Almost A Blanket

Mary recently asked me how many knitting needles I have. My needle collection really jumped up a notch last year. Randy gave me a set of Denise Needles as a Christmas present (he is so good a picking up hints!). The Denise needles have interchangeable tips, and the plastic needles are quite comfortable to use. These days, I use the Denise needles more than any other.


Denise Needles in a Tidy Case. 

Besides the Denise Needles, I have oodles of others that I picked up while working on one project or another over the years. I have lots of different brands in about the full range of sizes. Most projects seem to demand just the right size of needle, so it did not take long to amass this collection. My other favorite sets are the Clover bamboo needles. Bamboo is very comfortable to knit with, and because the bamboo has a bit of grab to it, stitches are less likely to fall off the needles. When I was teaching basic knitting classes, I liked having the students start with Clover bamboo needles because they had fewer "Dropped Stitch Catastrophies."


Double-point needles in a knitted holder. 

These days, I do find the bamboo needles are a little slower to use than the metal needles. I have some of the Addi Turbo needles, that are considered "speed needles." I don't think my needles ever move at turbo-warp speeds, but the stitches do move along across these needles faster.

The only type of knitting needles that I really don't like are the Susan Bates needles you find at every WalMart. These needles can be very poorly made. One evening, I needed a pair of #8 double-point needles to finish a project. My local knit shops were closed, so what's a girl to do but stop by the local Michaels to see what they have to offer. I was surprised to see the double points in their collection, so I bought them. The needles were a cheap kind of plastic with uncomfortable seams up two sides of the needle. And from what I can tell, a metal rod was imbedded in the plastic to give the needles a little more heft. The metal rod jiggled around with each motion of my wrists--something I found very distracting. As soon as I could, I replaced them with a set of Clovers.


Blob of Circular Needles. It's Alive! 
- posted by Laurie @ 4:33 PM