Choosing Your Knitting Needle: Sizes of Needles

Knitting needles come in many different sizes. In this video, knitting expert Jill Wright shares her needle knowledge with you to give you an overview on choosing the right knitting needle for your project.

When starting a knitting project, the pattern will list the gauge needed to make the piece. The gauge is particularly important as it will affect the final size of a project. If your gauge doesn’t match the pattern, your project will be larger or smaller than the project in the pattern. It’s critical to use a knitting needle that gives you the gauge that matches the gauge listed in the pattern.

Jill works three swatches of Stockinette stitch using a worsted weight yarn. The first swatch is knit on very large needles, which gives her a loose, mesh-like fabric. The fabric also has a great deal of stretch. A fabric at this gauge might work well for a scarf of shawl project.

The next swatch is worked on small knitting needles. As Jill notes, the fabric has little to no stretch. This fabric might work well for a knitted bag. This fabric is too dense even for socks, as there is not enough stretch in the fabric to pull over the heel and onto the foot.

Finally, Jill shows a completed swatch worked in the knitting needles called for on the yarn label of the worsted weight yarn. She notes that the resulting fabric is nice and even, has some stretch, and is perfect for garments.

[jeffwoods]

Thank you for explaining this so clearly! I appreciate how you showed us how stretchy each swatch was

[TanyaOwens]

would be nice if you explained what size needles you used to knit your samples

[ArifMaqsood-mb]

Excellent. Thanks very much for explaining.

[LittleBirdGA]

Loved the video, not to get off topic, your hands look like mine

[gamergirl]

Im looking to make a screen for my vegetables to help protect from animals and the sun. They prefer cooler temperatures and im hoping it will help with water retention as well. Definitely wanted to figure out which needles to use before i started. Thanks!

[gggggrey]

thank you 💗 i was attempting to replicate a cat beanie with a garter knit and was wondering why the videos teaching how to knit had small stitches and wasn't loose!

[conker]

Im confused im new to knitting. Wouldn't the smaller one be also good for a blanket?. I mean the larger one looks like it wouldn't give aa much warmth considering the holes. Maybe I'm wrong.

[shiroshuo]

I have a question that is related to needle size and yarn.

I am planning to crochet a hat but I have a 6mm crochet needle, but a 5.5mm yarn. I know the two knitting needles used in your video are drastically different from the middle most one, but I want to know whether if small differences like my case would be too astray from the control.

[clairehillier]

The pattern calls for size 5US needle 22 stitches per 4" I have size 7 needles for 22 stitches per 4" is that ok or would it change the final size of the pattern? please help

[ihatemickiegee]

thanks for telling us very well needed info but then not telling us the sizes of each needle lmao. thank god for the comment you replied to stating the sizes. you should probably pin that comment. thanks!

[shrutibhavsar]

What are the needles sizes used here??

[audreylouise]

I would like to know the size of needles each swatch was.

[ibmoondance]

What are the sizes of the needles shown here?

[angieh.l]

Hi, I'm starting to learn how to knitting, could you tell me what size of the needle is each from the left to the right in the video ? And what size of the yarn is it? Please. Thank you!

[lysmykyta]

Most yarns recommend a needle size. What was the correct needle size for this yarn?

[porteroneill]

Say what size of needles you used, don't just say small, medium and large. This is totally useless!