#needle size

[doctorwhogifts]

Police Box WPI Gauge, Laser Cut Wood, Keychain, Spinners Friend by Tangerine8 (4.00 USD) http://ift.tt/1fdmcgC

[fannishknits]

tracking your knitting needle size

[knitbro]

Yo knit bro! My moirail got me a gift card to our local crafts store, and I'm thinking now would be a good time to pick up some needles and add the craft to my current knowledge of sewing and crochet. Got any recommendations for gauge/brand for a noob who'll likely be starting on lots of socks, scarves and fingerless gloves?

for socks and gloves, you want — yikes, where did i put my needle gauge? excuse me a moment while i panic.

good grief. it must’ve fallen off my worktable before the last time i emptied the trash, because i found it UNDER the trash can. good thing it didn’t fall IN the trash can. ok, amending what i was going to say, you want at least TWO of these:

well, that’s what i have, but they come in lots of colors and cute shapes and whatnot, they’re incredibly handy, and they get lost really easily. D:

right! as i was saying! for socks and gloves, you’ll be using sock yarn or ‘fingering’ yarn (named thus because you can use it for glove fingers and not end up unable to bend your hands), and for that you’ll want size #1 or #2 needles — 2.5mm to 3mm, or thereabouts. maybe as small as 2mm for lace, or as big as 3.5mm for fluffy mitts, but in my experience 3mm is your workhorse for socks.

i heartily recommend getting a good set of doublepoints and making friends with them. a lot of folks find knitting with doublepoints intimidating or annoying — and they do catch in your sleeves a bit if you’re wearing long sleeves, and depending on how you hold your work they can sometimes tickle your palms — but they’re incredibly versatile, and more durable and interchangeable than circulars. that said, a lot of people swear by the magic loop method, and though i personally find it awkward and slow, if you find you don’t like using doublepoints you might prefer it. and even if you do like the doublepoints, that long circular needle will come in handy for other projects. for instance, triangular scarves. :D

and of course you can do rectangular scarves on a circular needle too, just use the two ends as if they’re a pair of straight needles, and there’s the added benefit that when you set the work down, you can just slide it to the middle, and it’s a lot less likely to drop stitches from getting jostled than a pair of straights.

so, in short, i suggest getting a set of us#2 (2.75mm or 3mm) double pointed needles (dpn’s), maybe a set of #1 and #3 as well if you like, and a 36” or so circular needle in the same gauge(s). if you like socks, gloves, mittens, armwarmers, and other such fine-gauge circular knitting, those will cover pretty much anything you want to do.

happy knitting!