Got Needles?

One of my co-workers is pregnant and wanted me to show her how to knit. She's almost done with her scarf and on Monday I will show her how to bind-off. "Can you show me how to make a baby hat?" she asked. Well... she is pregnant and you don't say no to pregnant women in my experience so I told her to get some yarn she likes that takes needles from US- 4 to US 8 (I have one of those patterns than can use lots of different size yarns). "Should I buy needles?" Now this is only the second thing she will have ever knit and I really don't see making her buy needles to do circular knitting just to make a hat. I told her I would bring her needles to use. Going home, I went through my needle stash and realized, I have a heck of a lot of needles! How about all of you? What are your current favorites or does it "depend" on what you're doing? My current favorites are my Knit Picks interchangeable needles, but they only go down to US 4 so it doesn't help me with my finer knitting. Still, the points are so nice that I'm tempted to buy Knit Picks other circulars in the smaller sizes to see if they would work well with my lace knitting. I feel a little guilty because, as you can see, it's not like I lack for needles. I have circulars down to US 000 in the Addi Turbos, I have quite a few birch and bamboo needles and the odd ebony and rosewood. I have Inox and Susan Bates and Crystal Palace and on and on and on. While we were talking, another co-worker also asked if I would teach her to knit. "I inherited all of my Grandmothers needles and there are just tons of them!" I bet I'm not the only one who has a needle stash. I'm 1/3 of the way through my last side of the Mountain Pines. You will not see it again until I go to block it!.

Good Evening To All!

You Know What I Like! (birthday gifts)

I'm at that age where I pretty much buy whatever I want for myself within reason. After all. I don't really like to wait for anything and I don't see why I should have to. That said, my friends and family really do know what I like. It's not the money, it's the thoughtfulness. See above some of the very wonderful things I got for my birthday. I particularly like the dog headed knitting needles (US 9-10) , the pretty bag for small knitting projects (from France no less), the radical rick-rack as well as the novel tape measures. All from my friend, Louise (that bastion of Basque-ness). She's been collecting these things over the whole year for me. You really cannot ask for a more thoughtful friend than that. The needle set from Knit-Picks is just one of the many many gifts I received from my sister. I can't say I lack for needles. I thought I had every size and every length until she got these for me with the additional/optional longer length cables so I have 45" and 60" cables. Day-am! I am a very lucky woman. It almost makes aging bearable:-) . The dishcloths and Ray Charles album (along with a nice Starbucks commuter mug not show and Starbucks Giftcard) are from my friend Cindy and her daughter BJ in Seattle and the Motown, well that was something I got for myself along with a large number of paperback "trash" novels I will put in the stockpile of books "to be read". Did I mention I hate to run out of either knitting or reading material?

Now don't think I haven't been knitting. I have, just not a heck of a lot of lace. I have only one more scarf to knit for JS and my servitude will be done. I have only 6 more rows to knit and the boarder for Mountain Pines will be done and I can begin knitting on the edging. That will take awhile since it takes 832 stitches to go all around the shawl. I screwed up the Peacock Feathers Shawl again and have to pick-back 3 or 4 rows so you won't be seeing that one for awhile. The WRS, is on hold so far. I may start back onto this eventually but it's a very slow knit for me. The Fircone Shawl is a no-brainer and I'm knitting this whenever I get bored with other shawls. It hardly counts. It's the "Holiday Slow-Down" where knitters go into semi-hibernation and go bake or cook or some such thing until spring. Darn those holidays! :-)

Until later!

Worth Flying for (Thank the Lord I flew before the Security Alert!)

Thank the powers that be. I took that trip to Seattle before the security alert turned ugly! I went primarily for a poetry reading my friend Jerry was giving. He's been working at it for a number of years, on and off. Lately he has put a lot more time and effort into the work and I feel he's getting a lot better. A whole crew of us went up to this little coffee shop where they have poets read to support him. I may be biased but I liked his reading the best of the 3 poets who were up there. I don't have permission to post any of it, but once he does publish (he's working on that now) I think he will let me. Of course, a lot of the poets in his writing group feel his writing is directed at a "less diverse" group of readers (read Gay) as opposed to what I guess would be considered more mainstream, but I don't think I agree. People are people, Gay, Straight, Whatever. Anyway, I liked it a lot. Of course, his partner and he have once again sold their house and bought another house and are in the middle of a re-model. I say "once again" because his partner, Paul is a real estate agent and they do this every 4-5 years or so. Each place is beautiful and sells for more than they bought it for. It's a little confusing for the rest of us but we try to keep track of where they are. In stark contrast, my friend, Cindy, who I stayed with in Seattle, is re-modeling her modest home and it has been literally "jacked" up into the air so a lower floor and slab can be poured. Of course, there is currently a concrete pourer strike. We stayed at her mothers home which is right next door to her place. What were the chances that both of them would be doing this at the same time? We talked every night until well after midnight, baked, bitched and caught up on our lives. I brought her my swatch of the WRS center to see and I ended up leaving it with her because she wants to show it to some of her friends who knit. It was OK since it already served it's purpose. I did miss knitting while up there but I would never have been able to do a good job. Too distracted and busy during that trip! Now I have a confession to make. One of the reasons that I left the WRS swatch up there in Seattle is so Cindy's mother could see it. We have this little thing going where I knit something, she knits something more complicated, and I respond with something yet more difficult. It's not on purpose you understand. It's just a "thing" we do without really saying that we are doing it. I know it's petty but I never said I was perfect! Heck, if the woman is going to turn the seamless sweater that my sister knit for Cindy's daughter inside out to see how it was finished, then she can go ahead and stare at the swatch for awhile.

