An Easy Way to Make Your Own Knitting Needles

I’ve always wanted to try making knitting needles out of dowels. I actually bought some little dowels for the purpose. Then my daughter broke one and I was reluctant to try making needles with the dowel if it was so easy to break a 5-year-old could do it.

I’ll probably still try it sometime.

If you’re interested in making your own needles, a trip to the craft store will get you everything you need for this design from Try it Like It. The dowels are whittled down to a point, then wooden beads are glued to one end to make a needle stop.

You could make these in different sizes so long as you have a bead that will comfortably fit on the end of the dowel. The ones shown are both pretty large and pretty short, but you’re making them, so you can make them however you want.

Have you ever made knitting needles? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Try It Like It.]

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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