knitting help

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I have a knitting question - forgive me if this has been answered, I looked through the archives and had no such luck.

I'm making a hat, which I've made before but this is my first time on circular needles. They were a great size for the main of the hat, but now that I've started decreasing, I have to really stretch the stitches to even get them around the needles! Does that make sense? Is there a way to deal with this? I don't want my hat to get all bent out of shape :x

I'm afraid that my needles are simply too -long-, but I really don't want to start over. Should I just buy a smaller pair and transfer them over?