Customizable Needle Sets

Got this interesting link from my friend Jinky (lyfasastitcher over at Plurk) who discovered Kinki Amibari bamboo circular interchangeable needles!

I know for a fact that Clover brand Japanese-made bamboo crochet hooks and knitting needles are very expensive here in Manila. It's a preferred brand on eBay as well, and priced accordingly. However, the interchangeable mechanism on these Kinki Amibari needles look pretty well-engineered. They even have 9" circulars for small circumference projects!

Must warn you though: I tried accessing the downloadable Knitting Accessories pdf catalogs, and this caused my Firefox 3 to crash. Three times. I can't imagine why, but then I'm only using a modest-processor netbook and not a core 2 duo machine. Anyway, FF3 filed a report and they'll probably look into it.

God is telling me that I have enough (cheaper, made in China) bamboo fixed circulars and (lifetime warranty, made in Germany) Addi Turbos from pre-recession era and that I shouldn't forget to give thanks! I do, I do! I make useful stuff using them! Laborare est orare! (To work is to pray.)

Time was when the Knitpicks nickel-plated interchangeables and their Harmony wood interchangeables were the relatively affordable must-haves. (They still are, based on price points. But I am a fixed circulars girl.)

Trust Jinky to find more new knitting items to drool over. She also referred to me Signature Needle Arts, who offer interchangeable knitting needle points (talk about customization!), and I can bet the "stiletto point" will be one of her must-haves, since she is very brave and does bigger lace projects. However my knitting budget for this year is way done, and I must knit more stuff to show for everything I have bought.

Yes, Jenny. THIS is the reason why I haven't been spending on my fountain pens.

Knitting is joy. Joy to the world!

Pinch me, PLEASE

At one point over lunch today I asked Incredible Joie to pinch me very, VERY hard.  Why, she asked. Good question.  I was feeling a little blue due to the time of month and had indulged in some online retail therapy.  Remember my eBay bleached bamboo needles?  I mentioned lusting after the carbonized ones.  Incredible Joie had bought her carbonized bamboo crochet hooks from a certain reliable seller earlier this year and I couldn't stop being amazed at their smoothness and lightness.  The seller claimed they were harder than bleached bamboo needles and weren't subject to mildew because of the carbonization treatment.  And doesn't bleaching weaken fibers or something?  At any rate, I was intending to go to great lengths to get them eventually.  Earlier today I just did.  Boy, did that drive the blues away!

I'm smiling now, but for a few seconds after I hit that checkout button earlier, several thoughts passed through my head.

1)  There's a global financial crisis!  The currency exchange rate is at PhP47.25 = USD1.00! (Alarm bells!  Sirens!)

2)  You don't have the carbonized bamboo dpns yet.  (Warning!  Danger!  The rabbit hole!)

3)  How about Knitpicks Harmony circulars?  (These are beautiful beech wood needles with the same flexible nylon cords I've come to love.  Dream on.)

4)  Now you'll have cheaper circular needles from 16" to 40"!  (Ecstasy!  Delirium!)

5)  Oh dear, they're only 12 oz in weight.  I have to get 20 oz more to qualify for Johnny Air Cargo's 2-lb minimum!  (More on this next month.  This was the point of no return.)

6)  NOW is the time to get yarn before Christmas!  (Knittipina in Wonderland steps off the cliff dazed at the sunset... and lands on a woolly beach seeing stars.)

To make a long story short, there was a sale in Knitpicks.com.  I ended up getting 500g of discount sock yarn and Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears.  Figured that would make the Johnny Air delivery service worth it.  *sheepish grin*

And this was all because last weekend I made one sock using the new size 1 and 2 bleached bamboo needles.  The size 1 bends a bit, but because of that I don't hold it too hard.  Because I don't hold it too hard, my hands don't cramp.  Yay!  Such smooth, light and relaxing knitting! Now when the sock was done I realized the color wasn't suitable for an adult.  Too busy a colorway for my personal taste.  Maybe for a child's sock.  I won't frog it though, there is always someone in the world who likes something like that.

