Tool Box Tuesday: Knitting Needles

Welcome to first installment of Tool Box Tuesday. 

The discussion will be about knitting needles.

Knitting needles are the most basic knitting tool.  You can’t knit without them!
(That’s not technically true you can knit without knitting needles, but for now let’s not worry about that.)

There are three main components that are used to describe a set of knitting needles; the size, the material, and the type.

The Size:

It is the diameter of the tube of the needle dictates its size. Easy, right?  Wrong.  Right from the get-go, here’s where things get complicated.  Different countries use different number schemes to classify the size of the needle. 

The most straightforward is metric.  In the metric system, the measurement in millimeters refers to the diameter of the needle.  That seems as if it would be the easiest, despite this, or maybe because of this, it is not the classification system used in either the US or in England.  Each of those countries have their own system of classification…which are pretty much the opposite from each other. 

In US sizing, the smaller numbers refer to the smaller diameter needles, and larger numbers refer to larger diameter needles.  

In UK sizing the smaller numbers refer to the larger diameter needles, and the larger numbers refer to the smaller diameter needles.

Here’s a partial chart to illustrate this.  If you want a full chart, I’ll leave it up to you to search one out yourself. 

The Material:

The most common materials used for knitting needles are wood, bamboo, metal, and plastic.  Each have their advantages and drawbacks. 

The foremost difference is the smoothness of the needles, the way they grip the yarn.  Wood and bamboo needles offer the most grip. Metal needles are the slipperiest. Plastic ones are somewhere in the middle.

Is grip a good thing or a bad thing?  The answer is both. 

Sometimes I am afraid that the stitches might fall off the end of the needle. That is when I use wood or bamboo.  Sometimes I want speed. That is when I will use metal needles.  If I’m working with cotton, or another slippery yarn I would use wood.  I am using bamboo needles to knit a lacy shawl right now because the fabric is very open compared to the needle size, and I don’t want it to slip off.  If I am working on say…the back of a sweater, and I have row after row of stockinette stitch, then I hopefully am working that on metal needles.

Other considerations:  Metal needles are heavier, bamboo needles can wear out and become splintery at the tip, plastic needles tend to have blunt tips…the list goes on. No one needle is best. It comes down mostly to personal preference.

Then there are needles which are made out of exotic materials, fancy woods, or fancy metals.  This is done for pure luxury and joy.   I would love, love, love, to get a pair of hand forged bronze or sterling silver needles inlayed with precious stones. Like fine folks at Celtic Swan make.  Wouldn't you?

Dreaming is Free

The Type:

The three types of needles are straight needles, circular needles, and double pointed needles (dpns).

Straight needles. The archetypical knitting needle. They come in sets of 2 and are a stick which is pointy on one end and has a stopper affixed to the other end. The typical length of a straight needle is between 9 and 14 inches. They are used for knitting flat pieces.  A project on straight needles is worked back and forth. This is done by first working all the way across with the right side of the knitting facing, and then turning it around and working all the way across with the wrong side of the knitting facing.  Unless the project is a scarf, there will be seams to sew together at the end.

Circular needles are made up of two needles whose ends are smoothly joined together with a cable.  The cable is anywhere from 10 to 60 inches, and resembles thick fishing line material.   Circular needles are used to knit projects in the round.  Knitting in the round can produce a tube (it can also produce a flat circle, but I’m not discussing techniques, I’m discussing tools.)  The entire bottom of a sweater can be made on circular needles by knitting a big tube. A lot of knitters like this because it means that they don’t have to sew up seams.  When using circular needles the right side of the knitting is always facing.  Essentially the knitting is being made in a spiral.  Circular needles can also be used to knit pieces flat when the project has just too many stitches to fit on straight needles.  

Double pointed needles are called dpns by those in the know.  Dpns come in sets of 4 or 5, and they look like enlarged toothpicks.  They are used for knitting in the round, when a small tube is desired.  Socks and mittens are commonly knit on dpns.  Just like circular needles, when knitting on dpns the right side is always facing and the knitting goes around in a spiral.  The great thing about this type of needle is that knitting can be done in the round with a minimal number of stitches.  For instance, they are quite handy for closing the top end of a hat knitted in the round.


Below is a picture that wraps it up.  Three needles representing different sizes, materials, and types:  

Size 10.5 brass circular needles
Size 5 plastic dpns
Size 6 bamboo straight needles.

Well that concludes the first installment of Tool Box Tuesday.