The bead knitting needles are just as important as the beads and the yarn you are using when following bead knitting patterns. You can’t change needles in the middle of the knitting so make sure you chose a pair of good ones before you start. The bead knitting needles shall be comfortable to hold in your hands, stable and accurately balanced. They should also be smooth so that the yarn can run freely along the needles. The bead knitting needles are usually not too sharp at the ends so you don’t have to be afraid of stinging yourself. There is a vast range of knitting needles; from the most simple ones to more advanced pieces like polished bamboo knitting needles with decorations such as colorful handmade pearls at the ends. They can be made of plastic, metal (usually stainless steel), wood or acrylic. The terminology concerning bead knitting needles contains as many synonyms as the other bead knitting areas. The needles can also be called sticks, knitting pins and knitting wires. You can also chose the form of your bead knitting needles depending on what you plan to do and what bead knitting patterns you use.
The most common bead knitting needles are the straight knitting needles but there is also the circular bead knitting needles. You use these when you want to knit in the round and create seamless pieces of knitting, like when you use bead knitting patterns for socks. Double pointed knitting needles are a kind of bead knitting needles which don’t have some sort of stops at one end but are, just as the name implies, pointed at both ends. They are a good alternative when knitting tubes in the round just as the circular needles but for smaller items such as sleeve cuffs and socks. When you use double pointed needles to knit in the round you dived you casted stitched into smaller sections and place these sections on three or four double pointed needles to form a round unit to start knitting from. But there are even more bead knitting needles! The square knitting needles have, just as their name implies, a square form. Some people think that they are more comfortable and that the stitches doesn’t fall off so easily. They might be a good choice if you suffer from some kind of disease like arthritis which makes it difficult for you to hold the usual bead knitting needles. Though, they are a little more expensive.
The knitting yarn often has a label telling you which size it is. This can guide you when you’re trying to find out what bead knitting needles to use since you can probably read what needles are recommended. Otherwise bead knitting needles somewhere between 6 and 8 US should fit, if not, the bead knitting pattern swill tell you. When you pre-string the beads the easiest way is to thread an ordinary metal needle and tie the thread around the yarn. Then you can slide the beads over the needle and onto the yarn. If you’re having trouble threading the needle you may want to consider buying a wide eye needle. This is a great aid and can save you from sitting several minutes trying to fit that straggling thread end into the tiny eye of the needle. The wide eye needle is simply a needle with a big hole at the center and points at both ends. Great when you want to switch to using bead knitting needles!