Shapes: circle

We continue my new series on shapes with another method used to obtain a circular shape, that I call the swirl method, which I mentioned in my previous post and I even have described in a very old post. But I'm going to repeat it here again with a different, and I think better, set-up.

The swirl method

Like the concentric method (described on the previous post of this series), this is a method to knit a circle in the round and from the centre out, but it can easily be adapted if you'd rather work from the outside to the centre (see the variations section). It does not really knit a perfect circle, but it's good enough for most uses. It creates a swirl with 8 arms, but see the variations section below for a different number of arms.

Here is the simple recipe (you will need 8 markers):

1. Use the pinhole cast-on to cast-on 8 stitches and spread them over 2 or more needles, according to whatever method you prefer to join in the round.
2. Round 1: knit all stitches, if you haven't done so already in the previous step.
3. Round 2: * kfb, PM, repeat from * [16sts].
4. All odd rounds: *k to marker, SM, repeat from *.
5. All even rounds: *kfb, k to marker, SM, repeat from * [+8sts].
6. If knitting plain stockinette (or another curling stitch), end with at least six rounds of garter stitch (or another non-curling stitch), before binding-off with your favourite elastic bind-off.
7. Block to shape.

Abbreviations:
k: knit;
kfb: knit front and back (feel free to replace this single increase by any other method, for example, a knit one stitch followed by a lifted increase).
PM, SM: place, slip marker.

Variations:

There are some standard variations for this method, which I'll briefly discuss here:

• Swirls with a different number of arms. Note: the larger the number of arms, the more circular the shape. In the above pattern, you are working with multiples of 8 stitches, you can also work with multiples of 6, 7, or even larger numbers. For 6 to 9 stitches, just cast-on a different number of stitches and follow the recipe as is (using the same number of markers as the number of stitches you have cast-on). For larger numbers, you will be increasing too many stitches unless you space your increases a bit. For example, for a 10-arm or 12-arm swirl, increases should be worked every third round only. For larger numbers you may need to space your increases even further apart, but I'm planning to write a future post on generalising this method, so just wait for it. Note: the larger the number of arms, the more circular the shape.
• Knitting from the outside of the circle to the centre is the most often used method for knitting the top of hats. It's pretty obvious how to invert this method to do this: (1) place your markers as evenly distributed as possible along your stitches (note that some sections may have one stitch more than the others, but never two stitches more), (2) if necessary, knit 1 round where you decrease one stitch after each marker by knitting 2 stitches together on every section that has one stitch more, now all sections have the same number of stitches, (3) on alternate rounds, decrease one stitch in every section by knitting 2 stitches together just after the marker, (4) when you have only 1 stitch between every marker, remove the markers and bind-of by passing the yarn through the stitches twice and pulling. Weave in the end.
• Inverting the direction of the swirl: instead of kfb just after the marker, you can kfb just before the marker (the same is true for the k2tog when knitting from the outside of the circle to the centre).

Uses:

Circles appear very often in knitting, the most common uses are: the top of a hat, the circular yoke of a sweater, round shawls, doilies, etc. This method in particular is most often used for hats. Specially using the knitting from the outside of the circle to the centre as discussed in the variations section. A variation of this method is also used in socks for the star toe.

Disadvantages:

The main disadvantage is, as I mentioned above, it does not knit a perfect circle, more like an octagon. Blocking it can help a bit, but this is the reason why this method is mostly used for hats, where this really is not a problem. The other disadvantage is that the swirl arms are quite visible, which is the reason it's not usually used from circular-yoke sweaters.

Advantages:

It involves no stitch (as long as you use the markers) or row counting, which makes it arguably the easiest method to obtain a circle.