Hello
Can anyone guide me towards what i can buy or what i need to look for please.
I have the blunt tapestry needle for weaving in ends and seaming knitting and this is good for dk and fingering weight, some finer fingering weight i have to use a different needle which i think is a tapestry needle but it is sharp. I don’t really like it because it catches through the yarn when i dont want it to but so far i have put up with it.
I am making a lace swatch and need a thin blunt needle to add a life line. The sharp needle is catching on the yarn as i try to go through the sts on a cicular cable.
I’d like to make a full size piece of this lace but worried about going ahead without life lines, i dropped 1 stitch yesterday and lost 50 rows. The lace pattern is on both sides too so no resting row where i can more easily add a life line or fix sts.
Its 2.5mm knitting needle so quite small sts to get through.
Tapestry needle or darning needle are the correct terms. Both should have fairly blunt tips, as they’re intended to go between threads and not split them. Purl Soho sells sets of 3 that might have the small size you need. https://www.purlsoho.com/collections/tools-notions-tapestry-needles
The main issue may be that once the needle is very thin, it’s just the size that leads to splitting the yarn, not how pointy the tip is. Do your circulars have a tightening hole? If so, you can thread your lifeline through that and it will be placed as you knit. One downside is that it also goes through all of the markers, so you need them to be the removeable kind. A possibly bigger downside is that you need to knit that row correctly!
Cross stitch needles should be blunt too since they’re meant to go between the threads of the canvas and I’ve used that with fingering yarn. I’m curious what the brand of the kit is, but it might be worth looking at what a local store has for cross stitch, you might find some better blunter ones
You can find smaller and blunter yet though. You can look for ball point needles? They’re meant for sewing jersey and stretchy fabrics. But if the ones I have are consistent with what’s available out there, they might be too small to fit yarn…
I have a needle thin enough to use with fingering and blunt enough that with a little bit of attention I avoid splitting stitches. I think it came in a package of darning needles I picked up cheap. I can therefore say these needles do exist. Finding them? I’m not sure beyond searching for blunt thin needles what to try. I got a hit on Amazon but to ask a question I’d have to sign in to Alexa and I won’t do that.
Thanks everyone.
It took a bit of detective work considering my total lack of sewing knowledge or skill but I eventually decided I might need size 20 or 24 but i was worried these might turn out so small i would find them fiddly. I found a set of 6 with sizes 18 to 24 so i think one of these must be suitable.
It is something i have wanted for quite a while but had no idea what to buy.
Set on ebay was under £3 and free postage, brand looked somewhat random although it said they were made in the UK. I couldn’t find the mixed set in the brands I was trying to get without paying an additional £6 postage.
@Remi the cross stitch kit was a random brand made in China (on amazon). I chose it as my son loves bright colours and cheeky pictures, it was a set of 2 large (about cushion size) preprinted canvases and we did one each together. I wasn’t expecting much from the kit as you can’t really be sure about the quality from a random business and the price was ridiculously low too. I have to say though it was excellent quality, beautiful threads all numbered and in order and plenty of each colour (lots left over too), a bunch of needles and threaders. The details do say “embroidery needles” rather than tapestry needle.
It was such a lovely activity for us to do together.
@salmonmac thanks for suggesting a threader. I do have several although I’m hoping I won’t need to use one.
I use this tapestry needles size 22 for needle point. For me the easiest for life line is using tatting needle. It comes in 4 sizes and 5"/12.5cm long. I’m impatient with small needle and don’t own interchangeable, so this one is perfect for me
Thanks for the info.
The tatting needle really is long. You are very skilled with needle crafts!
Hopefully the sizes I’ve ordered will be small enough to go through the stitch I’m making but big enough to be able to thread and manoeuvre easily.
I have in mind making a top, maybe around 40 or 50cm width lace panel with stockinette each side seam. So far it looks like this will only need about 10cm length of knitting needle/cable to work it which has surprised me.
Do they MAKE 10cm cables??? I wouldn’t think you could get the tips close enough together to knit!
I like to use a longer cable than I technically need, so I can spread the stitches out when I set it aside, so they can relax. It would also be much easier to thread the lifeline through if your stitches are spread out on a longer cable.
Oh, no, I didn’t mean I had it on such a short cable, I was just surprised how little space it took up on the needle. My swatch has 38 sts and squishes to a couple of cm, spread out it’s more like 10 cm.
I’m not even sure i can work this on a circular because i often find with lace i get annoyed at the pulling and snagging across the join from cable onto needle, esp if the sts sort of shrink on the cable. I notice the traditional lace knitters used thin straights and i believe straights are better for finer lace as the stitches stay the same size, meaning a smooth glide for easier and faster flow. So far though i am managing.
