What a Difference a Needle Makes

The Compadre saw a quote on the wall at work that I love. Especially in light of my post yesterday. “Inside every older person is a younger person… wondering what the hell happened.” Cora Harvey Armstrong. I feel like that every day. And you know, it makes me look at my older friends and relatives in a new light.

I finished the string bag that I made for the sale at Double Ewe. It’s the Sunshine String Bag pattern but of course it’s not done exactly like the pattern. I obviously used way finer thread than the pattern called for and so it’s a lot stringier than it should be. Ruth brought hers (ravelry link) to Tuesday night knitting and it looks totally different than mine. She used round bamboo handles for a really cool touch! I like hers too. What do you do when knitting night is so crowded that you can’t move? You throw your project to the other side of the room. Some of us were better throwers than others! Yes Dana, I mean you :-)

So other than using finer thread, I also altered the stitch pattern slightly. The pattern calls for YO, p2 tog throughout the bag and it seemed to me that knitting 2 together would make more sense. I don’t think that the pattern looks different when made that way but maybe I’m wrong. I liked doing it better and it sure looks OK to me! I had to add a few rows to the length, probably because of the finer yarn, because I wanted to make sure I could get enough yarn in it! I can get 13 largish balls of yarn in it and because it’s knitted out of strong cotton/linen yarn (I tested it with my great strength) I could probably force more in if necessary. Kelly is worried! We’re going to empty the shelves during the string bag sale!!

OK, so about the needles. I used 16” circular needles in size 9 and 10 ½. The size 10 ½ needles that I had in my needle bag were old Addi Turbos. I remember when I bought them that I bought the best there was because they were an investment. They were the standard of the time. Well, how times have changed. Look at this picture and compare how blunt the Addi is compared to the Knitpicks Harmony. I gave up using the Addi after just a few rows because I just struggled to get that big blunt needle through those knit two togethers. I love my Harmony needles. I switched to them and I’m guessing that I was knitting twice as fast due to the sharper tips. There are other brands that have sharper tips than my old Addi. Look around and you can find them. And Addi did come out with their lace needle line too in response to requests from knitters. Just goes to show what increased demand and communication with the manufacturers can get us – innovation and better design for our tools. Knitters rule!

BTW the car thermometer said anywhere from -7 to -10 degrees F last night when I left my class that I taught at Double Ewe. Rumor has it that it will warm up to about 30 this weekend. Where’s that global warming when we need it? Amy said that Eric thinks we should just move to someplace warmer. But you know what we say about that! The weather “keeps the riffraff out”.

We were hardy Minnesotans last night and the class was fun and I think it went well. I had great students and I even admitted to them that this was my first time teaching knitting. I’m planning on teaching more classes if Kelly needs me and I’m really looking forward to it.

Here’s a cold Minnesota picture. We actually went north on Monday and here’s a picture of the Duluth Harbor. Brrr, cold. We visited our youngest son and enjoyed a nice lunch with him. Too bad his girlfriend was sick and couldn’t join us. It was great to see him.