HELP! Circular needles are “stuck” in the stitches!

Hi everyone, I’m at my wits’ end! I’ve been looking for someone who can help me and stumbled upon this forum!
There’s got to be someone here who can help me! I’m a total beginner at knitting, but I somehow managed to knit a hat—using a circular needle. To be honest, I have no idea how I even made it to the last round. It was a real struggle with the needles. That plastic cable is so stiff...—I even tried soaking it in hot water to soften it, but it didn’t work at all. Those things are so hard! Anyway, I’ve now made it through the last round (and ended up with two sore wrists), and I still have 16 stitches left on my circular needles. Now I wanted to thread the yarn through the stitches and finish the hat, but the circular needles are stuck!

I can’t pull them out of the stitches because they’re so tight! I don’t know what happened?!?!?!? If you don’t have any tips for me, then I’ll probably have to cut the cord with a pair of pliers...I tried to take a picture of it, but I’m not sure if you can tell what’s going on. I’ll attach the photos below.

I was SO excited about my first hat, and now I’m so desperate! I feel so stupid! Sorry for whining so much!

And one more question: Aren’t there any circular needles with a fabric cord? Like, a soft one? I’ve searched all over the internet but haven’t found anything. Why do they all have plastic cables? Thank you so, so much! Best regards, Nela



Welcome to our forum, nelaj.
I hope the experienced crafters can help you.

Hello Nela,
this certainly happened because you were knitting too tensely, and with a circular needle that isn’t recommended for the top part you knitted. Normally, it’s easier if you knit it with a set of double-pointed needles.
But that doesn’t help with your problem right now.
I would try to save it now by pulling the yarn of the last stitches really long so that it can slip over the thick needle, and catching it with a thin needle. But then you’ll need more than one needle. You have to do that with every stitch, and try to stay relaxed while doing it.
Just wait a little while. I’m sure you’ll get some other tips here.
Best wishes, and don’t let this take the fun out of crafting for you.
Petra

I’d do exactly what Petra suggested: loosen it stitch by stitch. Next time, definitely use a set of double-pointed needles or the CraSyTrio for such a small number of stitches.

You’ve got this. Don’t worry. We’ve all had these kinds of initial difficulties at some point. ;-)

I might also have a suggestion for making the stitches bigger: You really have to try to get the first stitch onto the circular needle, just like Petra wrote above. Once you have the stitch from the circular needle on the sewing needle, pull the stitch on the sewing needle very tight by pulling the yarn over the last stitch on your circular needle. That way, you’re essentially pushing the yarn from back to front. This makes the first stitch larger, so it’s easier to slide it onto the wooden part of the circular needle and from there onto the sewing needle. Then do the same with the next stitch, working from back to front, because the stitch needs less yarn on the sewing needle/thread.

I hope that made a little sense. 

AAHHH!!!! Dear everyone!!! Thank you so, so much for your tips!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I’d set the beanie aside and just ignored it for a while. But that didn’t really help! HAHA!

I finally cut the cord on the needles, and then it worked.

THANK YOU mowi19 for the tip about the CrasyTrio needles. I’ve ordered a set like that now!

Thank you!!!!!!! 

Oh, nelaj, I’m glad I was at least able to give you a good tip. :)
So unfortunately the needle did have to be sacrificed. Well, it’ll definitely go better next time. We’ve all learned from our mistakes at some point—I certainly have, more than once. ;-)

Personally, I get along much better with the CrasyTrio than with a set of double-pointed needles.

I hope you have lots of fun with your next projects.

Best regards,
Monika