I want to thank you all for your kind thoughts and good wishes :) It tickles me to death to know such a nice bunch of people! For those who are curious, the brownies were passed over in favor of chocolate cake with cream-cheese frosting. YOW!! Was that good :)
I hadn’t planned to go out yesterday, but Myria and I wound up heading out to my little, country yarn shop just to look around. I didn’t see any yarn that I was desperate to have but I did find a couple of things…
The elusive, pink Chibi
You may recall that someone on the KnitList a while back was looking for a pink Chibi - absolutely, positively had to be pink. This resulted in a minor uproar when it was discovered that Clover doesn’t make the pink ones any more - only the green ones. A couple of entrepreneurial types also hit E-bay where bids got into the ridiculous range rather quickly.
I have been thinking about a Chibi for a while now though, honestly, I couldn’t care less what color the case is. I tend to keep my tapestry needles in their original packages until the cardboard gets so worn it won’t hold together any more. The case is a better idea I think and gives me two of the bent-tip needles to play with and see if they’re easier or more efficient than the straight-tip kind. The LYS also had the green type but I thought the pink was prettier :) It was the last one.
Clover bamboo double-points
Then there were these DPNs. I have resisted wooden DPNs because I’ve heard too many reports of them breaking, down in the size 1, 2, and 3 range. I like the metal pins I normally use, but there are times (and some materials) where something with a bit more friction would be useful.
The first bamboo needles I ever tried were Crystal Palace. They were interesting as I had never seen or imagined a needle that wasn’t metal or plastic and I used them for a while. A brief while… For some reason, these needles seemed to provide too much friction. Everything stuck to them and they had very sharp points that split everything I tried to work with. After a while I went back to my metal needles and decided that bamboo probably just wasn’t for me.
Forward a couple of years. In conjunction with the Dulaan project (hat knitting, to be precise) I wound up buying a set of 10.5 Clover DPNs. Checking them in the store, I was impressed with their nice silky feel and their blunt points. Well, I say blunt but I’m not talking the eraser end of the pencil here. The needles have nice points where the end is sufficiently rounded so as not to split yarn or cause permanent bodily injury. This is a good thing :) Anyway, I bought them and loved them.
Lately I’ve been seized with the notion that bamboo sock needles might be a useful thing to acquire - they’d be more flexible (and hopefully less breakable) than the wooden ones as well as being light and warm to hold. So I acquired another set yesterday and am here to tell you that they rock :) I couldn’t wait until we got home last night so I could knit the sock on to these needles and play with them for a while. They’re wonderful and I love them :)
Finally, there is this. If I seem a bit random and incoherent this morning, blame it here:
The possible beginnings of maybe a stole?
I had this wonderful idea for a cabled stole so, around 10:30 last night, I sat down with pen and paper to work out the numbers. Let’s see, garter stitch borders, rope cable on either side, twisted and intertwined lozenges in the middle…check! I put Thunderheart in the DVD player and cast on, knit the border rows and started the pattern work. Way, way too many stitches…
Pull it out, check the figures…aha!...and cast on a different number of stitches. Work the border rows and procede to the first pattern row…still wrong.
I gave it one more try - it was now about 1:30 AM. This wasn’t successful either so I gave it up and went to bed. I did not, however, get to sleep. The numbers buzzed and spun in my brain and I simply couldn’t seem to shut my head down. It seemed to be determined to figure out the correct stitch number or never let me sleep again. So I got back up, turned the light on and did the stupid thing one more time - this time, successfully! I finally got to sleep around 2:30 AM.
Obsessive? Moi?
