Hello - does anyone use 4.25 mm needles?
Why are they so hard to find?
I am quite a tight knitter and sometimes I find my 4mm’s are not quite right to get the right gauge but 4.5mm is too big, I just need that extra little nudge up. I’ve tried all my local yarn shops to no avail and only ones I can see online in 4.25 are bamboo (a bit too grippy for a tight knitter like me)
Anybody know where I could get metal 4,25’s, preferably 25cm length
Thank you!
4.25 mm needles
Those 4.25 aren’t easy to find. I sometimes come across them or find them grouped together with 4mm. See if this source will work. I have not used them before.
https://www.woolboxusa.com/knitting-needle-collections/sirdar-knitting-needles.html
That’s great - thank you for the link. I’ll check them out
I don’t know where you are.
Is this anynuse?mits UK and they ship internationally
Sirdar also have aluminium needles in 4.25mm on amazon
Oh, sorry, just realised salmonmac already posted a link for Sirdar needles.
Best of luck finding what you need.
Have you tried different brands? I found KnitPicks’ needles to vary from Chiaogoo, for example. I don’t remember the exact difference.
That’s a good thought - my go to needles are knitpro zing but I have lots of other cheaper ones in my box…. I’ll have a look through and see if there’s any variance
Thank you! Ive just looked at your link and ordered some from wool warehouse as I have an account with them
Oh great!
Glad you managed to understand my message with all the crazy typos I end up with. Even more glad to be able to help. I hope they work out for you.
I love my Zing interchangeables. Needles made of different materials will knit at different gauges so here are my thoughts. There are birch tips that have a slicker finish than other wood needles. If you have interchangeables you might try a set of tips and compare them to Zings. There are also the not so slick wood needles that don’t grip like bamboo - Knitter’s Pride has Ginger and Knit Picks has Sunstruck which I find are similar enough to just be clones. When I got tired of defective replacements on defective tips from KnitPicks I switched to Ginger and in future if I encounter more problems with my Sunstrucks I’ll just get Ginger tips and call it good. If you’re in the US you might consider Handsome Fibers as a source. I’ve not bought needles in a quite some time but I like ordering from them.
Many interchangeables have them & almost every Canadian or English retail site will have them. US size 6
You can also try knitting 1 row with your 4mm, and the next row with your 4.5mm. Try the smaller needle on a knit row, purl with larger, then switch and see if you like the result.
My US 6 is supposed to be 4.0 mm and US 7, 4.5 mm. If I had a caliper and measured them would that prove accurate? I’ve no idea. In my world I just try different needles until I get the desired result and go with what works. I know that my Sunstruck needles don’t fit in the hole of the needle gauge like others and would expect them to knit to a different gauge even if that were the only contributing factor.
A needle gauge would be the ultimate judge as long as it’s an accurate one . We outside of the US are constantly switching what’s on American yarn sites, etc back to metric so the listings are very good. Not many needle companies list both on the needle itself.
My hiya hiyas do (& I also knit tight so my 4.5’s are active a lot) so I confirm this firsthand.
(We outside the US realize that you are bred to believe the states has & is the best of everything but it’s by far the last country, even in the underdeveloped world, to not have switched to metric decades ago. We in Canada still talk about inches, miles & esp. pounds but almost anything technical or scientific is metric since the early 70s. There is no other way to keep pace globally)
I’m in the US. I use Clover needles. All of their size 6 needles are 4.25mm.
I think there are so many variables in gauge that each of us has to just find what works for us and that might not be what works for someone else.
Regardless of which country, brand of needle, unit of measurement, straight or circular, interchangeable or fixed, metal or wood… add to the variables that every yarn sits and slides differently from every other type of yarn, yarn weights vary, brands vary, content varies all adding to subtle changes in knitting tension… even the same brand of the same weight but dyed in a different colour can change the way the yarn responds on the needles and through the tensioning hand, and therefore alter the gauge of the resulting fabric… it’s almost impossible to recommend a needle type or size.
Calipers may measure accurately but I’m not sure accurate measuring of needles really helps when so many other variables are in play.
My first set of needles were cheap as chips bamboo (cheaper than chips even), massive set with a huge range of sizes with 0.25mm increments. I doubt they were accurately measured and in any case my 4mm was used so much it warped into a banana bend and I still used it, the tip splintered from over use (emery board and nail varnish fix) several times - but I got great use from my budget needles and I don’t think my projects were any worse off for them.
Same with my first set of fixed circulars, cheap as chips, probably not accurate, over used, eventually the cable split which I repaired many times and just kept on using them.
I have a far more expensive interchangeable set now but I wouldn’t say my knitting looks any better.
I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to my cheap as chips basics if I needed a size not included in my interchangeable set.