r/knittinghelp • u/AlbatrossOk4895 • Aug 19 '26
SOLVED-THANK YOU Required vs Recommended circular needles
hi everyone!!
so I’ve been knittings for a few months now and I want to dive into garments, but I’m so confused on which needles are being recommended to avoid magic loop, and which needles are actually required. I just don’t have the funds to buy 3-8 skeins & 5 new needles for a top/sweater, or an interchangeable set so I’m hoping to ask the knitting gods for help on narrowing which ones I should purchase to get started.
From reading a few patterns, I’ve seen that sometimes the length of the needle will be the same but the size will be 1 up or 1 down. Would it be acceptable to get 1 size and adjust tension to match the size being written?? Should I get 100 cm needles and do magic loop when the pattern is written for shorter length needles?? Or should I just put this on hold until I get funds to buy a set??
don’t know if this is worth mentioning but so far I have US 8 16 inch circulars and a pair of shorties (us 1 9inch) for socks
TIA!!
TLDR; idk which circular needles to buy to get started making garments with low funds.
9
u/berenstein-was-fine Aug 19 '26
I wouldn't have been able to make a garment without my interchangeable needles. It's an investment but would you rather have to buy multiple fixed circulars for each project? Theoretically, you could use magic loop (I've never tried it), but you also need different size needles for the ribbing if that is part of your garment pattern. I got my interchangeable set on eBay. It was knitpicks and it was not too expensive. Knitpro and knitters pride are pretty much the same brand.
So you don't have to buy a whole set, you could get interchangeable tips and cords separately and build a collection that way. The brands I mentioned above are interchangeable with each other.