How to Knit a Flat Panel on a Sentro or Addi

One of the benefits of circular knitting machines is that you can work tubes or flat panels, but it’s not so easy to figure out how to knit a flat panel on a Sentro or Addi as it is to figure out knitting tubes. But once you know how to do it you’ll be able to make squares and other flat pieces for your projects.

Supplies for Knitting Flat Panels

You don’t actually need any special supplies to work a flat panel on a circular knitting machine. As we’ll see below, the Addi comes with a tool that makes it a little easier, but it’s not necessary.

All you need is your machine (in these photos I’m using a Sentro 40 pin and an Addi Express King Size) and some yarn that will work well in your machine (mine is Caron Simply Soft, which is surprisingly good as a yarn for a circular knitting machine).

Having all the tools handy that you might otherwise use with your circular knitting machine, such as a small crochet hook, scissors and a yarn needle, will also be helpful.

How to Knit a Flat Panel on a Sentro

I feel like the question of how to knit a flat panel on a Sentro comes up more often, so let’s start there (scroll down if you have an Addi!).

Both the Sentro and the Addi have a setting for panel knitting; on the Sentro its marked with a P. If you use the P setting the machine will automatically stop if you try to crank past the black hook.

You can actually make panels on the T or tube setting if you want, because you’re just cranking back and forth, but the P setting will cause it to stop cranking on one side.

Because of that I will end my panels on the hook after the black hook (numbered 2) and start however many stitches away from that I need to be for the panel size I want.

Here I’m working on 20 stitches, so I counted 20 pegs starting with peg 2 and began my cast on there.

The cast on is exactly the same as when working a tube: go in front of the first hook and behind the second across.

When you get to the last stitch, wrap the yarn around the little nubby bit between hooks 1 and 2 before you go the other direction. Then you can feed the yarn through the yarn feed.

Change the direction you are cranking and slowly work your way across. Tucked stitches are still a thing, so make sure the yarn from the previous stitch is always below the notch in the hook before you make the new stitch.

When you get back to the first stitch you cast on, you’ll need to crank past a few more pegs to make sure that the last stitch is fully formed. Don’t go so far that it starts trying to make new stitches, but the hook on the last peg needs to go down into the machine so that the old stitch pulls up over the new stitch.

As you turn, hold onto the yarn and make sure the yarn is going under that little nub between the last stitch and the next peg as you work back.

The first and last stitches are particularly prone to not pulling down where they need to be, so take your time to make sure they form correctly and don’t drop.

Continue to work back and forth for as many rows as you like.

You can finish a flat panel on a Sentro the same way you’d finish any other piece of knitting. If you like to knit or crochet the stitches to finish off the end you can do that. Here I just cut the yarn, leaving a long tail and slipped the stitches onto the yarn as I cranked back across one more time.

Knitting a Flat Panel on the Addi

How to knit a flat panel on an Addi is pretty much the same as how to knit a flat panel on a Sentro, but there is a little difference.

The Addi King Express comes with two Addi Stoppers, little pieces of plastic you slip over the nubby bits (seriously, do those parts have a real name?) which stops the crank from turning.

When you use panel mode, here called plain knitting, the crank will stop moving when you get to the first black hook (number one). So here I want to end my panel on hook 4 (that way the cranking stops after the last stitch has formed properly) and count ahead my 20 pegs from there.

The stopper needs to go on the nubby four pegs away from the first stitch of your panel. The stopper hits the yarn feeder and makes it impossible to turn the crank that direction. Four pegs gives you room to properly make the last stitch on that side but not go farther.

For this one I’m showing how to work with waste yarn in case that’s something you want to do, but the process is exactly the same. Thread on your waste yarn as normal, with the yarn going in front of the first peg and behind the second across.

Again when you turn make sure the yarn is going under the nubby thing, then thread it through the yarn guide. I still kind of guide the yarn with my hand but don’t feel like it needs as much extra tension as when I knit a flat panel on a Sentro. Crank back in the other direction, making sure each stitch forms correctly, until the machine won’t let you crank further.

I like to do four rows with the waste yarn (the initial cast on, back and forth and back) before joining in the working yarn. To do that just drop the waste yarn and put the working yarn through the yarn guide, leaving a tail.

Crank back and forth, paying particular attention that the first and last stitch of each row are getting fully formed.

When the piece is your desired length, finish off as you like. For this one I picked up all the stitches onto a circular knitting needle and used a standard knit bind off. Then I picked up the stitches from the cast on side on the same needle, removed the waste yarn and did a no yarn bind off on this end because I forgot to leave a long tail.

Comparing Addi and Sentro Panels

This post isn’t the place for a full Addi vs. Sentro comparison, but when it comes to knitting flat panels I much prefer the Addi to the Sentro.

Because of the stopper on the end, the machine stops in the right place every time and you don’t have to watch as closely. I also feel like the stitches form more easily on the Addi. I didn’t have to stitch as slowly or stop to pull down stitches as often, if at all, using the Addi. (And I used the same yarn on both so I would have a fair comparison.)

Because the Sentro doesn’t have a stopper on the second side, you have to think a lot more about where the last stitch is and whether it’s fully formed before you crank the other way, which also just takes a little more time and attention.

I also feel like the flat panel on the Sentro rolls more than the one I made on the Addi, which doesn’t really matter if you’re sewing them together and finishing the edges so they don’t roll, but it does make it a little harder to work with.

The stitches made with either machine look the same and whichever machine you have is fine to make panels.

Have you knit a flat panel on a Sentro or an Addi or both? I’d love to hear any tips you have or which machine you prefer.