Knitting Accessories

If you are new to knitting, you will come across a bewildering array of knitting accessories for you to choose from. Would you like to know from an experienced knitter, which ones are worth buying?

Needle Cases

Knitting needles are a bit like socks. They just don't seem to be able to stay together!

A knitting needle case is a good idea if you want to keep your needles together in one place. You can get these cases in a variety of styles. I have one that is basically a canvas tube with a zip at the top, with all the needles just sitting inside the tube. It does keep those wandering needles together, but if I want to select a matching pair, I pretty much need to pull them all out and sort through them to find the right needles.

Another option is a roll case. These cases have slots for inserting your needles in pairs. Much more organised!

The choice of needle case is definitely a personal one and will also depend on the number of pairs you intend to collect. The roll case will hold around 26 pairs of needles, a tube made of canvas or plastic will hold many more than that.

Looking After Your Needles

Unattended knitting needles can be dangerous, particularly if you have a house frequented by small children or animals!

Knitting Needle Point Protectors One good investment both for the safety of the other inhabitants of your home and to preserve your own sanity, are point protectors for your needles. Point protectors are generally made of soft flexible plastic or rubber and fit over the points on your needles.

Not only do these little items minmise the danger of needle stick, they will also help to keep our stitches on the needle!

I have lost count of the times I have left my knitting unattended to come back and find that a child or an animal had been 'playing' with my knitting, and I don't enjoy it when I have to 'pick up' all the stitches they have managed to drop of the needles during their game!

Knitting 'Bits and Pieces'

I have grouped the rest of the knitting accessories as 'Bits and Pieces' as they are all small items, but for most knitters, necessary!

One of the first things you are going to need is a decent tape measure so that you can measure your work as you knit.

A good tape measure should have measurements in both inches and centimetres, you will need both as older patterns have measurements in inches and newer patterns tend to specify centimetres.

Row counters are another handy item to have, but if I am honest, not strictly necessary.

These handy little gadgets fit onto one of your needles and can help you keep track of how many rows you have knitted. Each time you complete a row, you move the counter up one.

Although I don't personally use row counters, I know several other experienced knitters who swear by them.

Stitch Holders Now these knitting accessories, I do use!

Stitch Holders are like very large safety pins that you use to hold the stitches on your finished pieces of knitting prior to putting the garment together.

The are most often used to hold stitches at the neck edge of jumpers.