Halfdome in the Round

I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback about my Halfdome pattern on Knitty, and a lot of questions about whether it can be knit in the round. Any pattern that produces a tubular object can be converted to circular knitting; fellow knitting blogger WoolGatherer has done us all the favor of discovering (the hard way) that if you knit Halfdome in the round, you need to cast on two fewer stitches. Those two stitches are for the seam, and circular knitting is, of course, seamless.

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15 Comments

  • Sean Dilley says:

    Jesse, thanks for giving me my props…

  • kathy says:

    i’ve been looking for some bamboo to knit a halfdome for my brother. he’s a vegan, so hopefully bamboo is comfy and somewhat stretchy!

    thanks for the info on using circulars!

  • Wendy says:

    Thanks for the brilliant pattern on Knitty – have just knit Halfdome for my my hubby to keep his head warm on his cycle ride to work through the English autumn/winter (and given English weather spring & summer!)
    He loves it and it was so quick to knit.

  • Mary says:

    Electric Company? Sesame Street?

  • jo says:

    Jesse, now you say it, of course it’s obvious, but thanks for confirming that anyway. I am just a little curious as to why the pattern was designed to be knit flat in the first place. Is there some particular advantage to doing it that way?

    Kathy (comment 2) – I just made one in bamboo and it worked very well; hope you manage to find some.

  • yarn boy says:

    There’s actually a very simple reason why I knit it flat in the first place: working stockinette stitch in the round drives me completely insane. Knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit . . . not a purl in sight.

    I also really (really) like seaming with mattress stitch, and I liked the elegance of using the same yarn that you close the stitches with to sew the seam.

    That’s all! No big secret.

  • carina says:

    Well, I had a nice introduction comment to leave, but keep getting interrupted
    while trying to write it so here’s the short version…

    I’ve been reading your blog for about month or so since I found it on Knitty. Thank you for the heads up on knitting the halfdome in the round, I plan to start knitting a few after I finish my current projects.

  • Brady says:

    I loved the halfdome pattern on knitty and promptly knit one for my bro-in-law. Though I am not a big fan of purling, so I changed it to be in the round as well. Loved learning that new stitch at the very top and the completed cap is so great I didn’t want to give it away. Please keep posting your patterns.

    Cheers,
    Brady

    PS. Thanks for the boys knit button, got it the other day and have worn it proudly.

  • cie says:

    I’ve nearly finished a large adult size halfdome that I knitted in the round (with my first ever jogless jog!)
    I worked out a way to arrange the needles so that you don’t need markers for the decreases. Happy to share my modified version of the pattern with anyone who’s having trouble converting it themselves, if Jesse agrees.

  • Marg says:

    You put your reasons for knitting in the flat so eloquently I think I’ll just have to knit the first one accordingly.

  • nanzknits says:

    Yarn boy, you rock!

  • Keith Riley says:

    I tried halfdome in the round, and by the time I had purchased three circular needles ( 3 5 and 5 w/shorter cable) as well as the set of 5 double points, I had spent a lot for a hat. I agree with Jesse, the seam can be elegant, and the alternating rows are more interesting.

  • Nikky says:

    Thank you for the update! I was going to try to work this pattern in the round on my own and try it out, but it is nice to know I need 2 fewer stitches. Thanks for sharing!

  • Nikky says:

    P.S. I wanted to try this one knitting in the round because I knit while I read my textbooks (it keeps me in my chair). Knit, Knit, Knit is mindless, so it’s easier for to make less mistakes while I’m reading. 🙂

  • Bahdim says:

    Hi !I would like to give you an idea what to do with those loose ends.Put them in a basket for the birds ouitsde,.. the build their nest with those nice warm ends. The bird association in the Netherlands supports it highly!Kind regards,Hedwig from The Netherlands

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