Confused as to needle size

I am planning on knitting DROPS slippers in garter st in ”Snow” - it is a free pattern.

My query is that the yarn is quoted as needing 9 mm needles. I am guess that is UK and not US needles? I find it a very stiff yarn so cannot see how knitting in a very big needle will be very easy, as there is not much ‘give’ in it.

The pattern calls for 2 strands of Drops Alpaca (24sts/4") held together on US9 needles (5.5mm). The slippers are going to be very large until felted in a washing machine.
If you go to the Ravelry page and click on Yarn Ideas at the top of the main details page, you’ll find the yarn that others have used for this project. Maybe you will like one of those choices better? Alternatively, you can look for a wool (not acrylic or superwash) that knits at 16sts/4" which is the pattern gauge.

Actually it’s the pattern ee-513. Perhaps the same advice?!

Could you post a link to the correct pattern? “ee” isn’t generally used in the drops numbers so maybe this is a typo or something I’m not familiar with. There are lots of slippers in snow, it would be good to see which pattern it is.

It might also be useful to you to know that with drops patterns you can have a UK English pattern or an American English pattern, the option to switch comes after the sub heading “pattern instructions”. The American version gives US needle sizes and garment measurements in inches, the UK version gives needle size in mm and garment measurements in mm.

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I entered “ee-513” on the DROPS site and got this:

It also calls for 5.5mm needles, which are US 9, or UK 5.

The yarn itself, “Snow”, does indeed suggest 9mm needles, or US 13 / UK 00 (oh, THAT’S not at ALL confusing!). This pattern is not felted, so that’s probably why it asks for smaller needles.

Definitely an area where it’s best to check the metric sizes.

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Thanks so much for figuring that out!

But smaller needles doesn’t knit to the right guage, so will go for Uk 9 mm

Never! Unless it’s supposed to be helpful. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Yep, gauge varies from one knitter to the next so the size that works is the size you need.