Stitches

Will it make a big difference to use slightly bigger or smaller knitting needles?

I was in the midst of knitting a doll using 3.25mm DPNs. I accidentally broke two of the needles, leaving me with only three in that size. The local shop doesn't stock 3.25mm, only 3mm or 3.5mm. I'm in the middle of knitting one of the legs of the doll. If I switch sizes partway, will it be noticeable? And should I switch to 3mm or 3.5mm? Thanks.

Public Comments

1. It depends on how tightly you knit. You can use the 3.5 ones and tighten up a little bit to make them slightly smaller. A lot of it has to do not only with knitting needle size, but also the amount of tension you use when malting your stitches!
2. It depends on how tight you knit, I seems to knit very loose. It looks fine but ends up a lot bigger than it should be. I have a knitted afghan pattern that should be the size of a single bed but when I made it wow, I got a afghan big enough for a king size bed. So check your gauge with the needles you have against the pattern. Good luck.
3. If you were knitting a large item like a sweater it would make a difference and the sweater would not fit. But hey we are talking about the legs of a doll. Will anyone notice if the legs are a different gauge. I would knit both legs all on the same size needles though, not switch halfway up.