Yay for the Elves. Mine are slacking a little at the moment, think I need to bribe them with mince pies and brandy!

Alison, why not use sock needles to knit comfortably in the round ? I use 4 and knit with the fifth for all my seamless round knits.

Oh no, no 50-some odd inches of using dpns for me. I like making socks and all (and I prefer dpns to doing the magic loop or two circs) but I don't like them THAT much. ;0) I'd always much rather knit flat and sew a seam. Of course, that's not really an option for socks, but with sleeves....

You could also try two circs...

Hi Alison, beautiful shrug -- thinking of it for dear daughter myself...I'm with Regina, except, maybe the magic loop method? I use that for small circumferences a lot too. My hands are just too big for those little circs. Good luck.

I would try 2 circs or DPNs. I agree about hanging in with working in the round, as the seam would make a bulky bit that wouldn't make it work well as a scarf.

Which brand of the 11in are you using? I absolutely adore the plastic clover ones that are 12in and think they are pretty dreamy to knit with assuming you are lucky and get ones that had a clean break from the plastic mold and are not rough on the tips.

http://www.marrhaven.com/quilndl.html

This is the only place I have found them. They also carry the 8 1/2in. Though I do have pretty small hands.

My LYS had the Balene 11" circs and I am wondering if I wouldn't like something line 12" addis better. The Balene's have very pointy tips that are roughing up my index finger pretty bad and I suspect that one extra inch could really make a difference. The Clover ones look so freaking cute. I'd love to try them!

Oh, Alison, I used dpns and had no trouble at all, aside from boredom.

OK, your elves are much, much quicker than mine are. Have to think how to motivate properly....do cookies work?

Why not doublepoints or two circulars? Cramping your hands on a 11 in. circular can't be good for them.

Alison, I just finished the first sleeve of the shrug also!! I'm using cheapo Caron Simply Soft, which is great! I think I'm going to frog a sweater and turn it into a ribby cardi.

Anyway, I hated that tiny circular!!!! I had to start over with dpns. But I'm using that circular on Cinxia. It is very slow going.

I'm using a 29" long circular needle and the magic loop method. The only thing that is bugging me is that the cord between the needles is a little stiff. I should have evaluated all the brands and bought the one with the most flexible cording.

My first thought on reading this post was ... 11" circs? Eek!

I'd use a Magic Loop or two circs. Life is too short for the hand cramps that those 11" circs would give me.

I just realized that I recognize your floor. You post so many pictures of it, that I know I'm reading your blog entries immediately, even if I didn't notice which blog had come up next in the bloglines queue. Funny. Nice floor, by the way.

11 inch circs are for people who enjoy hand cramps, imho. I'd do it on 2 circs in a heartbeat.

I did the sweater with DPNs and it wasn't that bad. I hate tiny little circulars with a passion. Yuck.

Lovely! Isn't Scarf Style the best! Can't wait to see that finished...grap a stress ball inbetween rows.

I did those sleeves with two circs, thank God, and it worked great.

Sorry to be utterly off-topic, but I just had to say hello. I was back in Boston visiting family, and made a point of taking the T on Saturday over to the yarn store closest to my old apartment in Fenway. I had no idea you worked there! I actually saw and recognized the Harry Potter scarf first, which amused me. You were helping someone else, so I didn't want to barge in and say hi, but I did think that it was fun to see the blog-world come unexpectedly to life. :-) My boyfriend, who was along for the fun and was a huge fan of the Things 1 & 2 wigs, was also impressed by the coincidence. :-)

Seems like you could start and end with a purl and then seem those together and the seem would then recede, but hey, what do i know? You're so fast - you always amaze me!

when i saw that you were going to work this project i thought "oh good, motivation to finish mine - plus her's will have started much later than mine, so maybe we'll even finish at the same time!"

nope. i've knit a few rows now & then between other projects since june & you finished a sleeve in a week. now i'm just discouraged by all that ribbing again ;-)

lookin' good. i feel the same way, but then i'm not a master seamer and think the seam reduction is of top value.

I love that last sentence...I think i'd rather get used to the circs rather than all that seaming. It's amazing how much you can acomplish in such a small amount of time.

Have you considered Magic Loop? The yarn sounds divine!

The little clovers have one needle longer than the other. I use the longer end in my right hand to knit onto. It may be easier to knit with such a small needle by knitting continental instead of throwing- I found this to be so, at least.

Keep on goin' it is looking great!

Someone sold me a tiny circ for sock knitting years ago and I HATE knitting on it. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one suffering from the hand cramps they induce. It does have some use as a stitch holder from time to time but that's about it. I much prefer my Brittany DPs for knitting in the round.

Nice progress though.

Neat, Freecia, now I really want to check out those clover needles!