Ah, I had a nice weekend. Reading, knitting, beading and braiding. I have been
trying to finish a crochet bracelet by sewing it up, a bracelet in silver-lined
clear size 15 beads, but I got sidetracked before the second attempt.
You see, even though I've been doing off-loom beadwork for over a decade, I've
never sewn up/joined up a crochet rope bracelet on the first try - the pattern
created by the crocheting needs to be followed through on the join so it becomes
as invisible as possible. This bracelet requires the small 4X inset on my
clip-to-the-desk magnifying glass to sew it up, which makes it a bit more
challenging than normal.
Then I had second, third and fourth attempts on Saturday night and Sunday
morning. I think the gremlins were gathering around this bracelet. Got quite a
bit p***ed off, especially since one of the attempts caused me to have to
re-crochet one end of it - which, if to honest, wasn't that bad - I tightened
that end up a bit. I did finally sew it together on Sunday night. Photo tomorrow
or Wednesday night.
But, enhearted by my eventual success, I started on finishing/sewing up another
crochet rope bracelet. This one still needs use of the magnifying glass, but I
can use the big section. Darn those fiddly threads. *G*.
On another subject,
I've been thinking for a while about getting some interchangeable needles, but
the only two companies I knew did them were Boye and Denise. I found the Denise
website and finally caught some people talking about them both. I decided to get
the Denise set as I found out the needles in the Boye set - as much as I like
the quality of their STEEL crochet hooks - are made from aluminium and you screw
the cables onto them.
So, by luck, these same people said they got theirs from a real store with a
website:
The Wooly Workshop. (www.woolyworkshop.co.uk)
I went to their website, liked the price, printed off an order form (with a bit
of faffing around), and mail ordered some Denise interchangeable knitting
needles a couple weeks ago. I got them in the post last week.
I can't say I was impressed with them initially. From the reviews and praises I
read, I expected something really spiffy and pretty. They're not. I opened them
up and thought I'd been done. They look like cheap plastic (which they are NOT).
Like the picky size fiend I am, I got out my brass caliper and measured them
all. They are not all evenly divided into whole millimetres and fractions of
millimeters (regardless of ANY website saying they are) like regular knitting
needle sizings, but they are sized so if you use them as a SET, you'll make good
garments.
(Some of the pairs are evenly measured as whole and fractions of millimeters
(e.g. 3.75, 4, 4.5. . .), just not ALL of them).
So today, I bit the bullet and transferred one of the prayer shawls onto the
size 4.5mm needles made up with two cables into an circular needle and used them
for a while. I started examining them and while knitting, changed over a cable
or two so the shawl would fit better on them (so there wasn't so much extra
cable) - the circular needle measures 78.5cm from tip to tip now - and I lost
track of time whilst knitting as it was comfy.
I really like them.
I REALLY like the Denise needle set. I had a good look at them and noticed a few
things.
1) they've got little holes in the neck of the cables so you can put a paperclip
or home-made handle in and easily twist them that way when needed - which is
good for my arthritic flare-ups.
2) The needles and cables fit together nicely. Not really snug, but they also
have a little give in them, so you sort of forget about them. I tend to find
that other types of circular knitting needles are not particularly giving, so
the edges and backs of my hands start to ache after knitting for a while. These needles are really pleasant to work with.
3) They don't get warm like they say, but they do stop being cold very quickly.
That's good.
4) The cables are equal to the thickness of the smallest needles. That's nice as
it means the knitting slips fairly easily from the cables to the needles with no
"snagging" or jamming like you can get with the cable/needle joinings of some
other companies.
5) The needles are a bit rough, but they do smooth out quickly with use. I don't
know if they'll eventually end up with a finish like glass, but right now
they're a tiny bit "sticky". That's good for me. I don't like feeling as if the
knitting is going to slip off the needles when I least expect it. I don't mind
the slight decrease in knitting speed it causes as I'm not a fast knitter
anyway.
Right now, since there's only one cable of each length in the kit (6 different
lengths), I can't see using the set like regular paired knitting needles.
There's no freedom in that regard for picky little me, plus, since there's only
two extender bits, there's a limited scope for the amount of circular knitting
needles I can make.
So, I am planning on ordering one more of each cable length and 2 more extender
bits (each extender comes with two end buttons - another feature I really
like.).
I do like the set. It's comfortable. It's not the greatest quality, but it works
very well for what you get. I will say that if it had cost more, I would have
sent it back. (I paid a bit over 33 pounds for mine including Packaging &
Postage).
The set is made in the US and I'm glad I didn't persuade myself to order it from
over there - it NOW costs about $50 not including P&P - but when I ordered mine, the
set cost about $70. The recent US price decrease annoys me a tiny bit, but I have the
kit and I'm happy.
I think that's enough talking about it. I've got things to do.
Bye for now.
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