Knitting needle sizes can be confusing. That’s because different countries have different ways of numbering their knitting needles. The second and third columns show the US knitting needle sizes and the UK knitting needle sizes, respectively. The final column is a crochet hook size chart, which can be useful, especially if you're bistitchual. If you need to work out what size you should use for to knit a particular item, I recommend that you knit yourself a tension square or two.

Well, did you know that knitting needle sizes are not universal? It’s true. Different countries list their knitting needle sizes differently. This can cause confusion if you’re trying to decipher which knitting needle size you actually need for a knitting project. Now, you might be wondering about the difference between knitting needle sizes? Why are there so many and which size should you use? What’s the difference? Well, depending on your yarn weight, you will need a different needle with a different diameter to create an attractive fabric! This can be an incredibly complicated topic or super simple. So, let’s go through the details step-by-step. Close-up shot of a typical commercial yarn label That, of course, does not explain the conundrum of the US needle sizes. Why don’t they follow the Imperial system? To be quite honest, nobody really knows! It remains a fact, however, that from around 1900 US manufacturers started selling their own needle gauges – following no system at all. Or rather, the actual sizes followed (more or less) the Imperial system but the numbers were rising, much like the metric system popular in mainland Europe.In the following, you can see the knitting needle conversion chart for Japanese knitting needle sizes. Japan (JPN) also uses the metric system for measurement so you’ll find the sizes in millimeters (mm). This blog post is all about knitting needle sizes and conversion charts. Why is this so important to know? As seen below, these are Addi flexible double pointed knitting needles (DPNs) used for circular knitting. Notice the label indicates the knitting needle size and/or the millimeter (mm) measurement. I tend to use metric sizes as no matter where you are 2.0mm is still 2.0mm, and here in Australia most of the patterns you buy will list both the metric size and the equivalent United Kingdom and/or Canadian size.

This knitting needle size conversion chart compares knitting needles in the US and UK, with crochet hook sizes thrown in for good measure! Metric (mm) Unlike Swiss cheese, these holes are precisely sized for measuring knitting needles! This is a standard plastic gauge for measuring knitting needle sizes.

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A handy little guide to knitting needle sizes including size chart for US, European, and Japanese needles. These days, I see an increasing switch among U.S. pattern designers to the metric system for similar reasons. Since the Imperial and the U.S. knitting needle size system still exist side by side, recommending size 6 needles can be very confusing as knitters from both sides of the pond are likely to buy a given pattern.

These handy charts also include knitting needle sizes and conversions for Australia and New Zealand, the UK and Canada, the US, and Japan. Susan Webster concludes in a noteworthy post that “then, somehow, magically, around the time of World War II, needle and gauge markers united around the “Standard American” size”. She argues that it could be a result of wartime restrictions. Decades of confusion among knitters might have elevated that demand. This first knitting needle chart is broken down into four columns. The first column lists knitting needle sizes in millimeters (mm), which is how Australia (AU) and New Zealand (NZ) list their sizes. In Japan, knitting needles use different standard metric sizes, starting at 2.1 mm and going up to 25 mm. What is My Knitting Needle Size?So, your first step should always, I repeat, always be knitting a gauge swatch to confirm you are knitting a satisfying fabric in line with your thoughts or the requirements of your pattern. what size knitting needles for beginners