When creating knitted clothes, the size of the knitting needles plays an important role. If you choose too thin ones, the fabric will turn out to be very dense, but if you choose large ones, it will turn out to be loose, and the pattern will seem to blur.
To avoid this, you need to carefully select the tool. Let's figure out how to choose the right knitting tool?
How to choose knitting needles by thickness
Experienced knitters can determine the thickness of the required implement by eye. But such experience comes, unfortunately, gradually. Despite this, beginning craftswomen should not despair. There are several ways to determine the required parameters:
- According to the yarn manufacturer;
- Experienced way.
Important! Even if the model you choose has a detailed description and indicates density and size, it is worth double-checking this data before starting work.
What is the knitting needle size
Tool size is the cross-sectional diameter of the tool. To determine it, you can use the folk method.
- Take a piece of paper.
- Pierce it with a knitting needle.
- Measure the diameter of the puncture.
The resulting result will be the required number.
Attention! Handicraft stores sell special meters that can be used to determine the number of a knitting needle.
Methods for selecting knitting needles
You can select the correct tool using the manufacturer’s information, which is usually indicated on the label.
But some manufacturers do not indicate this parameter on the yarn. Then this can be done in two ways.
- By fiber thickness. To do this, fold the thread in half and compare it with the volume of the knitting needle. The indicators must be equal.
- Experienced way. Complete several samples with different numbers. Choose the most suitable density.
Important! If you use the method with samples, be sure to perform an WTO on them. Only then compare the results.
Using a yarn and knitting table
Another option is to use table data. It indicates which yarn can be knitted with which tool number. And also what products can be created with such correspondence.
Table 1
The following table is aimed at choosing a size depending on the meter of the thread.
table 2
I bought Alize Lanagold yarn 100g/240m. I want to knit a thick sweater in two threads. Can you please tell me what thickness of knitting needles to use?
Hello, dear Elena!
Thanks to you, I learned that in determining the size of the knitting needles there is not only the metric system (in mm), but also two more, number ones. However, on another site in a similar table, the numbers of these systems are located opposite to your table, i.e. The columns for US and UK seem to have swapped places. Now I'm confused, could you confirm that your version is correct?
And another question: which of these two (number) systems are used by yarn manufacturers in Portugal and Italy?
Thank you in advance!
Best regards, Katarina