I have a friend who is an avid knitter. I would like to buy her a set of bamboo needles for her birthday but know nothing about knitting. I see there are so many lengths and diameters available. She makes everything from socks to blankets. What would be a good size set for her? Also circular or straight? Thanks in advance.

The size you use depends on the thickness of the yarn and what you are knitting. For socks and mitts you would use 4 double pointed needles. For afghans or sweaters in the round you would use a circular needle and for anything else the regular pair of 2.

I would suggest for a regular set of 2 you get a pair in the somewhere in the range of American sizes 4 to 8 or metric sizes 3 3/4 to 6. the most commonly used size for sweaters is 4 1/2 and 6 metric or 4 and 6 American–mine are 14 inches long

I looked through my sock pattern book and the most commonly used for socks is a set of 4-metric 2 1/4 or American 0 double pointed needles.

Circular needles are sized like the regular set of 2—-I would suggest a metric 6 or an American 8

The reason I gave you metric and American sizes is I don’t know if you are from Canada or the US. Our sizes in Canada are metric