Can you make Circular knitting needles with a small rope?

Question

I am new to knitting and I live on a very very tight budget. I seen this site where you can make circular needles with weed eater cable. I was wondering if anyone knew if they could be made with any other type of material in between the two needles. e.g... small rope, or any other material that bends .

Answer 1

The most important feature of circular needles is the join -- the place where the needle & the cable meet. If it's not perfectly smooth, the yarn will snag.

Tutorials for making your own circular needles with weed wacker line:
http://knittersreview.com/article_how_to.asp?article=/review/profile/061109_a.asp
http://stringthings.blogspot.com/2005/04/circular-needles.html

As silke said, you can knit in the round with four (or five) double-pointed needles (DPNs) -- but only items with a very small circumference, such as mittens, socks, and sleeves: http://knittersreview.com/article_tool.asp?article=/review/profile/010426_a.asp

Circular needles are the best buy because you can knit in the round (even very small circumferences, using the magic loop technique http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/mloop.html or two circs http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/twocirculars.html) plus you can knit flat with a circ instead of two straight needles. (And when you're knitting something heavy the weight sits in your lap instead of being supported by your wrists.)

Although they require a large initial purchase, a set of interchangeable needles will fit most of your needs: http://www.knitdenise.com Denise needles don't go any smaller than US size 5 (3.75 mm) though, because of the locking mechanism in the join. So you'd still need DPNs &/or straights if you want to make something in a smaller gauge.

Here's a review of the Denise Interchangeable Needles:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer03/FEATdenise.html

And here are two other brands of interchangeable needles:
KnitPick's Options http://www.knitpicks.com/needles/knitting_needles.aspx
Boye Needlemaster http://www.joann.com/catalog.jhtml?CATID=82322&PRODID=80804

Answer 2

If you have 4 open-ended knitting needles, you won't need circular needles. They work the same way- you just divide your work on 3 needles and use the 4th to knit. If you have garage sales in your area, you could luck out & get some very cheap. You could also try Ebay for used knitting needles. A lot of things can be knitted on regular 2 needles.

Answer 3

Sure, it would just have to be something slippery.

Answer 4

yah...you could do that!My grandma used to do that!!!!!