I went looking for this info on the site but apparently when we moved to this location from the old Blog City address, it all squirted out into the ether. Hope that this is still helpful.
KNITTING NEEDLES – PART V, TRUE SIZES BY MAKER, originally posted 25 June 2005
Still working on the needle characteristics summaries. In the mean time, here’s something else somewhat useful – a cross-maker chart of needle sizes.
This chart lists modern needles only, and should hold true for both straights and circs of the same line made by the same manufacturer. I will keep adding manufacturers, plus I will also go through my collection of older needles and post sizes. But not today…
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| Absolute Metric Size |
Addi Turbo |
Inox Express |
All Bates |
Brittany | Boye | Crystal Palace |
Clover Bamboo |
| 0.5mm | |||||||
| 0.75mm | |||||||
| 1.0mm | |||||||
| 1.25mm | 0000 | 0000 | |||||
| 1.5mm | 000 | 000 | |||||
| 1.75mm | 00 | 00 | |||||
| 2.0mm | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2.25mm | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2.5mm | 1 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||||
| 2.75mm | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 3.0mm | 2 | X | 2.5 | 2.5 | |||
| 3.15mm | 3 | ||||||
| 3.25mm | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| 3.5mm | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 3.75mm | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 4.0mm | 6 | 6 | 6 | ||||
| 4.25mm | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |||
| 4.5mm | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 4.75mm | |||||||
| 5.0mm | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 5.25mm | 9 | ||||||
| 5.5mm | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | |
| 5.75mm | 10 | ||||||
| 6.0mm | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | |
| 6.5mm | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | ||
| 7.0mm | 10.5 | 10.75 | 10 7/8 | 10.75 | |||
| 7.5mm | 10.5* | ||||||
| 8.0mm | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| 8.5mm | |||||||
| 9.0mm | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| 10mm | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| 12mm | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | |||
| 12.5mm | 17 | ||||||
| 14mm | |||||||
| 15mm | 19 | 19 | 19 | ||||
| 15.5mm | |||||||
| 15.63mm | 19 | ||||||
| 19mm | 35 | ||||||
| 25mm | 20 | 50 | |||||
| 34mm | 20 | ||||||
| 36mm | 20 |
An “X” indicates that this size is made, but has no US marked equivalent.
*7.5mm Addi Turbos are available in Canada, and are sometimes marked (or marketed) as US #10.5.
KNITTING NEEDLES – PART VI: CIRCULAR LENGTHS – originally posted 23 June 2005
As promised, here’s a chart showing the circular needle lengths available from commonly listed (and some not so commonly listed) manufacturers. I’ve compiled this from on-line catalog sources. In the case a manufacturer had a web page, that info trumped what I could find in catalogs. Centimeter equivalents are rounded off to the nearest whole unit, except for the 16″ size. Various catalogs list 16″ needles as being either 40 or 41cm.
| 11″ 28cm |
12″ 30cm |
16″ 40-41cm |
20″ 50cm |
24″ 60cm |
26″ 66cm |
29″ 74cm |
32″ 80cm |
35″ 89cm |
36″ 91cm |
39″ 99cm |
40″ 100cm |
47″ 120cm |
48″ 122cm |
60″ 152cm |
|
| Addi Natura Bamboo | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Addi Plastic | x | ||||||||||||||
| Addi Turbo | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||
| Balene | x | x | |||||||||||||
| Bates Quicksilver | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||||||
| Bates Silvalume | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Bates Silverado | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Boye | x | x | x | ||||||||||||
| Clover Bamboo | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Crystal Palace Bamboo | x | x | x | ||||||||||||
| Hiyahiya Nickel-free Steel | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||||||
| Inox (Grey) | x | x | x | x | x | ||||||||||
| Inox Express | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Noble Nickels | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Plymouth Bamboo | x | x | |||||||||||||
| Pony Pearl | x | x | x | ||||||||||||
| Suzanne Ebony | x | x | x | ||||||||||||
| Suzanne Rosewood | x | x | x | ||||||||||||
| The Collection Wood | x | x |
String-Or-Nothing 
Dear Kim –
You’ve blogged in the past about your "go-to" pattern for baby booties, and that you keep an eye out for earlier versions of it. I realized I have a nearly identical pattern in a booklet called Children’s Fashions in Wool Styled by Hilde, copyright 1946 by Hilde Fuchs. Here’s a link which shows the cover and inside pages (they’re in the first picture in the second row):
http://www.ioffer.com/i/Children-s-Fashions-Knitting-Pattern-Book-3-mos-4-yrs-139240491
The wording in the pattern is so similar to Ann Kreckel’s pattern from Knitlist that I have to think Ann’s mother got her pattern either from this book, or from another pattern with the same origins as the one in this book.
(The seller must have an earlier copy of the book than the one I have. Mine has a cover price of 40 cents, and hers cost only 20 cents!)
Calantha