A knitting gauge is a small tool made of plastic, metal or wood. Like a slice of Swiss cheese, it has a bunch of variously sized holes all over it. Again, please understand that these are only general recommendations. Two different companies might call their yarn DK weight but that doesn’t mean that both should be knitted with needle size 6 for the best results. Does knitting needle length matter? These days, I see an increasing switch among U.S. pattern designers to the metric system for similar reasons. Since the Imperial and the U.S. knitting needle size system still exist side by side, recommending size 6 needles can be very confusing as knitters from both sides of the pond are likely to buy a given pattern. For circular knitting needles, the distinction is mainly a matter of preference. The longer the needle body, the more you can use the needles as leverage but the heavier they are. And of course, whenever you are knitting in the round, the stiff length of the needle itself defines the minimum diameter you can knit with these comfortably – except you are using the magic loop technique (e.g. you cannot knit a 10-inch circle with needles that are 4 in long each). How are knitting needles sized – a short history This knitting needle size conversion chart compares knitting needles in the US and UK, with crochet hook sizes thrown in for good measure! Metric (mm)

So in some parts, this chart is only an approximation. Still, you can easily see that a 4 mm knitting needle converts to a U.S. size 6. And knitting needles sold as 5 mm in Europe can be found as size 8 on the other side of the Atlantic. Knitting needle sizes explained This list is to show that these are not the only sizes available. So, if you come across an obscure size, this list might help you find what you’re looking for. Japanese Knitting Needle Size ChartExplaining U.S. knitting needle sizes is a complicated topic and we have to delve a bit into history: With the popularization of knitting in the UK in the 18th century and the industrialization, the shift from handmade tools to mass-produced steel needles occurred. Needles were often also called wires because, by then, most dpns were indeed made out of durable steel wire. And thus they were measured in accordance with the standard wire gauge (SWG). In the following, you can see the knitting needle conversion chart for Japanese knitting needle sizes. Japan (JPN) also uses the metric system for measurement so you’ll find the sizes in millimeters (mm). As seen below, these are Addi flexible double pointed knitting needles (DPNs) used for circular knitting. Notice the label indicates the knitting needle size and/or the millimeter (mm) measurement.

A pattern typically only provides you with a size, aka the diameter of the needle. The rest is up to your own preference. Your knitting needles need to be long enough to accommodate all stitches without them being squeezed together so tightly that they fall off whenever you relax. Of course, new materials (like celluloid) might also explain the departure from the SWG (as they required different machines and thus resulted in different sized needles). One also has to keep in mind that around 1910, commercial flights across the Atlantic were not available, and neither were telephone calls possible. Unlike today, knitters around the world were much less connected internationally and the world moved much slower and still a bit in isolation. To help you decipher the world of knitting needle sizes, refer to the charts below! Knitting Needle Sizes Chart for US and UK

Susan Webster concludes in a noteworthy post that “then, somehow, magically, around the time of World War II, needle and gauge markers united around the “Standard American” size”. She argues that it could be a result of wartime restrictions. Decades of confusion among knitters might have elevated that demand. So according to the yarn comparison chart a pattern using a US 9 will be used to knit a worsted or heavy weight yarn and a Canadian/Uk 9 is more likely to be used to knit with a finer yarn (probably a fingering). There are so many different types of knitting needles. Really, it goes without saying that knitting needle sizes will vary from brand to brand and region to region. But I'm saying it anyway. Unlike Swiss cheese, these holes are precisely sized for measuring knitting needles! This is a standard plastic gauge for measuring knitting needle sizes.

The second and third columns show the US knitting needle sizes and the UK knitting needle sizes, respectively. The final column is a crochet hook size chart, which can be useful, especially if you're bistitchual. In Japan, knitting needles use different standard metric sizes, starting at 2.1 mm and going up to 25 mm. What is My Knitting Needle Size?On top of that, different materials (e.g. wool, alpaca, or cotton) are also an important factor. Some of these might change their appearance drastically after the first wash. Side note: The SWG was only implemented in 1884. Before that, it was the Birmingham Wire Gauge; keep that in mind when you follow historic patterns).

If you have knitting needles from all over the world or of unknown origins, your best bet for identifying their size is by using a knitting gauge. If the needle slides in smoothly and sits snugly in the hole, then you’ve just identified your needle size. Mystery solved! Knitting needle sizes can be confusing. That’s because different countries have different ways of numbering their knitting needles.This blog post is all about knitting needle sizes and conversion charts. Why is this so important to know? A handy little guide to knitting needle sizes including size chart for US, European, and Japanese needles.