Using a short circular needle is a nice and easy way to knit a hat in the round. Until you get near the end and you’re suddenly stuck!
You reach a point where there are too few stitches for your circular needle and it feels all wrong. Your stitches start stretching and it just won’t work.
The 2 main solutions are to switch to either a set of DPNs (short for double pointed needles) or a long circular needle using the magic loop technique.
But if you’re a beginner knitter, you’ve enough to be getting your head around without learning a load of new stuff just to finish knitting a hat.
So if you don’t know these methods, don’t have the right needles or just like more options, here’s another way. Learn how to use your 16 inch (40 cm) circular needle to knit an entire hat in this step by step tutorial.
Video Tutorial: Knit the end of a Hat with a 16 inch (40 cm) Circular Needle
In this video, I show you how to knit right to the end of your hat pattern, still using your short circular needle, along with an additional double pointed or cable needle. I knit the last few rounds of my free easy knit hat pattern to demo.
There are also written step by step instructions with photos below if you prefer.
Use a Spare Needle
You’ll need 1 double pointed needle to help you knit the end of your hat with your 16 inch (40 cm) circular needle. A short needle, e.g. 5 inches approx, works best for this.
If you don’t have a pack of short DPNs, a straight cable needle works too. Just avoid curved cable needles with a dip in the middle.
If you only have circular needles, you could use another circular as your spare needle. It’s just a bit more fiddly shoving stitches up and down it, so a short needle is easier.
Your spare needle does not need to be the same thickness as your circular needle. It can be any smaller size either.
But a DPN that’s thicker than your circular needle won’t work, because your stitches won’t fit easily on it and will stretch.
I’m using a 3mm DPN with a 5mm circular needle in this tutorial.
The Spare Needle Technique
The idea is that you’re going to move a few stitches at a time to your spare double pointed needle, and then knit these stitches with your right circular tip.
This gives you more room to work so you can keep using your short circular needle to knit the entire hat from start to finish.
This technique works for any hat pattern knit in the round. I’m using my free beginner hat pattern in this tutorial.
Getting Started
You can start using the spare needle whenever it gets awkward to use your circular needle because you have too few stitches left.
This usually happens mid way through the decreases to shape the crown of your hat.
You can even switch to this technique mid-round.
First, divide your total stitches by 5. This gives you a ballpark for how many stitches to move at a time. It doesn’t have to be exact.
I’m starting with 30 stitches here and 30 divided by 5 is 6. So I’m going to work in bunches of 6 stitches.
TIP: Make sure you mark the start of every round as it’s easy to lose track of it.
Step 1: Move Stitches to the Spare Needle
Hold your left circular tip in your left hand as usual and the spare needle in your right hand.
Put your spare needle into the first stitch on your circular from right to left, as if you were going to purl it, and move it over to the spare needle.
Make sure you don’t put your spare needle into the stitch from left to right, as if you were going to knit it, because that will twist the stitch and mess up your knitting.
Then move the rest of the first bunch of stitches across to the spare needle in the same way.
In this example, I’m working in bunches of 6, so I have 6 stitches on my DPN.
Step 2: Pull the Left Tip Out
Pull your left circular tip out so that all the other stitches are secure on the cable. Just leave the tip to dangle.
Step 3: Knit the Spare Needle Stitches with the Right Tip
Now treat the spare needle as your left circular tip, and knit the stitches on it with your right circular tip.
It might look and feel strange at first, but just forget about the dangling left circular tip and knit.
Follow your knitting pattern, making any decreases, e.g. k2tog, as usual.
After you knit these stitches, they’re on the right circular tip as usual just like every other round, and the spare needle is empty.
The circular needle looks exactly the same as any other round mid-round. The only difference is we’re using an extra DPN to make knitting with the circular easier when there’s fewer stitches left.
Repeat these 3 Steps Around
Now just repeat the same 3 steps for each bunch of stitches until you reach the end of the round.
After knitting each bunch, turn your knitting and move some stitches back up to your left circular tip.
- Move the next bunch of stitches to the spare needle
- Pull the left circular tip out so that no stitches fall off the end.
- Knit the spare needle stitches with your right circular tip in your right hand and your spare needle in your left hand.
Tips for Working with Fewer Stitches
Follow the same 3 step technique for every round until you reach the end of your pattern.
But you move the circular needle around in different ways as the stitch count drops. Towards the end, knitting with so few stitches can feel a bit strange and clunky at first. So here are some handy tips:
Tip 1: Yank Left Cable out before Step 1
With fewer stitches left, you may find it hard to move the next stitches up to the left tip.
Yanking a bit of cable out on the left side first helps. Then you can easily slide your stitches near the tip.
Tip 2: Grab the Left Tip behind your DPN as you Knit
When you pull the left tip out in step 2, it can be annoying having it dangling while you knit.
You can avoid this by grabbing the left cable behind your spare needle and holding them both with your left hand as you knit.
Tip 3: Pull the Right Tip out before you Knit
At certain parts of the round, you may need to pull your right tip out and around to meet your spare needle before you can knit with it.
When this happens, hold the stitches on the back cable together with your spare needle in your left hand.
Try to line up the first stitch on your spare needle with the first stitch on the cable, make sure your yarn is hanging over the back and pull gently to tighten up. This avoids gaps or holes in your knitting.
Knit All your Hat on a Short Circular Needle
I find using a 16 inch (40 cm) circular needle the best way to knit a hat. It’s the perfect size and I much prefer it to using a long circular (magic loop knitting) or a set of DPNs.
But the one catch is that you can’t knit the end of your hat with just a short circular needle. I hope this spare needle technique offers a nice alternative to switching to either DPNs or magic loop to finish your hat off.
PS I’ve a handy guide and video for how to close the the top of your hat & weave in the ends for a neat finish here.
Got any questions? Just comment below and I’ll try my best to help.
Don’t let a lack of needles or know-how put you off knitting a hat! Give my free knit in the round hat pattern for beginners a go and let me know how you get on.