I decided to make another test sock, in a plain color but with texture and pattern.  I frogged the first attempt, Christine Walter's Zigzag Socks from Vogue Knitting's Ultimate Sock Book, because I realized after completing 16 rows that my ssk's were going in the wrong direction (how funny is that!).  Maybe later when I'm not so frustrated.  Or should I say, later when I'm not so excited over my retail therapy that I can't think straight.  I'll probably try one of the short-multiples stitch patterns recommended in the same book too. 

Right now I started another cable rib sock for fun, in mercerized cotton this time.  I just want to see how cables work in cotton.  I'd love a good fit.  To non-knitters this all sounds like a lot of work after a long day, but that's relaxation for me.  I like the rhythm of the needles in my hands.  Knitting stitches in a repeating pattern are sort of like using prayer beads.  There's the clicking sound for some needles that lulls me, there's that smooth glide when the two tips rub against each other.  There's that counting going on that sounds like a mantra.  This is what drives me to add needles to my collection and yarns to my stash!  The endless possibilities of lovely things I could make! *starry-eyed* 

Somebody pinch me, PLEASE.

Famous last words:  It'll be at least six months before I do anything this crazy again.  In the next breath:  Yeah, right.

Bamboo Circulars from eBay

It's Christmas in October this time! The bamboo circulars I got from eBay finally reached me after 30 days (international transaction). These are 2 lots from the same seller, US size 0 to 15 in 29" and in 32". They are smooth, not too pointy, and the joins look good. However, they are bleached bamboo and not carbonized. I still want to get carbonized ones. If later on I get carbonized ones, I'll sell these via the Pinoyknitters yahoogroup or the Pinoy Ravelers group. How fantastic though, to have needles in sizes bigger than US 10.5 (I have no bigger sizes in Addis), for quick baby afghans and the like.

For the future: Carbonized bamboo needles in 16", 24", 29", 32", 40". And dpn versions from US size 0 to 15 if I can get them.

I know, it seems like overkill (didn't I say this already in a previous post?) in these times of financial crisis. But life is short. I want them while I'm still 30 years away from arthritis. I want to knit as much as I can, no matter where I am.

WIP: Prototype Ballet Slipper

Like I usually do on weekends, I surf Ravelry and other sites for free patterns within my skill level that appeal to me. Now that I basically have top-down basic socks well in hand, I wanted to try other shapes, like Pocketbook Slippers by Lisa Vienneau and Allison Barrett. The pattern is also available here. My feet are small and narrow, and while I haven't actually started that particular pattern, I also wanted to learn knitting toe-up basic socks.

The toe-up pattern here is a mishmash of things I've learned, which I wrote to fit my own foot. While I haven't done things scientifically (as in specifically write steps down row by row as I knit them, counting and all -- I only have a shorthand index card) I can at this point give you a basic outline if you want to modify something for your own foot.

Pattern Outline:

1) Magic cast-on from Knitty, using an 80cm circular needle.

2) Toe increases.

3) About an inch of stockinette rounds from toe increases. Or your preferred shoe entry depth.

4) Divide instep stitches into 3. Knit first third with first dpn, bind off middle third, knit last third with next dpn, place heel stitches on last dpn. Dpn 4 is the working needle.

5) For instep stitches, your selvedge will always begin with a slip 1, whether knitting or purling. Knit or purl heel as usual.

6) As you work try on the slipper. Slipper body should reach up to an inch before your heel ends. Leave stitches on instep dpns unworked.

7) Round heel shaping as usual.

8) Heel flap either plain or reinforced depending on your preference (not a very deep one for my foot).

9) When it's time to join the instep stitches to the heel flap, you will notice a gap that forms between the heel flap and the instep stitches. To address that, knit together (or skp) the last stitch on the heel flap and the first stitch on the instep needles nearest. Knit 1. Turn. Knit across and do the same thing on the other side (instead of skp, p2tog). Purl 1. Turn. And so on. Just keep doing this until you knit the last of the instep stitches and are working with only 2 needles instead of 4.

