How To Choose The Best Knitting Needles For Beginners - A Beginner’s Guide

Getting started with knitting might be a bit confusing in the beginning. You may wonder about the essentials required to begin knitting. Well when you are just starting all you really need is yarn and knitting needles.

Below is the beginners guide to everything you would need for knitting. The most important of all is the best knitting needles for beginners. Because if you don't start knitting with the best needle, you might end up frustrated and discouraged. So, follow the guide below and learn everything there is about the good knitting needles for beginners.

What Are Knitting Needles?

If you are new to the crafts world, you might not even know what exactly knitting needles are. They are definitely not the same as the regular sewing needles. Needles for knitting are tools which have a long pointed pin as a working part on one end and a knob or a cable which joins it with a second needle. The pointed tip grabs the yarn while the stitches that have been knitted are placed on the pin.

There are basically just two ways to use the knitting needles for knitting. You can either use the knit flat technique in which you knit in the back and forth motion from one needle to the other, or you can use the circular knitting in which you knit in the round. Depending on the technique there are different knitting needles available. Some needles are used for flat knitting, some for circular knitting and some needles have the ability to do both. This guide covers the types and sizes of best knitting needles for beginners.

What Are The Different Types Of Needles For Knitting?

When you are learning to knit, uncomfortable and inappropriate needles are the last thing you want to worry about. When you visit a craft store to gather needles for knitting, you might get overwhelmed with all the different options of needle types and sizes as a new knitter. 

There are a few things you need to know about the best knitting needles for beginners before you get into it, so let’s get to know them.

1.   YARN

First things first, the most basic and important thing you'll need for knitting is yarn. The best yarn to learn to knit with is a medium worsted weight yarn. Also, it's recommended to use wool as the knitting yarn for beginners. However, cotton yarn is not a good choice for beginners as it has no stretch, so it might get rather difficult to knit. 

The next thing is the color of the yarn. After selecting a medium worsted wool yarn, you'll decide if you should choose a light or a dark color of yarn. Well, the light color yarns makes it easier for the knitter to see the stitches they have made. So it’s better to stick to lighter shades of yarn. Shop Now. 

1.   NEEDLE TYPE

The knitting with 4 needles for beginners is discussed below, so you can choose which one you'll need according to your project.

1) STRAIGHT NEEDLES

When we talk about knitting the only type of the needles that comes to mind might be straight needles. Straight needles or Single Pointed Needles are one of the most common types of knitting needles. These needles are considered best for people who are new to knitting. These starter knitting needles are often used by people who want to learn knitting, and they are easy to use. Straight needles have two needles, each needle has a sharp pointed tip and the other side has a stopper at the end. The best thing about these needles is that they are suitable for smaller knitting projects and are good knitting needles for beginners. These needles are often used to knit scarfs, and washcloths as the needle don't hold as many stitches as circular needles do. The usual size range of straight needles varies from 9 to 14 inches / 23 to 35 cm long approximately. Shop Straight Needles. 

2) DOUBLE POINTED NEEDLES

Double pointed needles are also known as DPN’s, it's another versatile type of needle that can be used by beginners. The DPN’s have short needles that are pointed on both ends. It comes in a set of four or five and is considered as smaller straight needles. DPN’s are among the best knitting needles for beginners as it helps the beginners to start knitting small projects like mittens, socks, baby hats, and arms for sweaters. With the use of Double pointed needles you can start knitting your favorite project in the round, which means knitting without a seam. The size of Double Pointed needles ranges from 5 to 8 inches that is 13 to 20 cm long, and they are made in the similar materials as the other needles. Shop Now.

3) CIRCULAR KNITTING NEEDLES

A circular knitting needle has two tips, short needles, attached with a cable or cord. Circular needle knitting for beginners are considered one of the most versatile types of knitting needles. So, if you want to knit circular knitting for beginners or even flat knitting, you can use a circular needle for both.

If the attached cable is long enough you will be able to have loads of stitches and can knit large projects. You can knit a small like a sock or scarf through a long cable using magic loop technique. The length of the circular needle is usually 16 to 40 inches.

These best circular knitting needles for beginners provide an ease to the people who want to learn a new techniques of knitting. Shop Now.

4) INTERCHANGEABLE KNITTING NEEDLES

These needles are best for a dedicated knitter. Interchangeable needles let the beginners knit according to their technique as it provides a flexibility of circular needles in many sizes. So, interchangeable knitting needles can be used for knitting flat or in the round.

The same as a circular needle, these needles are comprised of two needle tips and a cable. The size of the needle and the length of the cord of interchangeable needles varies and it can be of different sizes or lengths as per the knitter choice and need. Interchangeable knitting needles can be purchased individually or in sets, it is totally up to the knitter as well as their need. The needles are typically assembled through the technique of screwing the pieces together, although some snap in place and some make use of small keys to attach the points to the cable. The size of interchangeable needles is usually size 4 (3.5 mm) up to 15 (10 mm). Shop Interchangeable Knitting Needles.

1.   NEEDLE SIZE

The most important thing to remember about the needle size is that the needle you choose must fit the yarn. The knitting needles come in 0000-50 sizes. The size of the needles are generally labelled in four systems which are US, UK, Metric and Japanese. While the most easily available and commonly used needles are the one that are labeled with United States (US) and Metric (MM) numbers both. The best knitting needles for beginners are usually a US 8.

The following Standard Yarn Weight System by the Craft Yarn Council can help you select the knitting yarn for beginners and the knitting needle size for beginners.

Which Knitting Needles Should Beginners Pick?

The best knitting needles for beginners are medium sized needles. When beginning with knitting, the medium sized needles make the newbies feel comfortable and secure. 

Now that you know everything about the essential knitting tools, that is, the yarn and the knitting needles. There shouldn’t be anything stopping you from buying the tools and getting started with knitting. Fillory Yarn is an online store that offers the best yarn and needles for beginners. So don’t wait any longer and purchase the best wool for beginner knitters and the right needle type in the appropriate size, and get started with it.