Today's post is all about knitting needles, and the ones I love to use. There are so many different types of knitting needle, and when you first start out it can all be a bit overwhelming. What to use, where to buy them? I hope to answer a few of these questions and more in this post, so you can understand how I started and what I use.
Ok, I started off with plastic needles that I got free with the kit I bought when I first started. I bought a Let's Get Crafting kit, with yarn and needles in, and a pattern book. This gave me everything I needed except my tutor, my mum. So I started with plastic needles and I thought I was never going to be able to work on anything else. They give as you knit, they are easy to use and lets be honest, they were free. Then I needed a size I didn't have in plastic so I had to buy metal needles. I bought Pony needles, they are a really reasonable price, available everywhere and easy to use.
These metal needles have come from all over the place, some I have bought, others I have got from my Grandma's stash and charity shops. When you are in a charity shop, ask because sometimes they don't have them out but out the back, and they normally have lots to choose from. The size of the needle is on the top of these so you can always find the right sizes.
Metal needles also come in a range of lengths. I prefer the shortest ones because I knit very small things normally and they are just easier to work with. I find it difficult to knit on long needles. I am not alone, my mum only likes small ones, and we both cram our stitches on. My grandmother-in-law knit with a really long needle that went under one arm, and a small one to actively knit with. Not my way, but her way. Everyone knits differently. So I was never going to stop using my metal needles. What was the need in any others I thought?
Then I got the most fabulous christmas present. Below are my knitting loves. My Knit Pro Rosewood Needles. Now these are what my Step-Dad calls the most expensive needles in the world, and they are pretty expensive. But they aren't the only set of interchangable needles on the market so you don't need the most expensive ones to have these.
These are the needles. They are rosewood, and they have plastic cables that connect them. You can see the 3.5mm there on the cable, and these have all sizes up to 8mm. You simply screw the cable off the needles and add the size you need, and you are off. I love wooden needles, and they hurt my hands a lot less after a lot of knitting than my metal ones.
Here we go, this is inside the box. The plastic wallet contains my cables in varying length, the ends for the cables (if you want to stop a project and start another, you can screw off the needles, add the caps and your work can stay on the cable.) and the screws that attach the needles tightly to the cables.
Now if you do have a set of these needles, they have the size printed on the side. This printing doesn't last very long in my experience, so I have this little guy in my box. He is a needle sizer and the holes match up to the sizes of the needle. I like this little owl, he is cute and handy.
So what kind of needles do you prefer?
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