Whether you are a beginner or not knitting, the choice of knitting needles is paramount! And there is choice, from straight needles to circular needles through double pointed needles and all materials, we will try to guide you with all these needles variants and their uses.

how to choose your knitting needles

Take stock on materials. Knitting needles, all kinds they can be can look as:

- Metal : It's the knitting needles matter that is most often found , especially in the grandmother knitting box ;). They are unbreakable but can writhe, heavier by diameter, emit a clicking knitting. Your work in progress can easily slide on metal knitting needles (not easy for beginners). The cheapest on the market! (find our metal needles here)

- Plastic (or acrylic) : Plastic or acrylic knitting needles are quite common in large numbers because lighter than metal. They tend to hang knit very well which can also be troublesome for beginners. By cons, they are silent.

- Bamboo and wood in general (rosewood, birch, etc.): Our favorite knitting needles! In bamboo, they are extremely lightweight, the knit slips a bit without hanging. Wooden needles are completely silent. We also provide birch wood needles (basix birch from KnitPro) and rosewood (Symphony from KnitPro), which are more resistant than bamboo needles and much more sweet!

Then we need to talk about the needles numbers, all needles have a number, it is engraved on the cap or the needle itself, this number indicates the needle diameter and matching (must match) to what is indicated on the ball of wool. The lower the number, the smaller the needle and the thread will be small and thus thin your knitting (and vice versa).

straight knitting needles

We now turn to the type of needle, there are several:

- Straight needles (1 tip): these are the most common knitting needles, which come in pairs. They may be 25 cm (see our KnitPro Basix instead of children) to 40 cm for longer, depending on the width of your knitting (but the stitches can be compressed).

Double tip knitting needles

- Double tip knitting needles: These knitting needles, straight too, are dedicated to knitting in the round. The double-pointed needles usually come in batches (4 or 5) for thin seamless tubes knitting, such as hats, socks, leggings, gloves and mittens.

- Circular knitting needles: Unfortunately unknown from beginners these needles are very convenient. Circular needles are designed, too, knitting in the round, but can very well be used for the "classic" flat knitting! So instead of buying one pair of straight needles + 1 circular needle from the same number, you can take only the circular needle. There has been a lot of development for this kind of needles in recent years. There are now two types of circular needles:

Fixed circular metal knitting needles

- Fixed circular needles: As their name implies, fixed circular needles are composed of two tips connected by a cable of a given length. The cable is more or less flexible (which can be annoying). They are less expensive than interchangeable, but you can not interchange the number of needles and the cable length.

Interchangeable circular needles KnitPro
- Interchangeable circular needles: it is essential to bring in when you start knitting seriously ;) ! Interchangeable knitting needles are used to create "a la carte" your needles, you buy the diameter tips you want and a cable to length, then you have just to make the connection with the small tool provided with (small wrench to tighten the needle or it may be unscrewed by knitting).

We offer the interchangeable Symphonie needles from KnitPro, they have a flexible cable and resistant rosewood ends, pretty and very pleasant to the touch.

interchangeable Symphonie needles from KnitPro

As you can see, all these needles types have their utility. Each needle has its job in the knitting world, but if you start to practice seriously this rather addictive activity , a tip:
- invest in interchangeable circular needles, you can all knit with!

The only knit that can possibly resist to interchangeable circular needles, is the small round knit as the caps end, gloves and mittens, socks and gaiters. Fortunately, there is a technique to bypass, It's the method of Magic Loop which may require some dexterity at first but which is very useful!