Needle Conversion Chart - From your friends at The Yarn and Fiber Company.
There is much confusion over knitting needle sizes, especially when using old patterns that reference older US or UK needle sizes, or when trying to convert between US and metric needles, or use older needles with newer patterns (although a needle gauge is recommended for this purpose). Of course you should always swatch when choosing the correct needle but the following chart is useful in providing a starting point. Some of the old needle sizes are no longer represented, for these choose the nearest new needle size.
US Size |
Metric Size |
Old US Size | Old UK Size |
8/0 |
.5 mm |
N/A | |
6/0 |
.75 mm |
N/A | 22 |
5/0 |
1.0 mm |
18 (steel dpn) | 19 |
| 1.125 mm | 17 (steel dpn) | ||
4/0 |
1.25 mm |
16 (steel dpn) | 18 |
000 |
1.5 mm |
15 (steel dpn) | 17 |
00 |
1.75 mm |
14 (steel dpn) | 15 |
0 |
2 mm |
0 (standard needles) 13 (steel dpn) |
14 |
| 2.25 mm | 12 (steel dpn) | ||
1 |
2.5 mm |
1 (standard needles) | 13 |
| 2.75 mm | 2 (standard needles) 11 (steel dpn) |
||
| 3 mm | 3 (standard needles) 10 (steel dpn) |
||
3 |
3.5 mm |
10 |
|
4 |
3.5 mm |
4 (standard needles) 9 (steel dpn) |
|
5 |
3.75 mm |
5 (standard needles) 8 (steel dpn) |
9 |
6 |
4 mm |
8 |
|
| 4.25 mm | 6 (standard needles) | ||
7 |
4.5 mm |
7 |
|
| 7 (standard needles) | |||
8 |
5 mm |
8 (standard needles) | 6 |
| 9 (standard needles) | |||
9 |
5.5 mm |
5 |
|
| 10 (standard needles) | |||
10 |
6 mm |
4 |
|
10 1/2 |
6.5 mm |
10 1/2 (standard needles) | 3 |
10 3/4 |
7 mm |
2 |
|
7.5 mm |
1 |
||
11 |
8 mm |
0 |
|
13 |
9 mm |
00 |
|
15 |
10 mm |
000 |
|
17 |
12.5 mm |
||
18 |
14 mm |
||
19 |
15.5 mm |
||
35 |
19 mm |
||
50 |
25 mm |
