The best lights for knitting and crochet

The Glocusent bendable neck light - 100 hours of stated runtime, five color settings and stepless dimming for under twenty dollars, worn so the light follows your hands rather than staying where you left it. If the problem is not where the light falls but how much of it there is, the TROND clamp lamp publishes 1,000 lm at 6000K and clamps to the side table.

Two of the five picks here publish an output figure and one publishes a runtime. Nothing publishes CRI, which for judging yarn color is the figure you would most want - so the table below compares what is stated, and the page says plainly where the category goes quiet.

Needlework is the hardest lighting problem in an ordinary living room, and it is not about brightness. The work sits in your lap, you lean over it, and your own head and shoulders put it in shadow. Adding a brighter floor lamp behind the chair makes the room brighter and the work no better - which is the experience that sends people looking for a page like this one.

Worn solves it completely: a neck light sits above the work and moves with you, so there is no shadow and no aiming. The trade is that it lights only what you are facing, so a pattern on the side table stays dark.

Clamped solves it differently: a long gooseneck from a side table reaches over the lap and stays put, which also lights the pattern and the yarn basket. The trade is an outlet, a clampable edge, and a lamp in the room when you are not using it.

Most people who do this regularly end up with both, and the combination is cheaper than one premium lamp. What neither replaces is the room's own light - a dark room with one bright point in it is tiring, and the layering argument is in layered lighting.

1. Does the light follow the hands. Worn or on a long arm. Anything that needs re-aiming every few minutes fails this.
2. A published figure of any kind. Runtime for the wearables, lumens for the clamps. Three of five state one.
3. Color settings. Daylight for dark yarn, warm for the evening - needlework needs both, often in the same session.
4. Dimming that goes low. Stepless beats fixed steps when you are sharing a room with someone watching television.

We did not test these; every figure is the listing's own and each is linked below. No pick here publishes a CRI figure, and this page says so rather than implying one.

Glocusent bendable neck light - the pick. 100 hours stated, five color settings, stepless dimming, and a bendable body that aims both heads at the work.
Who it is for: anyone who knits or crochets in an armchair most evenings and wants to stop thinking about the light. Who should skip it: anyone who needs to read a chart on the table as well - a worn light goes where you look.
Cons: runtime figures are quoted at the lowest setting, always; no lumen, kelvin or CRI published; bendable arms lose their shape; sold as a reading light, so the default arm position suits a book.

Lumos knitting light - the one built for this. Designed and sold for knitters and crocheters rather than adapted from a book light, with three colors and adjustable brightness.
Who it is for: a serious, daily knitter, and the obvious gift for one. Who should skip it: anyone trying the idea for the first time - the Glocusent is a third of the price and publishes more.
Cons: three times the price of a general-purpose neck light; no lumen, kelvin, CRI or runtime figure published at all; single-purpose; lights only what you face.

TROND clamp lamp, 1,000 lm at 6000K - when there is simply not enough light. 1,000 published lumens at a published 6000K, on an extra-long gooseneck that reaches over a lap from a side table, with three levels.
Who it is for: fine work, dark yarn, and anyone who has started making mistakes they blame on their eyes. Who should skip it: anyone who wants to sit in a warm room all evening - 6000K is a working color and a cold one.
Cons: 6000K only; no CRI published, which for judging yarn genuinely matters; needs an outlet and a clampable edge; dearest pick here.

EastPin rechargeable neck light - the stocking filler. Three colors and dimming in a neck light sold explicitly for knitting, crochet and sewing, for under twenty dollars.
Who it is for: a gift, or a second one to keep in another room. Who should skip it: anyone comparing runtimes - this publishes none and the Glocusent publishes 100 hours for about the same money.
Cons: no runtime, lumen, kelvin or CRI figure; neck lights of this weight tilt forward over a long session; hinges fail first on every light of this type.

Lepro small clamp lamp, 460 lm - where the big clamp will not fit. 460 published lumens from a 5W USB clamp with three color modes and ten brightness levels.
Who it is for: a narrow side table, a shelf edge, or a craft corner where the TROND is simply too big. Who should skip it: anyone working on dark yarn - 460 lm is less than half the TROND and on black wool that shows.
Cons: no kelvin values for the three modes; no CRI published; a small clamp will not grip a thick table edge; half the output of the larger lamp.