Calling all knitters! Needle advice needed!

[WeAreSix]

My DMum has recently started knitting again after a 20 year break. She used to knit all the while and now she's retired has taken up the hobby again. She still knits so fast I swear there's sparks coming off the needles!

The only thing that's bothering her is her hands are hurting. A lady in a local wool shop suggested it might be because DM uses metal needles. DM likes her old needles as they slip easily. The shop lady suggested DM tried wooden or bamboo needles. Her advice was that once broken in and with natural skin oils on they would slip just as well and wouldn't give her any pain.

Anyone got bamboo needles? Are they any good? I thought I might buy DM some for Christmas if they're any good

Thank you :)

I use bamboo and also rose wood needles. I wouldn't now go back to metal if I could help it. I have read several reports in knitting magazines that wooden needles are better for hands so I got my mother to have a go as she has very arthritic hands and she really noticed the difference.

Even more wacky is that the square wood needles are better still. They are quite expensive though. Examples here

They do change the stitch definition a little bit but they are apparently lovely to work with.

I think wooden needles would make a lovely pressie.

I went onto bamboo needles a few years back and would never go back to metal. They're warmer, just as slick with the various wool types I use and much prettier.

I'd love another set for Christmas

Thank you for the link, they do look a bit wacky! I might buy her a couple of different types so she can have a try.

I wish I could knit! I wore a cardi that DM had knitted for me today and couldn't believe how toasty warm I was. I'm normally shivering and moaning that I'm freezing!!

The cubic needles are good. Metal (in the sense of the Pony needles) is not a great material - I totally heart my Knit Pro Novas though (brass).

What she might want to try is a circular needle. This just means two needle tips joined together by a cable (the Novas in the link above are an example of interchangeable tips that you can screw on to a cable of the required length for whatever you're knitting). They are much easier to use when knitting a larger garment because you don't have to carry all the weight of the garment on the needles as you're knitting.

The other thing she could try is continental knitting. In this style, you hold the yarn in your left hand instead of your right, and it massively reduces the amount of back-and-forth movements you are making with your right arm/hand. However - it is very difficult to teach yourself continental knitting (not impossible, I did it) and highly frustrating to have to be a beginner again. It completely pays off, though - I find it a lot easier to knit this way.

I got a set of bamboo needles as a Christmas present last year. I took a couple of weeks to get used to them as I felt they were pointier than my steel ones but I love them now. In fact I have just bought my sister a set for her Christmas present as she suffers with arthritis in her hands. They get better with use and I wouldn't go back to metal ones now.

I can't imagine DM learning it again, she doesn't have much patience! I've never seen her use circular needles.

She said the same thing about new needles woolly Too pointy sharp & not slippery!

Now I have needle envy Bertha

I want rosewood ones. Unusually for my DH he has bought my Christmas presents. I may have to wait for my birthday...

Or just buy them for myself

Change the project if you get achy hands.

I have allsorts of needles and TBH if I knit socks all the time I get sore thumbs and if I knit DK/aran stuff I get achy hands , but a night of one then a night of the other and I'm fine.

Circular needles are easy to get used to and some people (depends on how you knit exactly) find they take the strain off their hands a bit. The weight of the thing being knitted sits on your lap rather than dangling off needles. You don't have to knit a circular thing with them, they are fine for ordinary back and forth knitting.

Birch needles are lovely too (google for them) and Clover make very good bamboo ones.

She's been knitting baby clothes mainly :) I've just 'ordered' some more bootees. I bet she wishes I could knit too....

I'm going to have fun googling all these needles. Never knew so many existed!

I have arthritis in my hands, but knit all the time. It's good therapy for them apparently.
I use Knitpro wooden circular needles. They are brilliant.
I would also say that knitting with acrylic, and cotton, make my hands ache. They are much better with pure wool.

I agree that some of the wood ones are quite pointy. My rosewood ones do seem to have quite a pointy point iyswim, the bamboo don't seem so bad to me. They can be quite hard on your fingertip if you don't have a great technique like me. On the other hand I still rate them better than metal because, despite the pointiness, they are briliant if you need a defined point. I found them very useful for fine yarn, lacy knits using yarns like kidsilk or something. You don't want a tip that is too rounded for that or for any yarn that is easily split.

The other advantage of wood, apart from being lighter and more forgiving than metal, is that they are much quieter which might be an issue if you live with somebody easily irritated by the clicking of the needles like my dad is.

Fossil - Thank you, you put me out of my misery. I was trying to remember what the other type of wooden ones are - birch! I always think they look lovely but my LYS don't sell them so I managed to avoid 'having' to buy yet more knitting needles.

More help needed!

What size do I buy?! Never thought about that bit

DMum knits with soft baby wool, mainly making cardigans and the like for the grandchildren.

Given that the most common knitting yarn is probably double knitting(DK) I would go for 4mm and 3.25mm if you just wanted to buy a couple of sets. A lot of baby/toddler clothes would be DK. Depending on how much you want to spend you can get sets of needles. I think Knit Pro do them. You will get the most commonly used needles in a set so you wouldn't have to think about it too much.

If you don't want to buy a set, 4ply needs 3mm and 3.5mm needles (I think, I don't usually use it), Aran usually needs 5mm needles, for chunky it's 6-8mm and the really thick bulky yarns are 9mm -15mm so you can work out which are the most likely to be used.

I owe you a debt of gratitude!

DK and 4 ply are very familiar, I'm pretty sure that's what she's been using. I like the idea of a set of needles, will have a look at the website.

Thank you a million times!

Oh my days this is harder than I thought.

Length?! I didn't know needles came in so many bloody sizes! She'd better like them...

Oh now you are asking! That isn't something I usually think about. I just use the size that suits what I am doing without looking at the length.

I think 34cm is the standard length but 23cm would be fine for knitting children's clothes and personally I prefer the shorter ones. If you have the chance, you could have a look at what your mother is using now because they will be what she is used to. I know my own mother tends to favour the longer ones but that might be because longer ones are more versatile and when she was younger she wouldn't have bought new needles as often as I do! I suppose longer ones will always be useable for projects large or small, but you might find projects which are too big for shorter needles iyswim.

Did you see this set? Gorgeous but very expensive. I can't imagine every forking out that much even though I bet they are lovely to use.

These here are much more affordable and I am sure they are good to use as well.

I have been following this because I need a circular needle in a new size and think I might try a wooden one this time. I am confused - as far as I can see the KnitPro Symfonie Rose range are birch... not rosewood.... Does that mean the choice is just bamboo or birch?

OK - less confused now - it appears to be Pony that make the rosewood ones!

Hobby craft have bamboo needles, circular and straight. I got DM two pairs. I found a website with Rosewood and they were too expensive.

Thanks for all the help :)