The next annual Knitting History Forum conference is on Saturday 7 February 2026, with presentations on the history of knitting. The conference is hosted online and tickets are available to purchase.
Susan Webster, collector and researcher of knitting tools, will present The development of circular knitting needles during the 20th century
The circular knitting needle is now an established tool among handknitters. But, in fact, commercial production of circular needles is only about 100 years old. Before that, it was double points all the way. This presentation discusses the origin of early circulars in the UK and USA, what they were made of, and how they were merchandised.
While the earliest patents I can find are in the UK in 1893 and 1906, and in the United States in 1918, these registrations did not mean an immediate push into wool shops and haberdashery departments. Early UK packaging such as Flexiknit and Abel Morrall’s Twin Pin give implied patent dates of 1921 and 1922. Early circulars were all metal cable attached to a short metal pin at each end.
Marketing messages accompanied these new, boxed products and claimed that circulars were modern, easier to use, less dangerous, and reduced the risk of losing a straight needle. US packaging was cheaper to produce – manila envelopes and cardboard backing sheets
Americans used their own distinctive marketing approach, including differentiation of needle shape and materials, claims of superiority of design, use of house-branding and buying groups.
In the 1930s, American firms were offering rigid plastic circulars in parallel to metal circulars. While the early materials such as celluloid and casein were easier to manipulate stitches on, the rigid plastics were hard to store and some substances were highly flammable. Other nations too offered both metal and rigid plastic circulars.
By the late 1930s, nylon and other flexible plastics had been developed, although all such innovations were soon sucked into war production. World War II had many effects on hand knitting tools including no nickel-plating to prevent rust, the dropping of English sizing in the US for double points and circulars, and shortages of materials which forced reliance on “make-do and mend”.
After the war, nylon moved quickly into circulars with both flexible nylon cable attached to metal pins and entirely nylon single piece circulars – similar to the earlier rigid plastics but much more flexible. Few advances have been made in our basic tool since this era.
This research has also identified hints that circulars were used in Europe before commercial manufacture. These needles were probably constructed from baleen or twiggy sapling growth from coppicing, but it seems that use of these circulars was dying out toward the end of the 19th century. If any KHF participants have any information on these early tools, I would be keen to learn more.
Biography for Susan Webster
Susan Webster is a collector of and researcher in knitting needles and tools, with a special interest in the period when commercialisation and branding of needles were being developed.
Susan grew up in the United States, but has lived her adult life in Australia. Retired since 2003, she has built up a research database of over 1000 knitting needle brand names and manufacturers, with about 900 physical specimens. She shares her information on her website www.knitting-needle-notions.com.au. Many of her articles and presentations are also available on this site.
Susan has published several research articles in the TCI Bulletin and in 2024-2025 completed a three-part series on the history of circular knitting needles. She has spoken and published in Britain and Australia too. She is a past president of the Needlework Tool Collectors Society of Australia.
She is still a keen collector. “The more you collect, the more you want to know,” she said.