Best Needle Gauges and Rulers

Why you end up with unmarked needles

It happens to everybody, and rarely because of carelessness.

1. Printed sizes rub off. A painted or printed size on a bamboo or coated needle wears away with handling. Etched sizes do not, which is a genuine specification difference.
2. Interchangeable tips are often unmarked at the tip end - the size is on the packaging or the case slot, not the needle.
3. Inherited and second-hand needles frequently predate consistent marking.
4. Non-US scales. A needle marked only in old UK numbering is unreadable to anyone working from an American pattern.
5. Double points and small circulars are physically too thin to carry a legible printed size.

How to use one properly

1. Push the needle through, do not force it. The correct hole is the smallest one it passes through cleanly and without resistance.
2. Measure the shaft, not the tip. The tip is tapered, so it will pass through a hole far smaller than the needle's actual size.
3. Check twice on wooden needles. A wooden needle can have a fractionally different diameter along its length.
4. For hooks, measure the shaft behind the head - the head is deliberately a different diameter.

That second point causes most wrong readings. If you push a needle in tip-first only as far as it will easily go, you are measuring the taper.

The gauge window, which is the more useful half

Most gauge plates carry an L-shaped or square window cut to a known size, usually two or four inches on a side. Lay it on your swatch and count the stitches and rows inside it.

That is more useful than the hole plate, because gauge is the number that decides whether a garment fits and a needle size is only a proxy for it. The full method - swatch size, blocking, and what to change when the numbers are wrong - is on gauge and swatching.

The Knit-Chek measures 5.5 by 3 inches and does both jobs: needle and hook sizes from US 0 / B-1 to P-16, plus stitch and row gauge for knitting and crochet.

Measuring gauge without a dedicated tool

You do not strictly need one, and it is worth saying so.

• A rigid ruler works for stitch counting. Use a rigid one rather than a tape measure - a tape stretches and sags.
• A gridded blocking mat is a four-inch square by construction, which makes it the easiest surface to count on.
• Pins or markers at each end of four inches stop the count drifting while you look away.
• What does not work is measuring in the air. Lay the fabric flat, unstretched, and do not hold it.

The alternative: buy needles that are marked

The other way to never need a gauge plate is to own needles that cannot lose their markings.

Laser etching, as on ChiaoGoo's stainless tips and double points, is permanent. Color coding by size - as on the Knitter's Pride Dreamz range - achieves something similar by a different route: even if the printed number wears, the color still identifies the size, provided you have the key.

A case with labeled slots does the same job for a set, which is a good argument for keeping tips in the case they came in - see caring for your needles and hooks.

What we would buy

• The tool: a Knit-Chek, which does needle sizes and stitch gauge on one plate.
• The surface to measure on: gridded blocking mats, which double as a four-inch reference.
• To stop the count drifting: locking markers at each end of the four inches.
• The long-term fix: a set with etched sizes, so the question does not arise.