Shapes: circle

Today we discuss a method for knitting circles sideways, or radially, if you prefer. I have already wrote a very long post on this method and I do suggest you read it for a lot of more extra details. Here I'll describe this method briefly and mostly for the sake of completeness.

The radial method

This well known method of creating a circle uses short-rows for shaping instead of increase or decreases. You can use your favourite method for working the short-rows: replace every turn as described in the recipe below by the instructions of your preference.

This method almost always uses garter stitch (as in the recipe below), but other stitches can be used, including lace, although the recipe must be adapted for stitches that have a very different ratio of height to width than that of garter (by knitting fewer or narrower wedges).

Unlike in previous methods, you will be knitting flat, not in the round, so feel free to use straight needles.

Here is the recipe (taken from The Forth Treasury of Barbara G. Walker):

Cast-on the desired number of stitches using a provisional cast-on. This number should be a bit larger than the radius of the circle multiplied by the stitch gauge of garter stitch (knit a gauge swatch if necessary).

1. Row 1 (WS): sl1wyib, knit to end.
2. Row 2: knit to last two stitches, then turn in the following way: sl1wyib, pass yarn to front, turn around.
3. Row 3 and all odd rows: knit to end.
4. Row 4: knit to last three stitches, then turn as in row 2.
5. Row 6: knit to last four stitches, then turn as in row 2.
6. Continue to knit 1 less stitch in every even row until there are only 3 stitches left in your short-row, i.e. the last row is an odd row with only 3 stitches.
7. On an even row: knit all stitches to end (lift the wraps, if using the wrap and turn method, or leave them, they are invisible in garter stitch).
8. You have created a wedge. Create 5 more wedges by repeating the above instructions 5 more times in order to obtain a 6 wedge pinwheel.
9. Bind-off by joining with the live stitches from the cast-on using garter stitch bind-off. Draw the yarn through the centre of the pinwheel and fasten-off to close the hole in the centre of the circle.

Abbreviations:
WS: wrong side
sl1wyib: slip 1 stitch with yarn in the back.

Variations:

If using two colours, always cast-on an odd number of stitches and change colour at the end of every odd row.

You can create narrower wedges by turning at every second, third, forth or even fifth stitch. Then, you will need more wedges to make an entire circle. The examples given in this post show how versatile this method can be (they also show how to create scalloped edges or star-like shapes).

Uses:

This is a very good method to make simple circles for using as coasters, dishcloths, pot-holders or hot-dish mats, and even bath mats or rugs. It is also used for hats: see, for example, some of Woolly Wormhead's designs. The quick and dirty way of making a hat using this recipe is: (1) calculate the number of stitches to cast-on by multiplying the stitch gauge by the desired height of the hat, (2) calculate r, the size of the short-row section by multiplying the stitch gauge by the width of the top of your head (this should be the diagonal of the circle) and dividing by two, (3) calculate d, the difference between the number of cast-on stitches and r, (4) work as described in the above recipe, but on step 6, replace 3 by d. If you want to make sure your hat fits, no matter how bad your calculations are, err on the large side, i.e. cast-on a good amount of extra stitches for a large folded brim. In addition, be careful to make sure the number of rows is not too large or to small. The complete hat has 12 times r rows. If you multiply this number by your row gauge, you should get a number that is smaller than the circumference of your head, allowing for stretching of the garter stitch, but not much smaller and definitely not bigger.