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January 26, 2004
Peeved
Yes, I'm a bit peeved this morning. Let me explain:
Over the weekend, I started on a sweater for my husband. It's going to be very simple - a knit-in-the-round crew neck sweater. I'm starting from the bottom up, not really using a pattern but following some different 'percentage system' (Elizabeth Zimmerman) types of guidelines gleaned from a couple of different sources.
The shoulders will be patterned after a Lands End 'Drifter' sweater that I have. Here's the look I'm going for:
You can see that it's partially a raglan and partially a saddle shoulder. I think it hangs very nicely and would suit my husband's broad shoulder physique very well.
I used a kitchener (or tubular) cast on and it looks really, really nice. It's a time-consuming technique but worth every minute, in my opinion. I did a 2x2 ribbing. Then I started zooming up the body in plain stockinette. I was hesitant about doing just plain stockinette, thinking it would be boring to knit. But it's actually been quite nice so far to just put my mind on autopilot and sit and watch TV or engage in conversation and not have to be so totally focused on the knitting. Very relaxing - almost meditative.
So anyway, I'm zooming along and suddenly POP! One of the needles broke off the cord on the Denise's circular needles! Look:
This is the THIRD time this has happened to me. The other two cables I sent back for replacements (which they were very nice about, and quick, too.) But now I've kind of soured on their whole interchangeable needle system. For one thing, the yarn does not slide on them as well it does on Addi Turbos, for example. I have to keep shoving the yarn around to the right place. When I was doing the ribbing on my size 4 Addi's, the yarn slid around so nicely - I could knit at a really fast pace. And the constant breaking of the cables - I can't put up with it anymore. I do have a lot of stitches crammed onto the cable, but I don't feel that I'm being too rough or applying too much tension (faithful readers of this blog will recall that my swatching efforts have pinpointed a bit too much looseness in my knit stitches.)
I should also add that before the needle broke, I had a different cable on the needles that kept separating ever-so-slightly from its connector, allowing a stitch to drop down into the gap and get caught. Boy, that was annoying.
I bought the needles based on the rave reviews in a recent issue of Knitty. And although I still like their concept, it's just not executed very well. I will keep the set because they will make great stitch holders. For knitting, however, I'll be sticking with Addi's.
Unfortunately, I do not have any Addi's in size 6. And I cannot get to a yarn store today because the roads are really awful. In fact, I was supposed to go down to Denver this morning but I decided not to based on this morning's traffic reports.
So I am peeved that I have a snow day at home and cannot zoom along on the sweater. Ah, it's just as well - I really need to do some cleaning today, particularly the downstairs office. Now the question is, can I wait until next Monday to get to the yarn store? Hah, I doubt it.
Comments
Just had a personal traffic report from Mr OotFP, who was again swept away by a big black car this morning. He just needs to get on E-470, and he says it's a whole lotta slippin' and slidin'. Stock show is sure going out with a bang this year!
Posted by: Patricia Tryon at January 26, 2004 09:17 AM
Your needle situation is the pits. I personally have never even liked the concept of those types of needle sets for the reasons that you are experiencing. They don't even look appealing to me, and I was fortunate to hear from others who have tried them and advised me to never use them. I'm sorry you had to find out the hard way. Can Fed-Ed get to your door? I'll ship you some good ones overnight if they can deliver. This is what I consider an emergency!
Posted by: Lisa at January 26, 2004 12:20 PM
I have had that same breakage problem with my Denise Interchangeable needles too. And that bunching up thing. Hate it. I also have the Bamboo Sister needles and they come apart all the time too. Good in theory. Hang in there.
Posted by: kathleen at January 26, 2004 07:23 PM
I have some Boye interchangable and decided after them I'm never buying interchangable again. I hate them. They unscrew, which means your knitting is knit, knit, screw in needle, repeat and the joins do NOT allow the yarn to slide around evenly. I think the Denise are better, but after reading some complaints about the joining issue, I decided not to get them either. Welcome to the ranks of the happy regular circ crowd!
Posted by: Shellee at January 31, 2004 02:13 PM
Hi there,
I guess I'll be the odd one. I love the Denise needles! I had the same thing happen once, and I learned to move my knitting up to the top of the needle without twisting which has completely eliminated the problem. I love how the needles turn into their own stitch holders, and how I can make a single sweater with 4 different needle sizes for lacy sleeves, etc., without changing anything but the tips. Plus they've totally revolutionized my willingness and ability to swatch until I get the proper gauage. I'm so sorry they didn't work out for all of you.
Posted by: Larissa at February 3, 2004 03:12 PM