Converting Flat and Circular Knitting
Learn how to convert between flat and circular knitting patterns.
9/15/20252 min read
Why would someone want to convert a pattern from flat to in the round or vice versa? For many knitters, it’s a personal preference. Some people like the simplicity of knitting flat, or prefer to knit on straight needles. Others prefer fewer seams and, therefore, prefer to knit in the round. But you might come across a pattern that is knit in a different way than what you prefer.
Knit vs. Purl Stitches
One of the main concepts to understand when converting between flat and circular knitting is that knit and purl stitches are opposite of each other. What I mean by that is that when you knit a stitch, it looks like a purl stitch on the other side, and vice versa. When you knit a stitch, you’re pulling a loop through the loop from the previous row or round. The bottom of that loop shows on the knit side, looking like a V, while the top of the loop and the strands connecting the stitches look like staggered minus signs on the purl side. What this means is that when converting between flat and circular knitting, you will have to pay special attention to which side you’re knitting or purling.
Common Stitch Patterns
The main difference when working flat versus circular knitting is that when knitting flat, you alternate between knitting on the right side and the wrong side, whereas in the round, you’re usually only knitting on the right side. When you knit every stitch of every row flat, you end up with garter stitch. However, if you want to recreate garter stitch in the round, you will need to alternate knit and purl rounds. To knit stockinette stitch flat, you alternate knit and purl rows, but to knit it in the round, you knit every round. For stitch patterns like ribbing and seed stitch, flat instructions will need to be “flipped” on the wrong side rows to be worked in the round. You will also need to make sure you have the correct multiple of stitches to make it work all the way around. For example, if you’re doing 2x2 ribbing, you want a multiple of 4 stitches so that you don’t end up with 4 knit stitches all together where your round begins/ends. Lace patterns can be a little trickier, especially if there is lace in every row/round. Oftentimes, lace will have a purl row in between lace rows, so to do these in the round, you will want to knit them.
Shaping Considerations
When knitting garments flat, the pieces often include selvedge stitches to be used for the seams. Since you won’t need to seam when you convert it to circular knitting, you can remove those extra stitches to keep the stitch pattern even. Alternatively, you may want to add stitches for steeking, if that’s a technique that makes sense for your project. When you come across increases or decreases, you should consider which way they slant. For example, if you have a left-leaning decrease (like a ssp) on the wrong side of flat instructions, you will want it to slant to the right on the right side (like a k2tog) when you convert to circular knitting.
I hope this has given you the tools you need to convert between flat and circular knitting. Have you ever converted a flat knitting pattern to work in the round? Use the form below to let me know how it went for you! Happy stitching!
