This is the pattern I give beginning knitters when I teach a “historical knitting” class. While circular needles were only invented in the early 20th century, knitting “in the round” is probably the earliest form of knitting, dating back to the 1200s in Europe and at least 200 years earlier in the Islamic countries around the Mediterranean.

Teaching beginners to knit in the round has two other advantages: I only need to teach them one stitch, the knit stitch, since there’s no purling. And if they are real beginners, they probably don’t know that a lot of modern knitters consider knitting in the round to be “hard,” so they aren’t afraid to try it! (It’s really no harder than knitting back and forth on two needles, just different.)

This project takes about 1/2 skein of “worsted weight” knitting yarn (the normal weight for sweaters), and a 16-inch circular needle, size 5, 6, or 7 (depending on how tightly you knit). Stitch gauge is not crucial for this project. If you want to do stripes, all you’ll need for those is a few 2- to 5-yard pieces of different colored yarns of the same size.

You may use double-pointed needles instead of a circular needle, of course -- but I find circular needles are easier for beginning knitters.

Feel free to use and pass on this free pattern for educational and nonprofit purposes, as long as my copyright notice is included.