Many parts of the human body are kind of tube shaped*. Ever notice that? Probably so. All crafters realize pretty quick that working in the round is a great way to make human-shaped stuff. (It works good for doggy, kitty, and feret** shaped stuff too).

If you are  knitter looking to cover someone in knit stitches, chances are you working in the round. And when you join to work those rounds, chances are you get a gap. And when you see that gap, chances are you hate it.

Join to Work in the Round and Skip the Gap

Those gaps in the begging on my hats and socks and mittens annoy me. Oh sure they can be fixed with some tugging of loops, some no-nonsense blocking, and/or some creative sewing in of the tail. Sometimes I make the gap and do one or all of those things to make it go away.

Sometimes I just avoid making a gap all together. Its so much easier and I wish I could make my brain remember to do it every time. Its a quick trick and all I have to do is switch two little loops at the very beginning. After I’ve finished casting on, but before I knit the first stitch, I switch the first cast-on loop with the last cast-on loop.

You’d think I could remember that little switcheroo every time, but sadly no. I tend to get a bit excited when I cast-on a new project and I rush headlong into the joy of the first round. I’m a wild woman like that.

* I never understood why all those impressionists painters made people into blocks and block like shapes. It seems so obvious (to me) that were are a collection of cylinders and lumpy spheres all stuck together. And damn attractive ones, am I right?

** Yes ferrets. People knit for ferrets. They make sweaters and hats and maybe more. I myself have to admit I wasted an evening once making two matching ferret-sized sweaters for a friend’s pair of squirming, pointy-nosed babies. I have not (yet) been so delusional as to make them hats.