Dear Steph Assuing your friend simply needs a full-sized circular needle - a 100cm one more than takes enough for a 45" square shawl, and far more than can be crammed safely or not on a set of 5 16" wires (personal experience!). However, she may find a tip of E Zimmermann's useful: run a thread through the work a little way below the stitches, and draw it together to compact the stitches on the needle. Can't speak from personal experience there.
BTW, the shawl I'm working on has not been finished, but it's worked by knitting the border first, a long strip on 10-14 stitches, and then 768 stitches from the inside side of it are picked up on the circular needle, and you work from the outside in, decreasing at the corners, and eventually do have to finish up on a set of 5 needles. I've found a 60cm circular needle more than enough, even without the draw-string. I understand the way of working is not traditional, but it's from Gladys Amedro's book published by the Shetland Times, so good enough for those south of Watford! It has the advantage of doing the longest work first, when you need the practice to get used to the pattern, then speeding up as the rows shortern as patience goes, and no boring border at the end (of course, you do have to do it at the beginning...) All the best for 2005 Leonard ___________________________________________________________ ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]