Reblog: Knitting Needle Material Affects Gauge

It's been...well, about half a year. So let's get back into it? I am still designing but between work and school (both full time) it is slooooooooow going. However, I ran across this post on my news feed via Knitty and found it a very interesting and educational read. Plus it is pretty good timing for the Shop/Product Info Wednesday post n_n

(c) Knit Darling

It does make me wonder what the reasons behind this difference are...

Circumference-wise, I feel like it may be the amount of traction (is that the right word? I feel like I am looking for a different word...). Anyway, I have not worked with carbon needles, but I can say from my experience that I prefer wood because metal is very slippery and plastic/resin is very sticky. In terms of stitch size, metal allows me to knit tightly because the stitches won't still on the needle and the tips are pointier allowing me to more easily work into a tight stitch. Also, the yarn slides more on the metal which inadvertently leads to me pulling the stitches tighter. Plastic is the opposite, especially when working with acrylic or man-made yarns. My stitches stick slide less and the tips are rounder, causing me to work a looser gauge, Wood/Bamboo is my material of choice because it isn't as slipper as metal, but they are sanded and polished to give more glide than plastic. Also, the tips are just pointy enough to work into the rogue tight stitch if necessary.

Length-wise, I do not have such a finite theory. Personally, I understand the material affecting stitch size as described on my personal experience above, but I would think that relates to overall stitch size not just width? Needles of the same size should have almost the same circumference (allowing for manufacturing variances), which would result in the same height? The only thing I can think of is that for my tighter stitches may lead to more pull on the yarn/stitch which would elongate it. Carbon excluded, it follows that the wider the stitch is, the shorter it is which kind of coincides with this idea...

She does not go over crochet hooks, so I would be interested to see a similar experiment with them. Regardless, it is a good reminder to always gauge both with the exact needle you will be using as well as in the same method technique (flat/round, etc).

So what do you think? Do you have any experience or theories to add to the discussion?