knit the stitches with. So if you have 4 needles the stitches are on 3 of them and you knit with the 4th. How many needles you use depend on what you're knitting. You only need 4 for something small. In the old days you could knit a jumper in the round but you might need 7 or 8 needles, or more, but you always have a spare needle to knit the next part.

For small things don't have the needles too long either.

This video looks good.

I love knitting with double pointed needles, I find it easier than straight knitting for some reason.

it is very like wrestling a hedgehog for the first few rows until you have enough knitting for a bit of slack. The main thing to watch is that you don't twist the stitches when you have cast on and are distributing them across needles.

So I would start with casting on however many you need +1 extra stitch, cast them all on to a single needle as normal. Say the pattern calls for 100, cast on 101. Then you spread these evenly across 4 needles - 25 on each but 26 on the one with the working yarn. Then you make the needles into a circle, move the extra stitch across to the start of needle 1. Take the original first stitch off that needle and pass it over your extra stitch, this joins the stitches into a circle and leaves you with the correct number.

the 5th needle is just used for the actual knitting, you knit across needle 1 with needle 5 and at the end of it all your stitches will be on needle 5 and needle 1 is empty.
then use needle 1 to knit across needle 2, etc etc etc.

What is it you are knitting?

You can either do that or have the stitches on 3 needles and knit with the 4th, which is what I do. All the needles will be used, but you're only ever actively using 2 needles at any one time - the 4th/5th (i.e. the empty in your right hand that you're knitting with) and the one of the 4/5 in your left hand that you're knitting into iysim.

Many people find the magic loop method on long circular needles much easier than using 4 or 5 DPNs (double-pointed needles) but DPNs are fine once you get used to them.

I don't have any particular video to recommend for DPNs (though there will be loads on YouTube), but I have a few tips.

• When you've cast on your stitches, check carefully that they are all the same way up on each needle (i.e. you haven't twisted the run of stitches by having one of the needles the wrong way up).

• Assuming you're knitting right-handed, make sure you start with the needle with the working yarn in your right hand.

• To avoid making 'ladders' of looser stitches in your work, knit the first stitch on each needle a bit tightly.

• The first couple of rows are the hardest to knit on DPNs. It all feels a bit wobbly and wonky, but once you have a few rows done, it feels more stable!

I mostly prefer magic loop for knitting in the round, but DPNs are great when you are knitting something like socks where you've got different things going on on each needle!

Here is the sock I'm knitting. Pic will take a while to be added, I think.

You can see from my photo that the working yarn is coming from the right-hand needle which I've just finished knitting onto. I'm about to take my empty 4th needle and knit the stitches on the needle facing me.

Yes the 2 spare needles just hang about. But you are constantly rotating them .

Eg cast on 60 STS on needles 1-3, 20+20(20).

Pick up needle 4(empty)
Knit 20sts from needle 1 onto needle 4 (2 & 3 resting)
Now pick up needle 2 in LH, empty needle 1 in RH. knit 20 from needle 2 to needle 1 (3&4 resting)
Now knit 20 from needle 3 to empty needle 2 (4&1 resting)
That's one round done 3 lots of 20.

Of course the needles aren't numbered, basically you always use the empty needle to knit from the next available batch of stitches where the working yarn is. And keep rotating the work so the active needles are facing you.

Thanks for all these tips! I’m feeling nervous but excited and mentally am thinking already that I need a good stretch of time before I can start- but that’s my procrastination because I don’t want to fail. I’m hoping to make a start this afternoon 🤞

I’m knitting a sort of scarf but it’s joined into a circle.

Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you get stuck!

I recommend a look through all the instructional videos on Tin Can Knits. So clear, concise, easy to follow. I use their app for knitting patterns, and then I only see my size. So easy to read.
https://tincanknits.com/home

Don't learn to knit with your scarf project. Instead break it up into chunks and learn with swatches.
First practice casting on say 20 stitches and knit that back and forth both sides using only two needles till you are happy with your knit stitches, then you can practice casting off. Congratulations! Your first swatch! Once you have knit a few swatches things should make more sense.
Once you have the knit stitch down, you can move on and practice casting on again and now try joining in the round, and knit round and round till you are happy using 5 needles. You might need to do this a few times until you are happy it is neat enough for your scarf.

I like the tutorials on youtube from nimble needles, they are short and focused.

Best wishes!

If the pattern calls for 5 needles (including the working one) do you keep the one with the long tail on the right, and work on the one at the top of the square rather than the left side of a triangle as in the videos (they all seem to show knitting on 3 needles)?

To make it a bit easier to start, my usual tactic is to cast all my stitches onto one needle (I use a standard needle for this) and then knit the first round onto the DPNS (eg if you cast on 60, knit 15 stitches onto the first DPN, then 15 onto the next, etc. once all your stitches are on the DPNS) as it's much easier to see that there's no twist in the round. Then I start the ribbing/pattern. The first knit round doesn't really show and it's easy to tidy up the gap when you sew in the tail.

Forget the number of needles, the principle is the same however many you have.

The needle with the yarn hanging at the end is the one you have just knitted (needle A). You need to hold the next needle along (needle B) in your right hand and have the empty one (needle C) in your right. Knit the stitches on needle B with Needle C

This is the fiddly bit, as the yarn you are trying to knit with is still attached to needle A, so you need to hold needles A and B close together so there's not a big loop between the end stitches.

To be honest the reason I prefer 4 needles to 5, is that the 2 spare needles sit neatly at the back of the work. But when you have 3 spare the middle one seems to swing around at the bottom of the "square" annoyingly. That could just be the way I hold my needles. You'll figure it out. It is quite a difficult way to begin knitting though, good advice to get your knit stitch mastered on 2 needles first.

I’ve got them all cast on and have done a full round of (hopefully) rib stitch! Feeling proud 😆

Oh well done 🎉🎉🎉

Excellent - well done!

Fabulous! Plain sailing from now on, you've done the hard bit.

I hope so! Historically I struggle after setting down my knitting with knowing which way round it should be when I take it up again, but I completed a round before I stopped so I think I should be able to use the long tail to work out where to start again from, and the square of needles is in the same flat shape it was when I was working on it… so fingers crossed! Just want more time to knit now 😂