Hi peeps,

Hope that you are all doing well.

This week’s post is all about knitting needles: metal ones, verses Bamboo.

When I first started knitting again, probably in my late twenties. I needed some knitting needles but all I could find were ones made from Bamboo. As I hadn’t knitted anything for several years, so I thought that Bamboo needles were all the ones available now. I found them strange and difficult to use, mainly because I was afraid of breaking them! Also, I had only ever used metal needles before so using something so light and fragile seemed strange. I did get used to them eventually and discovered that metal ones were still for sale, which was great news.

Metal Needles: Are predominately made from aluminium and are available in most sizes. Although some larger needles can only be bought made from plastic – which I’m not keen on.

Pros:

1. Sturdier.
2. Easy to use.
3. Durable.
4. Comes in a range of sizes.
5. Readily available.
6. Makes the associated sound of knitting.
7. Cost effective.

Cons:

1. Can be slippy.
2. Stitches are easy to lose. Particularly when increasing or knitting a lace pattern.
3. Using a thin yarn on small metal needles can be difficult as the yarn is difficult to grip with the needles.
4. Can be heavy.
5. May make your wrists ache.

Bamboo Needles: Can only usually be bought from 3mm up to 6mm. All other sizes would be either metal or plastic.

Pros:

1. Light-weight.
2. Easy to use.
3. Easy to grip thinner yarn with.
4. Portable.
5. It’s a preferred choice by people with wrist related issues as they are lighter and puts less pressure on the wrists.

Cons:

1. Can be expensive.
2. Have more of a tendency to snap/break.
3. Doesn’t have a wide size range.

There’s a quick overview of needles. It’s by no means exhaustive and it’s only what I have discovered myself, but it’s a personal choice and other people will probably have more of a different experience. That’s fine, make your own decision. I really don’t like using plastic needles if I can help it as they do not knit smoothly, and I find them difficult to use as the yarn doesn’t slide easily on them. Sometimes I have no choice because if I’m making a project and I need a larger needle then plastic is my only option, but if I can choose, I would pick either metal or Bamboo, depending on what I’m making.

Thanks for reading my post! Feel free to share,

Sarah. 😊