hi, I am very new to knitting. I have a question. I’ve been reading knitting books trying to decide what project i want to start first but every project has a different size knitting needles. Is it ok if i use the same size knitting needles for all my projects? I dont really want to buy all the sizes, I’d rather just use one size for all, is that possible? Thanks for the help!
New to forum and knitting
TunkGirl,
Eventually you’re going to want more than 1 size of needles. Different weights of yarns work up better on different sizes of needles - and sometimes you can get a different look by knitting more tightly or more loosely. Each pattern will have a “guage” which will tell you how many stitches per inch your finished product should have - the goal is to use the size of needles which gets you this guage, whatever size that is.
To start with, though, you can probably get a set of US 8s which work well with most medium weight yarns. You may find that you are a tight knitter or a loose knitter and will want to switch to a larger or smaller size needle from there.
But bottom line, you will eventually want to have more than one size of needles if you want to use different yarns for different projects.
you could use the same for most projects but you would have to use a similar yarn as well most of the time. I’m a new knitter also but I think in sticking with the same size needles you limit the types of projects you could do as well as the detail that could be achieved. I also think once you do start your first project and continue to look around you’ll see other things you want to do and end up getting at least 2 or 3 more sets of needles. Also in talking with the extremely helpful people on here you will catch the knitting bug very quickly.
If you are going to follow a pattern, especially for a garment, you need to knit a “gage swatch” and use needles and yarn that match the swatch, not necessarily the needle size in the pattern. If you are knitting a scarf from a pattern, the width of the scarf will be determined by the size of your needle (and yarn) bigger needle, bigger stitches, wider scarf ! I will tell you, when I started knitting I thought it was the perfect thing for a craft product addict like me … two sticks, a ball of yarn … how much “stuff” could I accumulate with a hobby like that. I was SO WRONG ! But that is something you will have to find out on your own … enjoy!
Well, technically you could use only one size needles, but you’ll be somewhat limited by it. It would mostly mean you stick to one or two weights of yarn and probably certain types of projects.
For instance let’s say you have size 8 straight needles. For the most part you’d be using worsted weight yarn although you could use a little lighter for a looser lacier look, but if you go to a heavier weight the fabric will just be too stiff. You won’t be able to do many, if any, seamless projects so you’ll be seaming most everything except dishcloths and scarves. There are many, many patterns written for circular needles or other gauges of yarn and needles so you’ll either have to bone up on math to rewrite them or stick to patterns written for your needle size…
This is why many, if not most, knitters end up getting a set of interchangeable needles. :lol: If you’re interested do a search here and you’ll find bunches of posts on the topic that can probably answer your questions.
Thank you all. Today I bought size 8 knitting needles, I am going to attempt to make a plaid dishcloth and/or striped dishcloth just to see how I do and just for practice because it looked pretty simple to start out with. Eventually I want to make mittens and socks.
That’s a little like saying you’ve just started coloring and you have a bright blue crayon–do you ned to buy any more crayons? 
Okay, not quite that because you CAN knit quite a variety of things in one size needle and the appropriate yarn for that size.
There are a lot of projects where gauge doesn’t matter…scarves, purses and bags and things like that where it doesn’t have to fit someone properly.
When I began knitting, I thought I’d just stick with one size needle, but the second project I wanted to do was in a completely different gauge. For the first few projects, I bought new needle sizes…but ultimately, I sprung for a set of KnitPicks Options so that I got a wide variety of sizes for less money than buying separately.
With the interchangeable needles, I’ve got the proper size for nearly anything else I want to knit (except socks…I bought more for those later on. :))
But you can just decide as you go whether to invest in more needles or be more selective in what you knit.
My first project was a dishcloth…I think it’s a good place to start. I’ve used a few different sizes of needles so far, my favourite ones are acrylic kiddie needles in size 5.