Confused about Knitting Needle Options?

There are so many different kinds of knitting needles out there, from circulars, straights and DPNs of different lengths to those made of wood, bamboo, metal, plastic and other materials. How do you know which needle type is right for you and the project you are working on?

You can’t try every single needle type that is out there, but once you’ve given a few a test you’ll begin to develop your own preferences (I love wooden straights and circulars and tend to use interchangeables a lot). In the meantime, you can check out the free (with free signup to Knitting Daily) ebook Free Guide to Knitting Needles.

This nine-page PDF covers the pros and cons of the major types of knitting needles you’ll find out there and gives some tips for choosing the right type for you. If you like speed, for instance, consider fixed circulars with metal tips. If you love cute stuff, go for candy-colored plastic and acrylics.

The guide also includes a chart with the basics on all the models they tested and a handy knitting needle conversion chart, just in case you’re looking at a pattern that calls for a 4 mm needle and you don’t know what that means (size 6 US, by the way).

[Photo by Knitting Daily.]

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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