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Either you prefer handy knitting or machine knitting, you will need different knitting tools, that are used to prepare yarn for knitting, to measure and design knitted garments, or to make knitting easier.

For the handy knitting the main tools are knitting needles. Usually they are made out of aluminum, plastic, metal, wood and bamboo. For the beginners it is recommended to use needles of bamboo or wood, because the stitches are likely to slide off. But with experience you may change the needles and then compare which ones are more comfortable for the work. The diameter of the needle is a very important characteristic, because it affects the size of stitches and this at its turn affects the gauge of the knitting and the elasticity of the fabrics. So the diameter varies from 2mm to 25mm. Usually the knitting needles are characterized by the size of the needle, thus for the smallest diameter the size is 0 and for the biggest one is 50.

There are three basic types of knitting needles: straight (single-pointed), circular and double point needles.

The most common type is straight, single point. Such needles are usually 25 – 40cm long and are sold in pairs. These straight sticks are tapered to a point at one end and with a knob at the other end in order to prevent stitches to slip off. The needle size is stamped on the knob or on the needle shank. Such needles are used to work back and forth the row.

For circular knitting you may use both straight needles and circular ones, but circular needles will avoid sewing seams. You may use these kinds of needles for flat knitting also. Circular knitting consists of two straight sticks of about 12cm long, connected by a thin cable, which lengths may be 40, 50, 60, 73, and 90 centimeters.

The third type is straight double pointed knitting needles. These kinds of needles are tapered at both ends, so you can knit from either end. Double pointed needles were used for big or small circular knitting before inventing the circular needles. Nowadays they are also used to make circular knitting but more small items or small flat items with few stitches.

Needles and yarn are the basic tools for knitting, but along with these there are some more accessories you may want to buy while becoming more experienced. Scissors will help you to squeeze the yarn. If you prefer using a tape measure, try changing it periodically, because in time it becomes imprecise. But for more accurate measure use a hard ruler. For sewing seams use tapestry needles (yarn needles), which are oversized sewing needles. Crochet hooks and a darning needle are often useful in binding off or in joining two knitted pieces edge-to-edge. To prevent stitches from sliding off use point protectors made off rubber, over the knitting needle. And finally there are lots of bags and containers for holding knitting, needles and yarns.

Yarn for hand-knitting is usually sold as balls or skeins. When buying yarn for a project, try to buy a sufficient quantity of yarn, because balls from different dye-lots, even if very similar in colour, are usually slightly different and may produce a visible stripe when knitted together. Dye lot is a group of balls dyed together and thus having the same colour. The dye lot is usually described on the label of the skeins along with the yarn's weight, length, fibre content, washing instructions, suggested needle size, likely gauge, etc. The thicker yarns the thicker needle must be and the thinner yarns the thinner needles.

The most yarns are made by twisting fibres so they are more resistant. The twisting may be done in either direction, resulting in Z-twist or S-twist yarn.

The fibres are usually divided into animal, plant and synthetic fibres. Animals fibres include silk, but generally are long hairs of animals such as sheep (wool), goat (angora, or cashmere goat), rabbit (angora), llama, camel, etc. Plants used for fibres include cotton, flax (for linen), bamboo, ramie, raffia, coconut husk, banana trees, corn, etc. Common synthetic fibres include acrylics, polyesters, nylon and other polyamides. But for knitting, wool is generally favoured, because it is warm, elastic, durable and holds its shape well. Cotton yarns are also very popular and alike wool yarns there are also hand washing.