Well, the solution is a set of 4 or 5 double pointed needles--that's the best solution. And you can make some with wood dowel, sharpening the tips in a pencil sharpener and sanding and waxing them. You can continue to use the circular needles for a bit by pulling the nylon cable out in a loop that pokes out of the stitches, if you understand, but then you have to keep moving the loop so you can knit around, and that's a real bother. Or you could make do with a combination of crochet hooks and othr knitting needles or even chop sticks, skewers, pencils and pens, but you need to keep the circumference to about the right size so the stitches will be even. Give up and buy or make some double pointed needles--you will use them again if you do any knitting at all.

Thank you very much. Yes, I tried the loop, but I wasn't patient enough for that, and it pulled the stitches too far apart there where the loop was. But you are right, I'll use the double-pointed needles.

Suzanne

If you have another circular needle of the same needle size, you can put half the stitches on one needle and the other half on the other and knit each half in turn. The stitches that are not being knitted will "rest" on the cable of the other circular. A 40 cm cirular is too short for the magic loop method.