Knitting needle types

There are several kinds of knitting needles, and figuring it which one(s) you need can be kind of challenge at first.

The most important distinction is between straight and circular, and confusingly the 3rd type, double-pointed needles, look straight but function as circular ones :-). The main point here is whether you want to knit flat or in the round.

Straight needles are the most simple, and probably the ones your grandmother used, they're just a stick with a tapered end and another end with some sort of stop, often a simple knob. They're also called single-pointed. The tapered end is necessary to let you get the needle into an existing stitch, and the stop to keep your knitting from running off the other end, allowing you to knit something much wider than the needle length since knitting compresses easily. However that should be within reason, since a longer needle is a bit harder to maneuver than a short one, so skinny objects can be done on relatively shorter needles. You can do pretty much any flat object with these, but only flat objects.

Circular needles usually consist of 2 short straight pieces, tapered as usual at one end but with the other ends joined by something flexible, usually a strong cylindrical piece of plastic. The gauge is determined by the end pieces, which also allow for stitch manipulation, so it actually doesn't matter that the central plastic is much thinner. The important thing here is that the join between the end piece and the plastic be both very strong and extremely smooth, so you don't have to fight every stitch back onto the other side's needle. Circular needles are used to make largeish objects in the round, depending on total needle length, which can be as small as 11" and as large as 47". The limitations here are that a too long needle can be unwieldy, imagine 3lb of wool hanging off your needle and needing to be moved along. And worse at the opposite end of the spectrum a too short needle is really hard to handle, if the end pieces are too short you end up knitting with your fingers instead of your whole hands, and if they're too long the needle won't bend well enough and you'll be fighting for every stitch. I'm glad we don't carry 11" needles, since I've personally found them to be murderous on my hands!

But the real point here is that circular needles are necessary to make a cylindrical object, yet they can also make any flat one. It's easy enough to knit back and forth on a flat object, and get exactly the same result as if you'd been using straight needles, you just turn the circular needle over at the end of every row. There's a huge advantage to circulars if you're not just sitting home in the same spot and knitting: they're are less likely to fall out and they won't separate. If you've ever crawled around under seats and feet for half a bus length, trying to retrieve a rolling straight needle, you know exactly what I mean... But mostly the main point of circular needles is their versatility in making both cylindrical and flat objects.

Double-pointed needles come in sets of 4 (usual in the US) or 5 (usual in the rest of the word). They're meant to be used circularly, you use one needle as a spare (ie you'd have your knitting divided into 4 for a 5-needle set) and knit from one of the needles in the circle onto it, then use it as spare to knit with the next one in the sequence. They're very practical really, and it takes no time at all to get the hang of working from one to the next. But unless they're very long, they're best suited to smallish pieces of knitting. They come in different length, and people with small hands tend to love the 6" ones for socks, but that's a bit specialized. And obviously a circular needle would be better for a larger piece, you work continuously without having to switch needles. This is where total subjectivity comes in, when is something too large for double-pointed or too small for circulars? The upshot is that many projects require both kinds, sometimes several; a sweater could easily require a long circular for the body, a smaller one for the upper sleeve and neck, double-pointeds for the lower sleeve. You can see where some people hang on to the straight needles and do everything flat.

So what do I recommend? In short, it depends on what you want to do :-). I personally tend to knit in the round, and to knit while commuting, so I mostly own and use circular needles. And I have a couple dependable fine sets of double-pointed needles for making socks, which are an eternal favorite. But that's an entirely personal choice.