See above pictures of the tips of some knitting needles. Susanne's US 2-3 Ebony needles, Crystal Palace US 0 Bamboo and Addi Natura US 1 Bamboo. Some of the Heirloom knitters were asking about how some of the tips compared so I posted it there and here in case anyone is thinking to go smaller and wants to go with wood/bamboo. I still prefer the Inox for the WRS myself!

Good to be back! Will post again when I have more for you to look at than needle points!

Size Matters (choosing the correct needles)

On this, the glorious 4th of July, I am making lace swatches. I can only do the swatches from what I have on hand because I have PROMISED myself I will not actually knit the shawl until I READ the instructions first. I started on US 1 with Addi Tubo's for a swatch. It's too big for the yarn's I have in mind. Then I tried out knitting the Shetland Cobweb yarn on the bamboo needles from Crystal Palace, size US 0 . If anyone else is considering these needles with the Lacis Shetland or a Silk yarn, think again. Do the words "Sucks Much!" mean anything to you? Once you push those stitches past the metal collar that holds the plastic cable to the needle, you can't easily push it back because of the design of that join. At the point where the plastic cable enters the metal collar, there is a small rounded "bump" that is ment to facilitate the yarns transition. However, with use of the Shetland Cobweb weight or the Silk yarn, it just gets trapped between the bump and the metal collar. Think "choke chain" and you will get the idea.These needles are fine for larger lace yarn, but not for this project. The Addi turbo's could work but are slippery. To make the swatches above, I used Susan Bates 14 inch straight needles that are colored Aqua and are size US 0. They worked just great and points were nice and sharp. I'm thinking straight needles for the center are looking good. I will go have a look at rosewood straights in US 0 and make a trip to Lacis in Berkley to see what they have as well. I will also try to pick up a little extra Shetland Cobweb yarn while I'm there. I still have to decide which circulars to use. Maybe by the time I get done with the center, I will feel comfortable enough with the yarn to use the Addi Turbo circulars for the rest of the work. We shall see. It's really crucial for me to have needles with fine enough points to do the work well as the whole thing is such a challenge already that struggling with the wrong tools would be a drag.

The top swatch would be the Cordonet crochet cotton 100. Nice clear pattern but not a soft hand after washing and blocking out the sample. Advantage, there is no fear of shreading the thread as it is very strong. Still, I doubt I will use this for my project. Second swatch is the Shetland cobweb weight yarn from Lacis. It has a really nice halo, it got even nicer after the wash and blocking and it is not at all stiff, unlike the crochet cotton. Really very nice. Very high on my list as contenders. That leaves me the job of making up a Silk swatch and, if the cashmere comes from the UK, and it looks good, I'll try that too!

My thanks to Jason for reminding me that there are quite a few other people who are working on the Wedding Ring Shawl. "Knitter guy is already doing the "Princess Shawl but apparently this is not enough to keep him busy and he will be making the Wedding Ring Shawl as well.(http://knitterguy.typepad.com/). Marilyn "The Knitting Curmdeon" has started a blog called "The Wedding ring Chronicles" to report on her progress with the same pattern and has already begun work on it at...(http://weddingringchronicles.blogspot.com/ ). It's not a "knit along" but apparently people who know each other pretty well! Much luck to all of them! I'm already prostrate with envy that Knitterguy has made such terrific progress on that Princess Shawl. It won't be available again to purchase by the rest of us unwashed masses until 2007. Sigh. I only just got back into knitting Shetland lace lately after years of primarily cable knitting.

I must go now and take the silk skein and try to wind it into balls. I don't think I can get it to be all in one ball. It tangles easily and will end up being more than one ball as I hit immovable snags/knots/whatever. Will post swatch when I can!

Oh yes, in response to Jason's question if I will start knitting the Wedding Ring Shawl in the near future. You betcha! As soon as I get needles I like for the center, and finish reading the pattern info (tonight if my arm does not fall off from winding the Silk). Yes yes, I know. I have 3 other shawls on needles. But they are all larger needles and yarns. They will be the respite from the Wedding Ring Shawl, if you can believe that. This will be months and months of work for someone like me. I am not a fast knitter.

Until next post!