Knitting needle

Knitting needles are designed to knit, a process wherein fabric is created by very tight knot work.

In the realm of body modification, however, they are often used in stretching as an inexpensive alternative to professionally made body jewelry. Some people even cut them down to make temporary jewelry.

These needles use a similar gauge system to body jewelry (different for the UK and the US), as follows (the body jewelry sizes listed are approximate):

Metric Size	UK Gauge	US Gauge	Closest Jewelry Size
1.00 mm		5/0	18ga
1.25 mm	17	4/0	16ga
1.50 mm	16	3/0	14ga
1.75 mm	15	00	14ga
2.00 mm	14	0	12ga
2.25 mm	13	1	12ga
2.75 mm	12	2	10ga
3.00 mm	11		8ga
3.25 mm	10	3	8ga
3.50 mm		4	8ga
3.75 mm	9	5	8ga
4.00 mm	8	6	6ga
4.50 mm	7	7	6ga
5.00 mm	6	8	4ga
5.50 mm	5	9	4ga
6.00 mm	4	10	2ga
6.50 mm	3	10½	2ga
7.00 mm	2		2ga
7.50 mm	1		2ga
8.00 mm	0	11	0ga
9.00 mm	00	13	00ga
10.0 mm	000	15	7/16"
12.0 mm		17	1/2"
15.0 mm		19	5/8"
19.0 mm		35	3/4"
25.0 mm		50	1"