Circular knitting needles

What are they used for? I used to know, but I forgot.
Thanks

You can actually use circular needles for just about anything. They were originally designed to knit pieces without seams (e.g., hats, tube scarves), but by now they’ve pretty much replaced straight knitting needles. I knit exclusively with circular needles, whether in rows or in rounds.
 

I can imagine knitting in the round with circular needles, but not how you knit in rows with them. Could you explain that to me in more detail?

You have the two needle tips connected by a cord.
On the left side, you have the stitches; you knit them with the right needle until all the stitches are on the right side.
Then you simply turn the work, so the stitches are back on the left side, and knit them again with the right needle tip.

Can you knit socks with circular needles?

You can—there are instructions for it online somewhere. I think the whole thing is called “Magic Loop.” I’ve done it with a hat before; it works great. I haven’t knitted socks with it yet, though.

Best regards,
Michaela

Here’s a link for you. The video explains it really well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m37DoJmqNbw

Best regards

Christa

Great, Christa, thanks for the link! 

Thanks for your answers and the video
I actually have some circular needles lying around—it was one of those great special deals where you got circular needles and yarn together. So I thought, “I’ll take these and give it a try.” I think the yarn that came with it was even the fringed kind. So, several skeins—well, not really my thing. With the three skeins that came with it, you could have knitted a scarf or a fluffy fur collar or something like that. I still have it lying around somewhere with the pattern, but it’s just not really my thing, so I’ve never actually done anything with it.
When I knit, I just miss that little hook on the front of the crochet hook that keeps the yarn from slipping around. And you can’t just pull the yarn through the stitch like that—you have to move it to the left or right first and all that. So it just looks like poking around and then somehow maneuvering the needle around the corner. And then you have to hold it down with your thumb somehow so the other needle with the yarn and everything doesn’t wave around. Oh well. But I do know that a lot of people really love knitting : ) and I also think there are technical terms for all of that that I don’t know. ; )
As for me, anyway, I can’t knit socks with either two or four needles—I can’t really knit them at all. But oh well. That’s why there are socks in stores that you can buy if you can’t manage to knit your own. I’m not really a fan of knitted or crocheted socks, though. They might be itchy, and well, I just don’t really like them. If I do wear them, it’s only with regular socks underneath—as an extra layer of warmth—and you can’t wash wool socks at higher temperatures anyway. That’s another reason for me: you can toss store-bought socks—the ones not made directly from wool, but from a finer yarn—right into the washing machine at 60 degrees. As long as they’re cotton, that’s important to me. I don’t like virgin wool at all—or rather, this sock wool—I just can’t stand it, even though other people think it’s totally great.
But for babies, those little knitted or crocheted socks are totally cute. Or those baby booties, too. But they’re always totally cute and very, very adorable anyway.