Knitting Needles
Knitting is not only a craft by which thread can be turned into cloth or it is not only for grannies or babies; now it is in style and is really cool. The most important thing you will need to start with knitting is knitting needles.
Now the most important thing about these needles is their size. All different types of knitting needles are available, in many various sizes and these sizes are denoted by numbers. Knitting needles are also called knitting pins, knitting sticks, wires, rod or even knitting wires. As length and thickness of knitting needles changes depending upon type of yarn and what type of fabric to knitted.
Modern knitting needles that are available in the market place were invented in the beginning of the 19th century; these needles are usually known as straight needles. These needles have one narrow end and another end of the needle is caped with knobs. You can easily knit flat patterns like squares or rectangles. These needles are so popular because of their knobs; these knobs prevent sliding off the stitches.
There is one more type of needle, circular needles. Using these circular knotting needles you can create seamless tubes. But when you knit with circular needles, you are knitting on only one side of fabric, which is not the case with straight needles, so this means you have to change patterns accordingly. The great advantages of these circular needles are the weight of knitted fabric is evenly distributed. This is great option for four pointed needles.
There is another type of needle called double pointed needles. Even these are used for knitting tubular fabrics; however, these double pointed needles have tapered ends on both sides. The length of needles depends on what kind of fabric you want to knit, if you want to knit small fabric for socks; for example, then smaller needles will do. But if you want to knit longer fabrics like shawls, then you will need long needles.
Needles can be made of different type of materials. It can be made of metals or wood. Antique needles are also made up of ivory, walrus tusks or tortoise shell. Modern day's knitting needles can be made of many different materials like aluminum, steel, bamboo, wood, glass, plastic or casein. Circular needles are also made up of metals and connecting tube of circular meta,l is usually made up of PVC or plastic.
To keep needle points sharp for many years it is very important to store them properly. Usually needles are stored in tall, cylindrical container with padding at the bottom; this will keep points of needle sharp. Usually this container is made of plastic or fabrics which have compartments with which you can keep needles together but separate. It is very important to keep circular needles dangled in maximize space. It is very important to keep check on tubes, as they can easily wound up. To uncoil these plastic or nylon circular needles keep them soaked in hot water for some time and they are ready to knit.