Knitting help

[lunavix]

Have ordered debbie bliss' baby knits for beginners and erika knights cherished knits for babies, hopefully between self teaching and getting dp's gran to help I may learn! Books should come in the next few days, but someone's offered me some needles if I know what I want - what do I need to complete some of the projects in these books? Metal? Plastic? What size? Short or long? I know nothing at the moment!

[beansmum]

You wont know what size needles to get until you have the patterns and have chosen what to knit. I always end up using a size bigger than the patterns say because I knit too tightly.

I think most needles are metal, except really fat ones which are usually plastic, but I don't think you'll be using them for baby clothes will you?

I suppose for baby clothes you wont need huge long needles so if you have a choice of length go for shortish ones, but long ones would be fine too. Just take whatever you are offered, you can never have too many needles!

[beansmum]

just been looking at my baby patterns, most of them seem to need 3mm - 3 3/4mm needles, but it depends on the wool. If you have some wool already have a look at the ball band, it might have a little picture of crossed needles with a recommended needle size.

[merglemergle]

Hi lunavix. I actually have the Erika Knight book in front of me and have had a flick through. Bascially, she seems to use mainly the following sizes: 3 mm, 3 1/4 mm, 3 3/4 mm, 4 mm and 4 1/2 mm. She DOES use smaller sizes too (2mm-2 3/4 mm).

Now as I recall, Debbie Bliss is very very fond of her own brand (but lovely) cashmerino aran which uses 5 mm needles. There are some bits and pieces in her book on the smaller needles though.

I'd reccomend longer needles actually for erika knight because many of her things are knitted of a piece, so you end up with loads of stitches on one needle (but you finish quicker IYSWIM).

There is much debate about the best type of needle. I think bamboo is fantastic but would use metal in preferance to plastic any day. Don't know anyone who would choose plastic over metal but I am happy to stand corrected!

I would also recommend waiting to have a look at the books tho.

Good luck with it!

[zippy539]

As beansmum says - you wont know what you need till you see the pattern. Unless you are knitting something huge you probably wont need long needles. When you find a pattern you like borrow the needle size suggested plus a couple of extra pairs - one size bigger and one size smaller, cause as beansmum has said, you might find you knit tighter or slacker than 'normal'.


I only started knitting last year and now I love it! The thing to remember is that to knit nearly anything you only need to know two stiches - knit and purl. Everything else is a variation on those two. Happy knitting

[zippy539]

Sorry - meant to say that if you're having a knitting confidence crisis have a look at the first Stitch n' Bitch book. The patterns are a bit whacky for some tastes (not mine) but the knitting instruction is really user friendly and not at all intimidating. Whenever I'm stuck I check it out.

[weesaidie]

Hey, I really like the Stitch and Bitch book. Although I was taught to knit (by my dad!) it really helped me on some of the things neither of us were sure of.

In my experience it is best if you have someone you can ask to show u tricky bits!

I have Debbie bliss, her and Erika Knights are gorgeous but I wouldn't necessarily use the v v expensive (but lovely!) wool.

My advice is start off on something that asks for larger needles, 4 or 5? Just because it will knit up quicker and as a beginner it is very frustrating if it seems to be taking ages! I am near the end of an adult jumper using 3.75s and has taken ages!

I did a nice Debbie B raglan jumper with size 5s, v easy and I knitted 2 because it was sooo cute! Good luck!