Friday Finds: Weapons-Grade Knitting Needles

Granted, we probably don't want to tell the TSA about this if we want to keep our ability to take our knitting on airplanes - which I really, really, really do.* But, ladies and gentlemen, I have found the knitting needles to end all knitting needles. Needles so pointy that no lace-weight fuzzy yarn has a chance. Needles so pointy that, if you really wanted to, you could probably use them as weapons. With head bowed and with infinite respect, I present the best needles ever created...

Knitting Needles from Signature Needle Arts

I'm sure that many of you are saying "Where the hell has SHE been? Living under a rock?" and the answer would be, "In a manner of speaking, yes..."

The thing is, when I find something that works for me, I generally stick with it. I'm not into trying the hot, new thing just to try it. If I have a NEED, that's a different animal, of course.

So, at knitting group a few weeks ago, one of our ranks was knitting socks with these gorgeous needles I'd never seen before. Since they were double-pointed, she was able to hand me one to look at. Now, I'm a wood-needle girl at heart but holy-crap these were the most beautifully weighted, comfortable and pretty needles I'd ever touched, bar none. And, to top it all off, they were SO FREAKIN' POINTY! I couldn't help myself - I kept poking the tips of my fingers with them. On purpose. Because I couldn't believe their pointy-ness.

I may not have been quite so enthusiastic about them except that the current bane of my existence is this mohair scarf I'm working on. I NEED weapons-grade pointy for this thing.

One word of warning for those of you who may be inclined to run right out and buy some on my recommendation. These babies don't come cheap - and rightly so. So, I'm going to start a wish-list on their site and ask all my relatives for gift certificates for Christmas (and maybe my birthday). I'd love to have many, many, many of these - if just for the shear joy of how beautifully they're made. And, of course, the pointy-ness. :)

Oh! I forgot to mention that you can MONOGRAM your needles too. How cool is THAT?

- Alex

* During that period when knitting needles were banned from planes, I had a 7-hour flight to Europe. Let me tell you... I NEVER want to have to fly for that long without my pointy sticks ever again. *shudder*

Friday Finds: Really Pointy Sticks

I got kind of wrapped up reading a sub-Reddit called "Explain Like I'm Five" about "ObamaCare" and nearly forgot to tell you guys about this week's find. If you're interested in learning about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in simple language with actual citations, go here: http://www.reddit.com/tb/vbkfm   I actually feel informed!

Now... on to the fun bit. If you read my post from the other day, you'll know that I'm currently fighting with some lace-weight Hair of the Mo. Honestly, I've never knit lace in my life and this yarn is so tiny it's ridiculous. It's beautiful to feel and the finished fabric is lovely but I learned a few things the hard way:

Seriously. This is like hair

1. You can't really un-knit or frog lace-weight mohair. You're better off just breaking off the bit you don't want and starting over.

2. You can't really knit lace-weight mohair with Clover Takumi bamboo needles. The tips are too large and too round.

So, my revelation for this week was learning about super-pointy lace-appropriate knitting needles. Friend of Might Distractible (and test-knitter extraordinaire), Gael (aka Stitchlilly), recommended two needles in particular: Addi Lace and Knitter's Pride Dreamz. The Addi's are metal (as far as I can tell) and I'm not really a metal needle girl so I bought a couple pair of the Knitter's Pride Dreamz. What a great purchase! Awesomely pointy, smooth, pretty (for each size the wood is dyed a different lovely color), and with the most supple cable you can imagine.

Gorgeous and easy to use

If you're in the market to knit some super tiny yarn, I can't recommend these enough.

Have a great weekend!

- Alex