A question from many people learning to knit… and the answer to which will make a huge difference to your finished product.. So does it matter which knitting needles and yarn you’re using?
Yes. Sadly it makes a massive difference.
– Knitting needles are measured universally in millimetres. This is normally indicated somewhere on the needle.
– If you can’t see an ‘mm’ number then it might be an old school British measurement (a bit like an imperial measurement) or an American sizing convention. There are plenty of online conversion charts that will get you back to mms.
– As with needles you can get all sorts of different thicknesses of yarn – eg lace-weight, DK (double-knit), 4-ply, chunky, Aran-weight…
– Most balls of yarn have a recommended needle size to work with to achieve best knitted results.
– Most patterns indicate a needle size and a recommended yarn. If you follow this then you’ll get something that is the same look and style as the photo. If you don’t, you could end up with a giant’s sock or a very difficult thing to knit.
– Some people deliberately mix up the needles/yarns to achieve a desired effect but if you are following a pattern then it’ll indicate when and where to do this.
– You can try and substitute a yarn in a pattern . As a rule of thumb if the yarn you want to substitute in has the same recommended needle size as the pattern then you should be near-enough ok but it’s not guaranteed.
So in answer to the question.. Yes it does matter which knitting needles and yarn you are using together.
All the Charlie Button Knit Kits have already had the yarn and the needle sizes checked and selected to make sure your knitting project works out exactly as it should do.