Needle Sizes and Conversions
In the UK, knitting needle 'numbers' are the Standard Wire Gauge designation of the wire from which metal needles are made. The origin of the numbering system is uncertain but it is thought that needle numbers are based on the number of increasingly fine dies that the wire has to be drawn through. In the UK, then, thinner needles thus have a larger number, whereas in the US the opposite applies.
| Metric size (mm) | U.S. size | UK / Canadian size | Japanese size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 | 0 | 14 | |
| 2.1 | 0 | ||
| 2.25 | 1 | 13 | |
| 2.4 | 1 | ||
| 2.5 | |||
| 2.7 | 2 | ||
| 2.75 | 2 | 12 | |
| 3.0 | 11 | 3 | |
| 3.25 | 3 | 10 | |
| 3.3 | 4 | ||
| 3.5 | 4 | ||
| 3.6 | 5 | ||
| 3.75 | 5 | 9 | |
| 3.9 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | 6 | 8 | |
| 4.2 | 7 | ||
| 4.5 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| 4.8 | 9 | ||
| 5.0 | 8 | 6 | |
| 5.1 | 10 | ||
| 5.4 | 11 | ||
| 5.5 | 9 | 5 | |
| 5.7 | 12 | ||
| 6.0 | 10 | 4 | 13 |
| 6.3 | 14 | ||
| 6.5 | 10 ½ | 3 | |
| 6.6 | 15 | ||
| 7.0 | 2 | 7 mm | |
| 7.5 | 1 | ||
| 8.0 | 11 | 0 | 8 mm |
| 9.0 | 13 | 00 | 9 mm |
| 10.0 | 15 | 000 | 10 mm |
| 12.0 | 17 | ||
| 16.0 | 19 | ||
| 19.0 | 35 | ||
| 25.0 | 50 |
Read more about this topic: Knitting Needle
Famous quotes containing the word needle:
“I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better fits,
A poet’s pen, all scorn, I should thus wrong;
For such despite they cast on female wits:
If what I do prove well, it won’t advance,
They’ll say it’s stolen, or else it was by chance.”
—Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612–1672)