Today I was on the KnitPicks site, considering getting another pair of size 1 dpns (so slippery! so pointy!) so that I can knit both socks of a pair at once, not in the nifty one-inside-the-other kind of way, but in an alternating way, so that my gauge by the second toe is not entirely different from the first cuff, which seems to happen rather a lot.
On the site, I noticed two different size 1s, and raised my eyebrows at this system we have of labeling two different things the same thing. Seems kind of silly. And since I can't find the package my original 1s came in, and maybe had a needle-sizer a couple years ago but haven't really seen it since then, I closed the window and thought nothing else of it.
I have two sets of bamboo 1s, one of which is tainted by having been dropped on some very disgusting floors, one of which I just used to make the Hedera socks. Also, the tainted set I can't really find right now. I'd rather use the KnitPicks ones, but bamboo would work just fine.
So I figured I'd just use the size 1s that I can find and do them one at a time. I need to deny myself at least some knitting-related purchases because this has been getting a little crazy, and I'll just try to be conscious of my gauge.
When I got out the pattern, though, I saw that it called for size 2s, and hark! I just randomly bought some KnitPicks 2s to get over the $40 free shipping mark with all that baby blanket yarn. I got them out and figured I'd better check the mm measurement, because KnitPicks has two size twos, too.
And they're a full three-quarters mm bigger (3.0). No problem! I have a set of four (because I lost one) 2s from Brittany birch hardwood. Those are 2.75mm. But hey, that's okay because I also have a set of Crystal Palace Bamboo size 1 1/2s. Which... are 2.5 mm. Yay! Bamboo 1 1/2s it is for the Monkeys.
Looking at KnitPicks, it would appear that they call this a size 1. Anyway, all this blathering is to say: Down with the Needle Numbering System Below Size 4! I will do my part by listing with my socks from now on the size in mms. They already *have* numbers, their absolute measurements.
Who's with me?
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