Knitting needles

What kind of knitting needles do you need for different types of yarn? Is there a standard sizing system, or does it depend on how the stitches fall?

Dropped stitches can be a bit annoying when knitting.

Take a look at the yarn label.

@Frankub
welcome here to Crazypatterns.
Our patterns usually specify which needle size and which yarn are well suited for them. If you’re currently having a problem with a pattern, I can ask the respective author for you, or is this a general question?

Bamboo needles tend to snag threads with certain types of yarn.

Why can I only ever write 2 lines of text? Help, Josefa

I mean the size of the stitches? Sorry, that was a bit poorly phrased. Does it depend on the needle size—so the bigger the needle, the bigger the stitches? 

This is a general question. Thank you very much. Best regards, Frank Uber

Thanks

@mupfelbea
Are you on your phone? We sometimes have that problem—can you switch to a computer or laptop?

@frankub
The needle size does affect the size of the stitches, that’s true. But the stitch size also depends on how tightly or loosely you knit.

Yes. Cell phone. Thanks.

Generally speaking, the recommended needle size for each yarn is usually printed on the label.
This needle size is typically chosen so that the stitch definition is nice, dense, and even.

However, if you want to knit (or crochet) a very light, airy lace pattern, you should use larger/thicker needles than those specified for the yarn—this makes the stitches larger and “more open,” so to speak.

Needle size also generally affects how tight or loose your work turns out—especially if you knit very tightly, it can help to simply choose a needle one size larger. This will make the stitches looser.
Conversely, if you knit very loosely, you can use a smaller needle size to make the stitches a bit tighter and more even.

Why not simply try out how different needle sizes affect the look of your knitting using some yarn? That’s the best way to see what feels right and what you like :-D

By the way, in German-speaking countries (and also in the UK, for example), knitting and crochet needle sizes are given in mm—these mm values literally indicate how thick the needles are.

In the U.S., as with pretty much all units of measurement, they use a different system. They indicate needle sizes with letters—just as they use different units and terms for yarn yardage. ;-)

Thanks for the detailed information. Thanks, Frankub