I have a wip using size 6 interchangeable circular needle. These are 5 inch length. Now a new project I jumped to also needs size 6. All I had were 4 inch ones in that size. Not sure why I had this. But does it really make any difference as long as cable is long enough?
Needle size
Hello.
So long as the needle is the right gauge, it doesn’t matter how long the shaft is.
You might want to just be aware that some hand ache might come on faster if you are not used to using them, i have to hold needles differently if they are the short type and this can cause some stiffness. It may not be the case for you.
What @Creations said. If you hold the tips differently your gauge might change too. For me tip length would matter a lot. I won’t use the shorter tips because my hands scream at me. I’d cap the ends of the cable on my WIP and use the same tips. I would also attach something indicating which tips I’d been using. I like those pullout things in beverage containers (faux milk, for example) for this. The ring will go on the cable like a stitch marker and I use a Sharpie to mark the needle size on the disk piece. For me a WIP in waiting tends toward UFO status and the info of which needles then really matters.
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Good points. I am learning thru trial and error, mostly errors. I use knit companion and I have learned that if I have a project that sits for awhile, when I come back to it I don’t remember what I was keeping track of. They are meaningless numbers. So current project, down in notes I have recorded what each color is recording. For example: red= rows, blue is number of repeats. Hope this helps in the future. Also I took the shorter needles from a project and in the bag I put a post it note to tell me what size needle I was using when I get back to it. But your idea would also do the same thing.
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I’m the opposite! I love my Lykke 3.5" tips! The 5" ones feel very awkward to me…like I might as well be using straights. What makes my hands hurt is teeny-tiny ones (smaller than a #3), or great big ones (more than #9). But that’s why they make so many kinds…we are all different!
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Since I also needed a longer cable I ordered another size 6 of 5” length. I will say I was using the 4” ones I had and it wasn’t causing any hand issues but I think as the shawl grows it maybe might become an issue. I figured I seem to use a lot of size 5, 6, and eight so an extra set will not go to waste and I can now see I jump around a lot with my projects. I think since I’m not a fast knitter I tend to switch or have to start something new because maybe it gets “stale”. To be honest I’m really not sure why I do that and I do go back and complete the one that is put aside, so I guess no harm done.
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That’s your style and it works. What else really matters?
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Many people like to have multiple projects going. Depending on the project, sometimes they do get a bit “stale”. I tend to have one complex pattern to work on at home, and a “no-think” one to take to my knitting group, or to watch TV. And a few that I’ve set aside for various reasons…that I hope I’ll get back to eventually.
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I wanted to reply to see if this helps in the future. The needles at each end of a cable do not need to be the same size. Your gauge is determined by the working needle, the one you put new stitches on, for most of righthanded knitters = right hand needle. The feeder needle (lefthand needle) can be much finer and it will not affect gauge.
So you can unscrew the lefthand needle from your WIP and use it as the RH needle on your new project (assuming same brand and fittings).
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Thanks for this. I had heard this before but had forgotten about it. So I will flag this or file this somewhere that I can find it in the future.