Textile Yarn Fabric Knitting

Unmercerized Cotton:
This soft, fuzzy fiber knits well on metal or aluminum needles with a hard finish.
Mercerized Cotton:
Treated to reduce fuzziness and produce a hard, smooth luster, mercerized cotton knits best on a needle that's not too slippery such as plastic, wood or bamboo.
Linen:
Extremely slippery, linen is easiest to knit evenly with not-too-slick bamboo, wood or plastic needles.
Silk:
Silk is similar to cotton in that it can be either soft or slubby or hard and smooth. Select your needles as you would for cotton.
Alpaca, Cashmere, Angora:
Extremely soft and fuzzy, these luxury fibers knit best on bamboo or wood such as Crystal Palace or Plymouth bamboo, Susanne's ebony or rosewood, or Brittany Birch.
Novelty, Boucle, Mohair:
These highly textured yarns will behave better with needles that don't get caught in loops or bobbles. Bryspun Flexible needles are a great choice since they have concave points that help pick up the whole fiber to reduce splitting.