Eek!

[firecat]

Proof that there is such a thing as a garment with Too Many Cables:
http://www.knitpicks.com/books/books_display.aspx?itemid=30920

Comments

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've seen bamboo dpns, but I've not looked very hard, I tend to use the standard plastic(coated) needles pretty much all of the time. Pointy for lace though, definitely. I have some nice looking metal circulars, but they don't like me any more than any others do, so they languish, unloved and unused.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call plastic or plastic-coated needles standard on this side of the pond; metal is most common, with bamboo and wood being popular in some circles. Plastic exists, but it uncommon. The nylon circs I love haven't been made in decades; I have to get them off ebay. Are your metal circs the common-in-my-experience metal tips with a nylon cord, or the no-longer-sold-here kind with a metal cord (resembles a large-diameter metal guitar string)? (I have a lot of older needles.)

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

The ones that I think of as standard are (I think) metal with a thin plastic coating on them. They are the ones I'm used to and most comfortable with other than at the exreme ends of the size range. I have used bamboo ones but they aren't slippy enough for my tastes. The fine ones I'm using for the lace are metal though.

My metal DPNs are the sort with a nylon cord, I've not seen ones with anything other than nylon for the cord part I don't think.

What I'd love to find out about is how to use knitting sticks - I've seen them in a museum but don't know anyone who uses them. I also met a Swedish woman who did 'needle binding' - it looked like knitting with a single needle, but it decidedly isn't crochet.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I"m not sure if the most common metal needles here have a coating or not, but I don't think they do -- the ones I know do are much higher-end needles.

'Needle binding' is probably nallbinding (http://www.stringpage.com/naal/naal.html) -- I"ve seen it done, but haven't tried it myself.

Are the knitting sticks you mention the tool discussed here (http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=203542)?

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

Thank you - yes, naalbinding looks right from what she was doing. Her English was very good, but the place we were wasn't really right for teaching someone else how to do do a new thing across languages.

She was making her other half some new mittens - the fabric was very warm and dense that she produced.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I believe it originated with the Vikings. I have very little use for warm, dense fabrics, living in southern California, but may try it some day any way,

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

You're meant to make *useful* things with this stuff. What an odd notion...

[firecat]

I am using birch hardwood DPNs for the socks I'm knitting, and I love that they *aren't* slippery, because the yarn doesn't fall off the ends at all. I prefer slippery for large swathes of simple knitting though because it goes faster, and I also prefer slippery for cables.

[pogodragon.livejournal.com]

I think I prefer slippery needles pretty much at all times - I dislike intensely the feeling of fighting against the work when I'm knitting that I get with non-slippery needles. The normal-for-here plastic coated ones are the ones that I generally prefer. Some grip but not enough for me to notice it.

That and they're the ones that I've always used so it's what feels right.