Choosing knitting tools
The list above is what exists. This is how to decide which of it you actually need, what separates a tool worth keeping from one that ends up at the back of a drawer.
Straights, circulars and DPNs
Straight needles knit flat pieces, turning at the end of each row. Circular needles are two tips joined by a cable and knit either flat or in a continuous tube, which is why a great many knitters now use them for everything.
Double pointed needles knit a tube too small for a circular cable to bend around: socks, sleeve cuffs, the crown of a hat. Magic loop technique lets one long circular do the same job, which is why DPNs are less universal than they were.
- Straights for flat
- Scarves, blankets, flat panels. Simple, and the weight hangs off the ends.
- Circulars do both
- Flat or in the round, and the cable carries the weight in your lap rather than your wrists.
- DPNs for small tubes
- Socks and hat crowns, where a circular cable cannot bend that tight.
- Magic loop replaces DPNs
- One long circular, worked in two halves. Fiddly to learn, then fewer needles to lose.
Needle size and tension
The needle size on a pattern is where to start, not a rule. Tension is how tightly you hold the yarn, it is personal, and two people with the same needles produce garments of different sizes from the same instructions.
So a tension square is the step that decides whether a jumper fits. Knit 10cm in the pattern stitch, count the stitches and rows, and change needle size until it matches. More stitches than specified means go up a size; fewer means go down.
- Knit a tension square
- 10cm in the pattern stitch. Half an hour against remaking a whole sleeve.
- Change needles, not tension
- Deliberately knitting tighter never holds across a whole garment.
- Count rows as well
- Row count decides length. Stitch count alone gets the width right and the body wrong.
- Wash the swatch
- Some yarns relax or shrink on washing. The tension after washing is the real one.
Needle material and grip
Metal is fast and slick, which suits sticky wool and lets slippery yarn escape. Bamboo and wood grip, which slows you down and keeps stitches on the needle, so they suit silk, bamboo and anything loosely spun.
Tip sharpness matters as much as material. A sharp tip enters a tight stitch and picks up a single strand in lace, and a blunt rounded tip is kinder on splitty yarn and on fingers. Most brands are one or the other by house style.
- Metal is fast and slick
- Best with grippy wool. Slippery yarn will slide off the ends given a chance.
- Bamboo and wood grip
- Slower, warmer, and much easier with silk or anything loosely spun.
- Sharp tips for lace
- Picking up one strand of a decrease needs a point. Blunt tips fight it.
- Blunt tips for splitty yarn
- Kinder on soft singles, and on the fingertip pushing the stitch along.
Fixing mistakes without starting again
Almost every knitting mistake is recoverable, and the tools are small. A lifeline threaded through a row means you can rip back to that point and no further. A crochet hook picks a dropped stitch back up the ladder it fell down.
The thing that makes it worse is discovering the error twenty rows later. Stitch markers every repeat and a row counter that gets clicked are what keep the detection window short, which is where all the value is.
- Lifelines
- Thread waste yarn through a completed row. Ripping back stops there instead of everywhere.
- A crochet hook fixes drops
- Pick the stitch up through each ladder rung in turn. Faster than ripping back.
- Markers every repeat
- So a lost stitch shows up within one repeat rather than after a whole sleeve.
- Count as you go
- The cheapest habit here. A miscount found now is a minute, found later it is an evening.
Blocking changes the finished piece
Knitted fabric comes off the needles uneven, curled and often smaller than the pattern says. Wetting or steaming it and pinning it to shape while it dries relaxes the yarn and sets it there, evening out the stitches at the same time.
Lace is the clearest case: unblocked it is a crumpled mass, and blocked it opens into the pattern it was designed as. Acrylic will not hold a wet block and does hold a steam block permanently.
- Pin to the pattern size
- Not the size it came off the needles. That is what blocking is for.
- Lace transforms
- The single most dramatic case. Unblocked lace looks like a mistake.
- Wool and cotton wet block
- Soak, squeeze, pin, dry. Do not unpin while it is still damp.
- Acrylic needs steam
- Held above the fabric, never pressed on. It sets permanently, which is irreversible.
Frequently asked questions
- What tools do I need to start knitting?
- A pair of 4mm needles, a ball of double knit yarn, scissors and a blunt yarn needle for sewing in ends. Add stitch markers, a tape measure and a row counter, all of which cost very little and prevent most of the frustration beginners actually hit.
- What size knitting needles should a beginner use?
- 4mm or 5mm with double knit or aran weight yarn. Large enough to see the stitches and small enough to feel controlled. Bamboo rather than metal to start, since the grip stops stitches sliding off while you are still working out how to hold everything.
- What is the difference between straight and circular needles?
- Straights knit flat pieces and you turn at the end of each row. Circulars are two tips joined by a cable, which knits flat or in a continuous tube and puts the weight of the work in your lap rather than on your wrists. Many knitters use circulars for everything.
- Do I still need double pointed needles?
- Only for tubes too small for a circular cable to bend around: sock legs, sleeve cuffs, hat crowns. Magic loop technique does the same job on one long circular, so it comes down to which you find less fiddly rather than which is necessary.
- Are bamboo or metal knitting needles better?
- Bamboo grips, which slows you down and stops slippery yarn escaping, so it suits silk, bamboo and loosely spun singles and is easier for beginners. Metal is faster and slicker, which suits sticky wool. Tip sharpness matters as much as material for lace work.
- How do I check my knitting tension?
- Knit a 10cm square in the pattern stitch, then count stitches and rows across it and compare with the pattern. Change needle size until it matches: up a size for too many stitches, down for too few. Wash the swatch first if the yarn is likely to relax.
- How do you fix a dropped stitch in knitting?
- Catch it with a crochet hook and work it back up the ladder it fell down, one rung at a time, then put it back on the needle facing the right way. That is much faster than ripping back, and it is why a small crochet hook lives in most knitting bags.
- Do I have to block knitting?
- For anything that has to fit or hang properly, yes. Blocking evens out the stitches and sets the piece to the intended size, and lace in particular only becomes the designed pattern once blocked. Acrylic will not hold a wet block and holds a steam block permanently.
