Beginner Guide to Knitting Part II: Needles

Once you have your yarn its time to figure out your needle situation.

If you are a beginner buying your first set of knitting needles can seem just as confusing as the wide world of yarn. There are so many types of needles, straight needles, circular needles, and double pointed needles. These are all made in just as many materials, wood, bamboo, steal, and acrylic. And these all come in sizes ranging from US 000000 to US 32. With so much variety it can make your head spin.

What Size?
If you were successful in finding a single ply worsted weight yarn you are going to need about a size US 8 to a US 10 needle. Checking your yarn's label is also helpful because there will be a suggested needle size printed there. These are usually pretty good recommendations.

Which type of needle?
I am a fan of the circular needle, but this is not important in your adventure to start knitting. Over time you will develop a preference for certain needles. As someone just starting out you should look for a pair of 9" straight needles. Straight needles come in longer sizes, but for a scarf you won't need the extra space of a longer needle and shorter needles are easier to wield.

What material should the needles be made out of?
Again over time you will develop a personal preference depending on how tight or loose you knit. But when you are just starting out give the bamboo a try. They are light, and smooth, strong, warm to the touch, and flexible. Bamboo is also renewable resource. (Did you know bamboo can grow up to 12 inches in one day!)

Once you fall in love with a yarn look for an appropriate sized pair of 9" bamboo straight needles and you will be ready for action. Just like buying yarn ask questions and let the employees know what you are looking for.

Needle Resources
Clover 9" Straight Needles
Knit Picks Harmony Straight Needles
Wiki How: How to Choose Knitting Needles
Blue Betty: Bamboo, Wood, Steal or Plastic

Bamboo, Wood, Steal, or Plastic

With so many needle choices out there what works the best?

Well, I usually chalk it up to personal preference, but sometimes your bamboo needles are just not cutting it or your steal needle is too slippery to keep your stitches on said needle. That said I've noticed that my needles fall into two categories, Bamboo and Steal. Sometimes I am conscious of my needle choice and sometimes I will start a project only to find that I need to swap my needles for one or the other.

A good example of this is knitting lace. I usually prefer bamboo all around when it comes to knitting, unless I am knitting lace (this is also true for sock knitting) I like to use steel needles. My stitches are easier to manipulate in steel and slide effortlessly off the needle. It is also easier to get my needle in multiple stitch for k3tog and so on. When I fist embarked on a lace project I bought a pair of bamboo straight needles (size 2) to knit my delicate gossamer weight wool, only to find my stitches sticking to the bamboo. This irked me so much that two days later (I was surprised I let myself struggle that much) I switched to a set of steel circs in the same size.

This began my awareness of needle choice and an observation about myself. I am not a tight knitter or a loose knitter, but if knitting wool in a small gauge I prefer steel needles. If I am knitting a wool blend (silk, alpaca, angora) I prefer a bamboo or wooden needle. I can no longer say that I universally prefer bamboo. I can say however that I like bamboo needles most of the time.

So why is the material make up on a needle so important?
For me it has to do with the ease my stitches sliding off the needle. To little ease and it feels like you are fighting with the yarn to knit it and to much and it feels as if you might drop a stitch at any minuet. Having worked in a yarn shop for sometime I have a few other observations. For some it depends in the tension of their knitted stitches. My boss was a loose knitter. Her guage on a US6 looked like it had been knit on a US8, because of her loose tension she prefered bamboo. Again this isn't a universal statement for her as she had some beautiful Addi turbos which she would use to knit hats. Another customer we had had a tight tension to her knitting stitches so she preferred steel, because it made it easier to knit her projects.

So for all the knitters out their what's you favorite needles composed of?

Sad face

I broke my favorite knitting needle tonight. My favorite needles is robin's egg blue and are vintage size US 11. I was using them knitting this lace banana silk scarf and dropped one on the marble floor at the knitting circle and the nub broke off.

I found thepiece that broke off and will super glue it back together.

I'm working a lot this week, not that i'm complaining, but I really want to work on my designs and knit. Monday is the holiday party for the kniting group and I need to make a present for the polly anna. Last year I brought my hand dyded. This year I think I will make something, maybe fingerless mitts, or a scarf. We'll see what comes to mind.

Pouncing

I've been playing around on Etsy using the pounce search tool and found some really neat sellers. Below are a few that I love, check them out.

Atumn Hollow Farms on Etsy makes hand turned crochet and knitting needles. They have a beautiful crochet hook in ebony that is absolutly gourgous!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5610244

Tangledcolors is a shop with hand painted yarn. The colors are vibrent and beautiful, and the banner in the shop is super cute. I love the Underwater colorway, beautiful stuff.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6507388

Spinningsisters is a shop with yummy spinning fiber. They hand dye all their fiber and it comes in beautiful colors.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6385873

Lake House Loft is another shop with yummy spinning fiber. The colors are rich and the fibers look soft and fluffy.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5539054

Check these shops out they have great stuff!