Wire for Knitting
There are several different types of wire suitable to knit on a machine:-
0.2mm enamelled copper wire which you need to use a few strands together is my wire of choice - I usually use 4 strands together, on a standard gauge machine.
It comes on 175metre reels (weight 50g) at £4.00 each or Special Offer 4 reels for £14 - enough to make 30-40 small bracelets.
There are around 30 colours (but not all in stock) at the moment, photographed together below.
Below that I have added individual photos of the reels in the same order with the names of the colours as written on the reel, however, I have given further descriptions of the colours below. All colours which are called " Supa" are enamelled on top of silver plated copper to make them extra shiny.
* = out of stock.
I also have in stock -
Non tarnish Silver Plated Copper wire 0.2mm 125m £2.50 - limited stock - last reel
Real Gold Plated Copper wire 0.2mm 50gram £12.00 - limited stock - last 2 reels
Supa Chartreuse
4 in stock
Ice Blue
4 in stock
Supa Green
5 in stock
Supa Emerald
4 in stock
Vivid Green
2 in stock
Leaf Green
7 in stock
Supa Champagne
10 in stock
Gilt
2 in stock
Warm Gold
3 in stock
Light Gold
4 in stock
Gunmetal
6 in stock
Mid Brown
5 in stock
Rose Gold
4 in stock
Opaque Violet
4 in stock
Vivid Red
5 in stock
Supa Salmon*
discontinued
Bright Violet
5 in stock
Wine*
Supa Clear
8 in stock
Opaque Green
2 in stock
Supa Baby Pink
5 in stock
Supa Lilac
4 in stock
Grape
5 in stock
Dark Purple
4 in stock
Opaque White*
Supa Blue
4 in stock
Smoked
4 in stock
Opaque Blue
1 in stock
Dark Blue
5 in stock
Black
5 in stock
EXTRA INFORMATION on the colours of wire
If colour is temporarily out of stock, it has an *
Ice blue is more of a pale green, halfway between Supa Green and Supa Clear
Warm Gold (pinker and more coppery) and Light Gold (more orangey) are similar in tone.
Bright violet is a bright Fuchsia and several shades darker than Supa Baby pink which is a sugar pink.
Grape is a bright pinky/purple.
Smoked is a very shiny super grey - great for mixing in.
Supa Clear is Silver colour
Wine is now replaced by Supa Salmon
TIPS ON CHOOSING COLOURS If you are choosing 4 reels, I suggest choosing your favourite colour, a good contrast colour that you also like, a dark neutral and a lighter neutral. That will give you the maximum variety of colour and tone combinations. You can always mix in a sewing thread to change the colour slightly - even a variegated embroidery thread looks great!
You could choose 4 toning colours to obtain a subtle blend of similar shades or you could choose 4 completely different colours which you could put together in different combinations to achieve a very wide variety of colours.
As short lengths are needed to knit the strips for the bracelets and necklaces, it is easy enough to wind off lengths from your reels so you can use several strands of the same colour together. With just 4 reels of wire you can make 35 different colour combinations. If you choose 8 reels, you would have 330 different combinations!
Another type of wire I use on my machine is a 0.25mm plastic coated wire which is easy to use (you can even unravel it and knit it again), however black and white are the only colours now available.
10m reels cost £2 each - enough to make 2-3 pairs of earrings or a bracelet or a necklace. You use this wire single strand as you would use 4 ply yarn. 100m reels cost £15 - Special order only. If you are knitting by hand, then this is the type of wire I would recommend as it is not too hard on the fingers.
White wire can be coloured by using an suitable plastic dye or Sharpie Pens.
Although this looks a little grey in the photo, it is black!