"suzee" wrote in message
...
Samatha Hill -- take out TRASH to reply wrote:
Gerald & Donna McIntosh wrote:
Hi! Was just working on my latest modelstitching job (re-knitting
sweater on # 13 needles)
and got to wondering why needles jump from #11 to #13..Anyone got ideas?

Maybe for the same unknown reason that a size 10-1/2 needle is 6.5 mm and
a size 11 needle is 8 mm? *shrugging shoulders in a "who knows?" type of
fashion*

Then again, there are always reasons such as the following:

A little girl asked her Mom why she always cut the end off the ham before
baking. Her Mom said "That's the way my Mama always did it. You'll have
to ask Grandma why she did it." The little girl asked her Grandma why she
cut the end of the ham off before baking? Grandma said "Because my Mom
always did. You'll have to ask Great-Grandma why she did it." Finally
the girl asked Great Grandma why she cut the end off of the ham before
baking. Great Grandma said, "Because my baking pan was too small to fit
the whole thing."

The US sizes follow wire gauges to an extent. The first needles were made
from wire and machined in shops like bolts and things. So there were
pre-set sizes that could be used, unlike today's computerized machines.

sue

thanks for the answers..now i've got to get back to my knitting job,
redoing the sleeves for second time; one down, 2nd more than half done..
fronts and back done so I can finish this up today and get it in
mail!

Donna in S. IN