FiberGypsy home page

Knitting Needle Sizes

This chart lists the most common metric equivalents for U.S., "Old U.S." and "Old U.K" needle sizes. Different needle manufacturers may vary from the exact sizes shown; however, ranges of contemporary U.S. needles are generally as shown in the "Contemporary U.K./U.S. Metric Range" column.

"Old U.S." sizes are frequently seen in old yarn company leaflets; since the sizes run opposite of contemporary sizing (under the "Old U.S." system, the finest needles have the highest size numbers) the giveaway is a sock pattern (or other pattern using fingering-weight yarn) that calls for size 13 needles! Note that the metric measurements of U.K.sizes differ, so it may be important to know the source of your pattern.

Source for the "Old U.S." column is a needle gauge from Boye Needle Company that is reproduced in Complete Guide to Modern Knitting and Crocheting by Alice Carroll, published 1942 by Wise & Co. Source for all other information below is "My Valuable Yarn Guide" (no author or publisher info appears on this publication).

This chart is lengthy; you may need to scroll down several times to find the size you are looking for. To make navigation easier, wait until this page has finished loading. Then these links will quickly take you down to specific points on the chart:

Chart begins with .5 mm
(U.S. size 8/0)
Go to 2.0 mm
(U.S. size 0)
Go to 4.5 mm
(U.S. size 7)
Go to 8.0 mm
(U.S. size 11)
 

Contemporary
U.S. Size

Contemporary
U.K./U.S. Metric Range

European Metric Range

"Old" U.S.
(Taken from a Boye Needle gauge
reprinted in a 1942 publication)

U.K.

8/0

.5 mm

.5 mm

N/A 24

6/0

.75 mm

.75 mm

N/A

22

N/A

N/A .875 mm (?) N/A

20

5/0

1.0 mm

1.0 mm

18 (steel dpn)

19

N/A N/A 1.125 mm 17 (steel dpn) N/A

4/0

1.25 mm

1.25 mm

16 (steel dpn)

18

000

1.5 mm

1.5 mm

15 (steel dpn)

17

N/A

N/A

1.625 mm (?)

N/A

16

00

1.75 mm

1.75 mm

14 (steel dpn)

15

0

2 mm

2 mm

0 (standard needles)
13 (steel dpn)

14

1 2.25 mm 2.25 mm 12 (steel dpn) 13

1

2.5 mm

2.5 mm

1 (standard needles)

N/A

2 2.75 mm 2.75 mm 2 (standard needles)
11 (steel dpn)
12
2 3 mm 3 mm 3 (standard needles)
10 (steel dpn)
11

3

3.25 mm

3.5 mm

10

4

3.5 mm

3.5 mm

4 (standard needles)
9 (steel dpn)

N/A

5

3.75 mm

3.75 mm

5 (standard needles)
8 (steel dpn)

9

6

4 mm

4 mm

8

N/A 4.25 mm 4.25 mm 6 (standard needles) N/A

7

4.5 mm

4.5 mm

7

N/A 4.75 mm 4.75 mm 7 (standard needles) N/A

8

5 mm

5 mm

8 (standard needles)

6

N/A 5.25 mm 5.25 mm 9 (standard needles) N/A

9

5.5 mm

5.5 mm

5

N/A 5.75 mm 5.75 mm 10 (standard needles) N/A

10

6 mm

6 mm

4

10 1/2

6.5 mm

6.5 mm

10 1/2 (standard needles)

3

7 mm

7 mm

2

7.5 mm

7.5 mm

1

11

8 mm

8 mm

0

13

9 mm

9 mm

00

15

10 mm

10 mm

000

17

12.5 mm

18

14 mm

19

15.5 mm

35

19 mm

50

25 mm


URL of this page: https://fibergypsy.com/common/needles.shtml
Copyright 1998 - 2022 The Fiber Gypsy (except as otherwise noted)  ·  Webmaster: info (at) fibergypsy (dot) com
This page last modified: Monday, April 25, 2022
Using the information you find here: Please feel free to link directly to this page and to use any of the information you find here in your own personal fiber pursuits, but do honor all copyright notices as posted. All information contained in the pages maintained on the FiberGypsy server is copyrighted and may be used and shared freely in any form provided no profit is made from its distribution and provided The Fiber Gypsy is cited as the source of this information.