10) Bind off back of slipper. Instead of cutting the yarn, do a single crochet beginning from the last bind off loop. The single crochet will go around the selvedge of the slipper.

11) Use bright contrasting yarn, add details. Present crochet chain is 18". If you want it to go around the ankles, I suggest you crochet 30".

This slipper is made up of exactly one small ball of choco brown Red Heart worsted weight acrylic yarn, plus some contrast color for decor. It took me just under 4 hours. I had to knit AND unravel AND write shorthand, and do finishing carefully. Maybe less if I memorized it already.

Notes: For my foot cast on should be about 10+10 stitches on a circular. This one is 12+12, which makes for a wide square toe. Body stitches follow a 20 instep +20 heel total.

Rewriting as I blog before the lunch break. Will do the other slipper tonight after dinner. With the 30" chain to go around the ankle. Joy wants to wear it at the Little Gym when she plays with Lilo. Just to feel like Gymnast Mommy. As for Lilo, I still have to trace her foot. Hers will be a princessy pink.

I want to try the same thing with mercerized cotton, possibly 3 strands together. So excited!

Christmas in July: Circular Needles

Several months ago when the dollar was weaker and I was ridiculously besotted with getting knitting supplies via eBay and other sites, I ordered circular knitting needles. And other stuff. Tita Lulu was coming home from the US with a balikbayan box.

Finally, these arrived last Wednesday the 16th:


Addi Turbo Premiums (2.0mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm, 3.5mm, 4.0mm, 4.5mm -- all in 100cm except for the 3.0mm which were 80cm). [I actually ordered those first, but ended up buying 80cm sizes in local yarn shop Dreams because I was too impatient (2.0mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm, 3.25mm, 3.75mm, 4.0mm, 4.5mm, 5.0mm, 6.0mm & 6.5mm). Fortunately their prices were roughly the same, about USD 7.50 each on the average.] I actually have several projects on the needles and am glad I have extras because I tend to use sizes 2.0mm-4.0mm a lot. These Addis I got on eBay from a UK seller in a six-pack so the price was irresistible. My first eBay experience, and a positive one, thank goodness.


Knitpicks fixed circular knitting needles (2.0mm, 2.25mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm, 3.25mm, 3.5mm -- in 80cm) from Knitpicks.com. I got these because I couldn't afford the Knitpicks Options interchangeable needles and cables set. I heard about them from Knitters' Review. Something about being pointier than Addis. Someone said something like, "Addis are this shade of lethal. Knitpicks are lethal!" Check out the ff. picture (Addi on the top left, Knitpicks on the bottom right):


I think the Knitpicks would work really well for lace, but for other yarns people like Addis because they don't end up splitting the ply too much. But I think they'd knit pretty fast! And on the whole, are cheaper on a retail basis in the US. Addis fetch up to USD 18 for retail in some places.

And because these were so affordable (well, except for the 2.5mm which I got from Dreams), I got two Milwards 3.0mm, 40cm long from Carolina's Megamall.


These Milwards are roughly only 16" long. They're a British brand, Henry Milward & Sons (Studley, Warwickshire, England). Unfortunately with these needles stitches can bunch up where the cables meet the metal. Also please note that they are similar to Boye needles that have that angle at the base. An advantage of this is that stitches don't slide out. I plan to use these to practice the Cat Bordhi two-circular needle knitting method for socks.

And from my cousin Rosie Fe, a kindergarten teacher in Edmonton:


I know... it looks like overkill. I nearly ordered Inoxes from Paradise Fibers. And Susan Bates Quicksilvers or Silverados, just to compare. But I think I have most everything I need right here. I haven't even mentioned the inexpensive straight needles I got from different people or shops! I use the straights now mostly as stitch holders or, in the future, to lay lacework flat.

Yes, knitting is crack.