Knitting Needles - Circular vs. Straight

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Sorry this blog post is coming a day late! I spent the week with my gorgeous mother, and then got home late last night. At any rate, if you didn't guess by the title, I wanted to give my oh so humble opinion on circular knitting needles as opposed to straight knitting needles. Just to show the difference between the two for newer knitters or those of you maybe thinking about knitting and debating on which needles to buy:

Image borrowed from thinkcrafts.com via Google Images

Straight on the left, and circular on the right.
Now, functionally, they're essentially the same. With straight needles you would typically knit flat (like a scarf), and with circular needles you would knit things like socks and hats. You can't do that with flat needles. Reason numero uno why I prefer circular over straight! Straight needles are fairly limiting.(Learn to knit flat with circular needles here.)

Reason number two? With some circular needles, you can adjust the length of the "string" that connect the two needles which allows for a larger range of products, literally!

Number three: If your circular needles are attached, you will never have to say "Where is that other needle?!"

Now, I should point out that there are double pointed needles. They're used for I-don't-know-what-yet (I will get there when I don't risk poking a baby with the needles, lol!), but if you don't need the double tips, I suggest just going ahead and buying circular. You can knit flat with them without limiting yourself to just flat projects!

May muses whisper to you always,
Kat

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