starting a pinwheel

Since I haven't started my pinwheel (failed at 5 attempts while sitting up with Sebastian the other night), this list of tips and tricks will be illustrated not by pretty close-ups of me executing the various cast-ons with confidence and flair, but instead by baby pictures. Hope you don't mind. 

There is some connection, in that the pinwheel's first rounds and a newborn baby are both full of hope, beauty, frustration, and staggering floppiness.  It can be troubling.

Starting a pinwheel blanket involves casting on 5 stitches and then joining and working in the round. This is a mess, even for people who are zen with the dpns.

There are several suggested ways to deal with this.

1. Janice suggests Emily Ocker's beginning for circular knitting.  This involves using a crochet hook to cast on, and I want to try it though I admit I don't understand how it helps.  Can anyone explain its benefits?

2. Janice also writes:

One thing I'm going to try on a center-out piece some day is an I-cord beginning.  Basically, you use a bit of waste yarn and do a couple of inches of I-cord before starting with the working yarn.  That way you get a little weight of yarn on the needles, and the stitches are stabilized a little.

3. What I did on my first pinwheel was  just use 2 dpns rather than 3, and keep them parallel to each other. Your circle is just 2 parallel lines, joined at the ends.  It's less floppy.

4. Forego the stitch marker that is suggested in the pattern, and just use your superior brain power to track of where you started. Or use a small safety pin or locking marker. In my opinion, the marker just adds another element of fiddliness.

If you have other ideas, tips, or links, please leave them in the comments. The permalink to this post will be on the pinwheel gallery & knitalong entry page, so anyone can come here when they are trying to make a happy start.

Comments

[Shetha]

I used 2 circs. I tried with DPNs twice and it just. did. not. work. Didn't help that the dpns were metal and heavy and the yarn was light and slippery. Anyway, the 2 circs basically does the same thing as using 2 DPNs to start... easier to keep straight.

[Emma.]

Nevermind the pinwheeling ! Beautiful pictures of a beautiful,cute baby.Enjoy every second of his floppiness,and beyond.

[Jackie]

He could not be any cuter!! Lucky you to have such a happy littel guy. :)

[Janice in GA]

I think what I like about Emily Ocker's beginning is that the crochet start give me slightly more body to the stitches in the beginning. Also, you just start with the yarn looped around your fingers, so you can go back and tighten up that center hole after you've gotten a few rows on your needles. You don't have to worry about the center being tight from row one.

[Shetha]

Oh yes! Forgot to mention how sly of you it was to have such distracting pics during this pinwheeling conversation. I was not too distracted but oh it's so hard to look away! He's so cute! Can he come over and play?? teehee

[mia]

Your baby boy is really adorable! He has a wise look about him, don't you think?

[cara]

how can you possibly knit with that beautiful baby? what a darling,I adore the pictures

[peggy]

Mind baby pictures? Are you kidding??? And you're doing so much better than me - I haven't knit a single stitch since Brogan was born. I think I'm starting to forget how.

[Kay]

I love all the pictures but the one on the Boppy, in the cocoon, is just beyond words. xoxo Kay

[Jaime]

I'm going to begin a pinwheel blanket sometime in the next month for a friend that is expecting a son in August. But I have to comment (again) on how adorable Sebastian is (!!) and in the last picture I see you in his tiny face. He's so precious.

[mel]

hey..he looks like you in that last pic. :)

[Cara]

He's so sweet! Beautiful pictures. Definitely has a buddha look in the boppy picture. So serene.

I had a lot of trouble starting my first pinwheel. A LOT of trouble. (Not so experienced with the dpns....)

In the end what worked for me was that I used three dpns, and split them up 2, 1, 2 instead of 2,2,1. The middle needle only had one stitch. I think I ditched the marker as well.

Man I felt accomplished when I got that thing started!

Give Sebastian a kiss for me on his warm soft temple please. My favorite baby spot for kisses.

[Wendy]

What a beautiful boy. I could just eat those toes. Congratulations.

W. :)

[Adrian]

To start I used 3 bamboo dpns (2 holding stitches, one to knit with) and had the usual few rows of wrangling-an-octopus, but then all was well. I couldn't wait to get it on a circ., though.

He looks EXACTLY like you in that last photo. You need to put that photo next to the one of you modeling the Meteor hat so everyone can ooh and aah.

[shobhana]

he is just the cutest thing! forget the pinwheel! more baby pics!

[emily]

Wow. What a beautiful baby! I love the feet picture!

How I started my pinwheel: Since I have zero pairs of dpn, I used a long circular needle and the magic loop. I cast on the five stitches, put two on one needle and two on the other. Then I pulled out the back needle (from which the yarn was dangling) and let the back stitches rest on the cable. I used that back needle to knit the stitches on my front needle. Then I pulled the cable through and knit the stitches that had been waiting and so on.

Gee. This is hard to explain. I'll work on a pictorial later today. I wish I could invite ya'll over to my house for coffee and pinwheel knitting!

[Leah]

Try a provisional waste yarn caston using the yarn tail as the waste yarn. Cast on the 5 stitches and start knitting in the round, leaving the center loose. Once you get a few rows done, pull the yarn tail tight to close up the center and weave in the end. (You might need to undo one stitch of the cast on to get the yarn tail to pull tight.)

[Meredith]

The cuteness, the cuteness! Thanks for the tips on starting a Pinwheel, this will help once I get around to starting mine.

[Vicki]

Congratulations. He's beautiful.

[corine]

baby baz is just so beautiful. congratulations. my last one turns one today. i can't believe she was ever as small as your little guy. here it comes.... the other thing you never want to hear another person say to you... wait... they grow up so fast! enjoy every moment you have! there, i said it.
i particularly enjoy his range of expression; you captured it so well, from top to feet.

[Erin]

I too hate the octopus wrangling issues that come with starting something that small on dpns and have found a rather interesting solution. I've found that size 7 dpns are just the right size to slip drinking straws over, so I took 2 straws and cut them into 2" segments. I started by casting my stitches onto 1 needle and then sliding the stitches off onto the straw pieces. I then joined and knit across the first segment. When I got to the end all of the stitches were on my dpn so I slid the straw piece onto the needle and the stitches back onto the straw. I kept repeating around this way until I had a sufficient number of stitches on each segment that transfering to the needles was workable. To do that I just knit across as usual but did not move the stitches back to the straw. Works like a charm.

[Heidi]

Squeeeeeeal! Look at those toes--I could just chew on those for hours!

[Anne]

I loved your baby pictures and the instructions so much that I sat right down last night after I read them and began my own pinwheel. In so doing I learned another thing that pinwheels and babies have in common: for some of us, actually getting one started can be a little harder than we anticipated in the naive, enthusiastic excitement of planning one.

But I am happy to say that my pinwheel is now well underway. Thank you for the zen.

And for the pictures. Sebastian is unbelievably adorable.

[Vicki]

Was I supposed to read the words between those adorable pictures?! I LOVE the one of him sleeping in his boppy, he looks so comfy. And his little toes! You're making me crazy here. I like the idea of using two dps to start, sort of liked when you start with figure 8 cast on for toe up socks.

[Carrie]

Larissa, congrats! He is so, so adorable. That picture with him rolled up in the blanket is priceless.