Oh, one more thing! We went to dinner at a place called On the Border. We had avoided it because it looked like a Mexican version of Red Lobster where everything tastes the same no matter what you order. But, our favorite Mexican restaurant was torn down a few months ago to make way for office condos and we’d been looking for another one. Yesterday, we decided to give this one a try and we found it to be pretty, darned good! We’ll definitely be going back :)
No trackbacks yet.
sounds like the birthday was quite successful-
i love the clover bamboo needles and they are my ‘needles of choice’ for almost anything i do- i can, however, snap the wee things (i obviously have the delicate touch of a moose or something like that) but that blame falls on me and not on the needles-
my finishing needles reside in an old altoids tin- your pink chibi puts that to shame!
isn’t of feeling obsessive, consider yourself dedicated to solving the problem- and why am i not surprised your new stole is going to have cables on it?
stay happy-
For me, I know I wouldn’t be on sock pair number, I think, 30 (!) if it hadn’t been for bamboo needles. For my very first pair of socks, I purchased metal needles, not knowing any better, and, let me tell you, stitches were slipping off the needles in every direction you could imagine. Then someone recommended wood or bamboo so I gave those a try and it was night and day. However, if you use a cotton yarn with elastic like Cascade Fixation, metal is the way to go, cuz talk about friction!
Don’t you just hate it when your brain won’t shut down for the night? =) I get that too when I’m trying to figure out a particularly tricky pattern, and it’s frustrating. But it is rewarding when all that skull sweat pays off and you end up with a lovely new pattern and an even lovelier knitted item.
I love Clover needles. Tried Crystal Palace and just didn’t get the fuss. But Clovers get a thumbs up every time.
A Happy Belated Birthday to you! Thanks for the kind words on the Truly Tasha Shawl.I really need to get a picture taken of it. Maybe I can convince my neighbor to model for me . It really is a lovely pattern, the edge makes the whole thing. Are you a thumbs up or down on the boucle yarn from JoAnn’s? I have a trellis shawl I want to crochet for my stepdaughter.Love the story of the cable stole. 
Barb - Funny you should mention the Altoids tin as I have some of their sugar-free mints in my purse and before I saw the Chibi - guess where the tin was going to go when it was empty? Heheh…
Ryan - Thanks for the vote of confidence in the bamboos - I really, REALLY like the way they feel as I work. I already know I’m going to have to invest in several more sets of these in assorted sizes.
Maybe someday I too will have 30 pairs of socks behind me! Now that’s something to aspire too.
Erin - Nice to know this happens to someone besides me :) On the other hand, I probably should have known better than to have started on it at 10:30 in the evening!
Kathy - I’m sure the Crystal Palace needles are just fine and that it’s just me - but it’s nice to know it wasn’t all in my head and that someone else has had the same experience with them. The Clovers are wonderful and I love using them :)
Maureen - Thanks and oh please do take a picture of your shawl - and then let me know! I’d love to see the finished item :)
Bamboo DPNs sound interesting. As I have never used bamboo needles before, I’m wondering whether they snap easily. I usually stuff my knitting into bags. And oh, such fun, another cable project to look out for! I’m erin from the equator now, so that you won’t confuse me with Erin (titanium rose) - Hi Erin!
Hi Robbyn, I enjoy reading your blog!
Clover is from Japan and so am I. Do you know what ‘Chibi’ means? It is ‘a little thingy’.
Please allow me to introduce myself…
I’m such a slow knitter (and a very beginner) for the last 3 years. I always adimire how fast you can knit! Am about to finish off my hubby’s jacket tonight (or tomorrow night…).
It took me for good three years to finally saw the parts together… I ‘unknitted’ the back parts for three times and the front parts for two times with this project. I had a strange way to hold needles, but finally found your pictures which helpes me knit with the stable needle position. So, I’m thanking you sooo much for the pics you posted!
I’d love to experience more project, but with full-time job and caring a 3-year-old boy, I can only knit at night.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to see your new projects and interesting techniques! Enjoy knitting! -tashy
Equatorial Erin :) - I’ll let you know how I find them, but I’m liking them a lot so far. I have heard of wooden needles snapping (down in the sock size range) pretty often but seldom heard of bamboo snapping. Since I intend to get bamboos in all those teeny sizes, stay tuned :)
Welcome Tashy :) I’m so glad you wrote! Thank you for telling me what “Chibi” means; I had been wondering about that!
I’m so glad you have found the pictures useful and that you enjoy the blog. Try not to worry about not having enough knitting time - just enjoy the knitting time you have.
