Monica Knits

These colorful, straight needles came from my mother-in-law's collection and were in high use for over 50 years. They are British (pre-metric) sizes, so when I use them I have to employ my needle gauge.

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For information on the needles I use... Read more

Straight Needles: Aero
(Abel Morrall Ltd., Redditch England, now Coats & Clark Canada Inc.)
These straight needles have stood the test of time and were my main needles until I switched to circular needles. I still use them for every project. When I knit with circular needles I make the test swatches with these needles first, since I have a complete range and they are very convenient for selecting the appropriate gauge. I use these when I am knitting "flat". When I am designing a garment from scratch, I will often knit it flat first, since this gives me more latitude for fitting and to alter the design as I go.

Circular Needles: Knit Picks
I have tried other brands, but until I found these (both the classic circular and the interchangeble tip needles), I did not like using circular needles. I found them too inflexible or slow. In some cases they had a tendence to snag the yarn. These not only satisfied my design needs, but they sped up my knitting and reduced strain on my hands for heavier projects like dresses and coats. The photo shows two of my circular needles: classic circular on the top right and options needle tips and cables on the bottom left. The cables come in multiple lengths suitable for knitting socks to suits.

Closeup of Knit Picks needle tips and the threaded cables for the interchangeable tips. The classic circular needles are shown on the bottom right. Classic needles, due to their small diameter do not have interchangeable tips. The closeup also shows the cable ends (male) which thread into the needle tips (female).

Double Pointed Needles (dpns): Aero, Susan Bates, Imra, and Knit Picks.
Here is a sample of the dpns I use. Most of the needles shown above are Aero, which are my original needles. Aero has since been purchased by Coats & Clark, but these needles are no longer available. When I purchased my knitting needles originally, the store didn't sell a complete range of dpns, so I have purchased dpns as I need them over the years from various manufacturers. Knit picks has added "between" sizes which correspond to metric British needles which were unavailable in North America until recently. I had been searching for two years for specific needle sizes that corresponded with my straight needle set. I had contacted a few retailers and manufacturers without success. When Knit Picks offered them I rushed to order them as soon as they were advertised. I wasn't the only one, because some sizes were on back order.

I use dpns for cuffs (in the round), some cables and making changes a few rows back. The dpns allow you to undo a small, localized section and change it or correct an error (cosmetic or other). I also use them for knitting I-cords, picking up provisional stitches and holding stitches in a Kitchener stitch bind off.