Knitting lace is an art. Even the simplest of designs look beautiful. Lace knitting patterns are simply made with lightweight lace yarn and bigger knitting needle sizes forming artful holes in the pattern. Many beginner knitters though impressed with the beauty of lace knitting shy away from the artful knitting thinking it would be difficult or would require special tools. The good news is you can knit lace with your regular knitting needles. It does take some special techniques but that can be easily managed with a sharp-tipped smooth knitting needle. Lace knitting techniques are a little different than regular knitting. In this blog, we’ll take you through some points to consider to choose needles for lace knitting.
Knitting Needle types
For knitting lace projects, you can go ahead with any knitting needle type. If you are knitting back and forth, the options are single-pointed and circular needles. Say for example if you are knitting a lace shawl or a scarf, you can easily knit with any of these. For knitting in rounds, double pointed as well as the range of circular needles is fine to work with.
Many knitters prefer fixed and interchangeable circular needles as with this you can knit both flat and round with them. ICNs or interchangeable needle sets are preferred for giving the freedom of switching the needle and cable according to the requirement of the project. Another blessing for lace knitting is that stainless steel interchangeable circular needles from the Mindful Collection have a lifeline hole. Thread in a lifeline and enjoy knitting complex patterns without any worry. Use a yarn of contrasting colour and thread it in the hole and this will weave in through your knitted pattern saving it from mistakes. The only thing to keep in mind when knitting with circular needles is to have smooth joins where the needle tip meets the cable. These joins must be smooth and not snag the yarn when moving the stitches from the cord to the needle.
Circular needles are the ideal choice if you are a knitter on the go, taking your projects on your regular commute or vacation. Given the needle length, it allows the stitches to be easily spread over the cable and tips making it easy to view the stitches clearly.
Knitting Needle Material
Coming to the material of the needles, metals and stainless steel are the most preferred. The lightweight yet sturdy material suits the need perfectly as the smooth surfaces allow a steady flow of stitches. The knitting needles have to go through the stitches multiple times and the smooth steel surface lets the yarn and stitches flow. The neutral surface and the smooth glide it has for all kinds of yarn and especially lace yarns make it an unbeatable choice.
Durable Needles
A general requirement for lace knitting is bigger size needles in comparison to the yarn weight. Most knitting patterns mention the needle size but if you are planning your own design then make sure to go for bigger sizes than the ones matching the yarn. Always knit a gauge swatch to get an idea of how your knitted fabric will look like. A small 10 cm square with the same knitting needles and yarn used in the project can give an idea is you have the right needle size, yarn and how the stitches are turning up. Now the bigger needle size does not mean US 10 or such but can start from US 3 to even US 7 or US 8. The trick is to have a durable needle such as steel to smoothly work with any weight of yarn.
Sharp Precision Tips
Lace knitting stitches and techniques require accuracy and for that, the best knitting needles for lace patterns is sharp ones. Like cutting vegetables with a blunt knife makes the task difficult so does knitting lace with blunt needles. The precision tips are helpful in knitting lace patterns. Many times the needle has to go in two or even three stitches at once, thus there is a need for sharp tips. The requirement for yarn over (yo) once or multiple times also works smoothly with the sharp tip and smooth steel surface.
With this guide, we hope you choose the right needles for lace knitting. Given the points discussed, the knitting needles from the Mindful Collection. The range of stainless steel knitting needles have sharp tapered points and come in variants of single pointed needles, double-points (DPNs) as well as circular needles in options of both fixed and interchangeable. Many of its needles are rightly named lace knitting needles. Not just individual needles, you can explore the knitting needle sets with multiple needles and accessories. Also in the collection you can choose stitch markers that are essential for lace knitting, darning needles to weave in yarn ends, sharp scissors, row counters to keep count and bags and cases to keep your knitting safe and secure.
Happy lace knitting!
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