Knitting needles come in a variety of types, sizes and materials. Remember that knitting usually compacts easily and a larger knitted project will easily fit on a shorter needle.
Straights (Single point needles): These are the archetypal knitting needle seen in most
These needles come in a variety of lengths, but are most commonly found in 10 (25 cm) and 14″ (35 cm). They can be easily made at home from any cylindrical item like a skewer or a dowel. The knobs can be purely functional or ornate.
These also come in a variety of lengths from 4″ (10cm) to 14″ (35 cm) and everything in between. the most common lengths are 6″ to 8″ (15 cm to 20 cm).
Circular: These are two straight needles,
These come in a variety of lengths, both for
If you are knitting in the round and unl
ess you are using magic loop or two circular needles, you will want you to ha
tting the body of a sweater.
Circular needles come in fixed (all made together) and interchangeable. Interchangeable needles allow you to change the length or the size of needles as you work as there needle part is made separately from the cord and they cords and needles can be interchanged to create needles of various sizes, lengths and even mixed sizes.
Materials
Needles are made from a variety of materials. They all have different properties and many people will argue that the material they prefer is the best. However, I find that in general, material is a personal preference, if possible try a variety of materials to figure out which is your favourite.
Also, be aware that gauge may be affected by the material of your needle. The exact same needle diameter may produce a looser or tighter gauge with a particular yarn. This is good to keep in mind when swatching as just using a different kind of needle may change your gauge.
Needles come made of metal (aluminum, steel, brass, nickel plated), bamboo, wood, plastic, carbon fibres and everything else imaginable (I have seen glass knitting needles, needles made from PVC pipes, ivory, tortoise shell, bone, resin etc.).
Metal needles tend to be strong, slick and a bit heavy. Their slickness helps the stitches move easily along the needle shaft and many people claim they can knit faster on metal needles. They may or may not be a great fit for beginners because of this. They are cold to the touch when you first pick them up, but quickly warm up with use.
Bamboo needles are strong, flexible, light and warm right from the start. They grip yarn more than metal needles and so may be ideal for beginners.
Wood needles are less strong than bamboo needles, but share many of the same qualities.
Plastic needles are flexible, strong and light. They can be quite slick.
Carbon fibres are very strong, a bit flexible and feel warm from the start. They can have a scratchy feel to them unless they have a metal tip.
Sizes
There are a variety of ways of referring to the same size needle. The following chart shows the metric, US, UK and Japanese needle size equivalents. Please note, metric is the most accurate way to size needles, sometimes US needle sizes are not exact equivalents. For example, I have seen size 6 US needles that were 4 mm and 4.25 mm (in the same brand!).
Metric |
US |
UK |
Japanese |
0.7 |
000000 |
||
1 |
00000 |
||
1.2 |
0000 |
||
1.5 |
000 |
||
1.75 |
00 |
||
2.0 |
0 |
14 | |
2.1 | 0 | ||
2.25 |
1 |
13 | |
2.4 | 1 | ||
2.5 | |||
2.7 | 2 | ||
2.75 |
2 |
12 | |
3.0 | 11 | 3 | |
3.25 |
3 |
10 | |
3.3 | 4 | ||
3.5 |
4 |
||
3.6 | 5 | ||
3.75 |
5 |
9 | |
3.9 | 6 | ||
4.0 |
6 |
8 |
4.2 | 7 | ||
4.5 |
7 |
7 | 8 |
4.8 | 9 | ||
5.0 |
8 |
6 | |
5.1 | 10 | ||
5.4 | 11 | ||
5.5 |
9 |
5 | |
5.7 | 12 | ||
6.0 |
10 |
4 | 13 |
6.3 | 14 | ||
6.5 |
10 ½ |
3 | |
6.6 | 15 | ||
7.0 | 2 |
7 mm |
|
7.5 | 1 | ||
8.0 |
11 |
0 |
8 mm |
9.0 |
13 |
0 |
9 mm |
10.0 |
15 |
0 |
10 mm |
12.0 |
17 |
||
16.0 |
19 |
||
19.0 |
35 |
||
25.0 |
50 |
Yarn: Yarn is made from various fibres. Below is a fairly comprehensive list for reference only,