Craft & DIY

#26 · Beginner knitting needle

For a tiny project or a young learner, two smooth chopsticks make surprisingly functional first knitting needles.

Learning to knit does not require £20 needles. Two identical chopsticks, sanded and waxed, will get you through your first swatches perfectly well - and bamboo is a material serious knitters choose on purpose, not a compromise.

The reason bamboo suits beginners is grip. Metal needles are fast and slippery, which is wonderful once you know what you're doing and a nightmare when you don't - stitches slide off the ends the moment your attention wanders. Bamboo has just enough friction to hold stitches where you put them, which is exactly what a learner needs.

How to do it

1. Find two chopsticks of identical length and thickness. Mismatched needles will give you uneven tension.
2. Sand the pointed ends to a gentle taper - blunt enough not to split the yarn, tapered enough to enter a stitch easily. Work up through the grits to something fine.
3. Sand the whole shaft smooth. Any roughness will snag every single stitch.
4. Rub with a little beeswax, or candle wax at a push, and buff it off with a cloth.
5. Wrap a rubber band around each blunt end as a stopper so your work can't slide off.
6. Cast on and knit a garter stitch swatch.

Why it works

A knitting needle only has to do two things: enter a loop without splitting the yarn, and hold the loops it has already collected. A tapered tip does the first, and surface friction does the second. Bamboo is good at both, which is why commercial bamboo needles exist and sell well.

If it isn't working

• The tip splits the yarn: too sharp. Blunt it very slightly.
• Stitches won't slide along at all: not smooth enough, or not waxed. Sand and wax again.
• Your tension is uneven: check the two chopsticks really are the same diameter. Most 'bad tension' at this stage is mismatched needles.

Common questions

What needle size does a chopstick equal?

Most takeaway chopsticks taper through roughly 4-6mm, so somewhere around UK size 6 to 8 depending where you measure. Use a chunky yarn and don't worry about matching a pattern's gauge until you move to real needles.

Can I knit a whole garment on these?

You could, but you won't enjoy it. They're short, so anything wider than a scarf gets cramped. Treat them as a way to find out whether you like knitting before spending money.