Knitting Needle Sizes & Confusion

September 6, 2009| Lindy| 0 Comments | 9:00 am

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Knitting Needles sizes are fairly straightforward in the sizes that one uses for DK, worsted weight and bulky yarns. (Size US 4 and up). But it is a much different story when it comes to small diameter needles used to knit fingering, lace and other finer weight yarns. This can be very confusing – I just discovered that there is a significant variation in the sizing labels for some of these needles.

Let’s start with the standard “US” sizing – which uses a numerical designation for knitting needles, from “0000” up to 35 – with the needle diameter increasing as the numerical designation increases. Seems like a fairly straightforward system – until you run across US size 1 & 2 needles that are different diameters. If you never use a knitting needle smaller than US size 4 (which has a diameter of 3.5 mm), this will not be a problem for you. IF, however, you get into knitting socks and lace using much smaller diameter needles – it may cause you to pull out your hair.

Fortunately, most knitting needles sold today also come with their diameter size stated as well as their US size. What I have currently in my assortment of circular knitting needles are as follows: US Size 0 (2.00 mm); US Size 1 (2.25 mm), US Size 1 (2.50 mm), US Size 2 (2.75 mm), US Size 2 (3.00 mm). These needles have all been purchased in the last 10 years. I have seen patterns referencing size 1.5 needles, so I am guessing that the size 2 (2.75 mm) needle may also be a 1.5, but it’s difficult to tell for certain. Just a word of caution to those using patterns calling for these US sizes of needles – make certain your metric diameter matches the pattern (if it’s stated) and BE SURE to check your gauge!

I found two websites that have charts comparing the US sizing to the metric diameter:
http://www.fibergypsy.com/common/needles.shtml
http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/faq-search.cgi?store=/stores/eyarn&faqKey=97

Point to remember: Gauge is the measurement of the number of stitches per inch you get with a particular needle – this is more important than using the size of needle stated in a pattern. Always do a swatch for gauge!

1 thought on “Knitting Needle Sizes & Confusion”

Amanda (SparkeeSpud) says:

September 8, 2009 at 8:25 am

Yeah I’ve decided the ‘US’ way of measuring anything is a bit screwed up. Knitting needles are just another example…

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New Local Yarn ShopsNew Local Yarn Shops

October 13, 2014| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 2:00 pm

I recently visited two new yarn shops that opened in my area. They are both lovely shops and filled with some lovely yarns – some of which aren’t carried by the local yarn shop that has been the only shop in the city for a number of years. Each shop offers a different variety of yarns than the other, so I am hoping that both of them can be successful. We certainly have a growing number of knitters in our community, so having new yarn shops is quite appealing.

ImagiKnit Yarn Shop is located in the Bel-Air Plaza at 120^th and West Center Road, Suite 602, Omaha, NE. This shop does not have a website, but does have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ImagiKnit-Yarn-Shop/263171999129. The owner of this shop moved her business to Omaha from Hastings, NE.

Wooly Mammoth Yarn Shop is located in Rockbrook Shopping Center at 108^th and West Center Rd, Omaha, NE. This shop also does not have a website, but does have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wooly-Mammoth-Yarn-Shop/150211221662670. The owners of this shop recently moved from Kearney, NE.

I’m sure the knitters in Hastings and Kearney miss having the shops in their towns, because they are both wonderful yarn shops and we are very lucky to have them here in Omaha.

Appealing, as well, are the yarns I purchased from both shops. (I couldn’t resist).

From Imagiknit, I purchased a skein of Smooshy fingering weight yarn from Dream in Color. The colorway is 2014 September and it just spoke to me of autumn. It has this delightful mix of fall colors: reds, purples, golds, greens in various shades. See the swatch below

I also bought a skein of Fabjous Fibers Cheshire Cat in the colorway Off with Her Red – which blends perfectly with the Smooshy colors. I am using these yarns to knit a shawl using the Merlot pattern, which I purchased at Ravelry. This will be the topic of another post.

From Wooly Mammouth, I purchased 4 skeins of Addiction yarn by Claudia Hand Painted Yarns – also fingering weight yarn. I bought 2 skeins in the colorway Teal and 2 skeins in the colorway Prussian Soldiers. I plan to knit another two color shawl using these yarns, but I haven’t decided on a pattern yet. I like the Merlot pattern, so I may choose to do that again – but there are so, so many lovely shawl patterns in my queue…

If you are in Omaha: check out our new local yarn shops. 🙂

Completed WIP’sCompleted WIP’s

October 20, 2009| Lindy| 0 Comments| 1:07 pm

I’ve finally finished some projects!

The knitted bunny is done. It turned out a little lopsided, but it’s rather cute.

Knitted Bunny on Teddy Bear Blanket

The lace scarf for my DIL is done. This is a lovely pattern. I especially like the three-stitch slipped stitch edging on this scarf. This is a technique I will keep in mind for future projects.

Lace Scarf

Fisherman’s Rib StitchFisherman’s Rib Stitch

September 14, 2020| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 8:00 am

I have just added Fisherman’s Rib to my Stitch Library. This is an interesting rib pattern that uses “knit 1 below (k1b). K1b is also used in the Bee Stitch and if you want more information on it, here are links to that information.

Post on Bee Stitch and Knit 1 Below

Bee Stitch Pattern

This ribbing pattern results in a fluffy, soft and warm ribbing that is similar to the brioche rib stitch. In fact, while researching Fisherman’s Rib, I found several places where it is described as a variation in the brioche technique. Nancy Marchand, author of Knitting Brioche, states:

“In the Netherlands, both brioche stitch and Fisherman’s Rib are called patentsteek. The method of working the stitch is different but the end result is the same.”

The main difference between the brioche stitch and fisherman’s rib is that you use yarnovers combined with slipped stitches to form the fabric in brioche and you use k1b to create fisherman’s rib. There are several different ways to make the Fisherman’s Rib stitch and I have included these in my Fisherman’s Rib Stitch instructions.

I have used fisherman’s rib to make several lovely warm hats. It would work well for a warm scarf or a cowl as well. This stitch pattern will use approximately 30% more yarn than regular 1 X 1 ribbing and should be done on needles that are one to two sizes smaller than what you would normally use for the yarn you select.

There isn’t a lot of information on how to decrease or increase when doing fisherman’s rib, and it took me awhile to find ones that worked well for my hats. I will share that information in my upcoming posts.