Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Adapters

There were places I had to go, and things I had to say (in other places). Then, I had to learn to use my new spinning wheel. Then, I had to become a rather better wood turner, and you wonder why I have not been blogging?

And, I had to make some knitting sheaths with adapters:

Knitting sheaths and Adapters for different sized needles



I have knit with ALL of the above knitting sheaths and adapters and they work.  The adapters are interchangeable between all of the knitting sheaths and any knitting sheath can use any of the adapters. Needle sizes run from way too small for elves to big enough to plug the Gulf Oil Leak. (Number of black bands reflects needle size.)
The adapters need to be a wood that is as hard as rock maple (or harder). The knitting sheaths can be softer woods. For example ebony and walnut work well together, as do maple and maple, maple and ash, or maple and oak. The male fitting on the adapter needs to be ~3/8" and the knitting sheath needs a thickness of ~1/4 on each side of the adapter or it will crack. Thus, the minimum thickness/diameter of the knitting sheath is 7/8". The adapters can easily be made from 3/4" stock.

Do I like using them? Not really. I prefer just using a knitting sheath made for that needle size. However, I tend to work with a very limited number of needle sizes and I do not like the kits of circs with interchangeable needle tips either. But, that is just me, and many knitters do like the kits.

When I first knit with a Yorkshire Goose Wing knitting sheath, I was amazed at how ergonomically and comfortably the goose wing fit against my body. After more experience with the turned knitting sticks, I have to say they are just as good and perhaps more versatile.

A quick review of Brears reminds us that while Yorkshire had the goose wing knitting sheaths, they continued to use the turned knitting sheaths.

I had some of these at a KIP the other day, and the adapters kept falling off and -- hiding.  This design is not good enough.

4 comments:

Alison said...

Aaron, how hard would it be to retrofit one of your sheaths (now owned by me) for these adapters? Or should I get a new one, specially designed? I do find I'm often in the wrong size to use a sheath...

Aaron said...

I tried retrofitting some and it is hard to get everything straight. I am NOT going to do retrofits. If you just use a few sizes of needles, it is better to just have knitting sheaths for those sizes. Maybe, I should sell matched sets of knitting sheaths.

I have lost many of the little adapters into the dust collection system, and still I find them hiding in every corner of the workshop and every room where I was test knitting. (Now, I make them bigger.)

Those little adapters are not going to be real inexpensive. I mean, maybe $8 for a bit of wood that can hide behind a dust bunny. And, run! They make dropped sock DPN look like sticks in the mud.

Drop one of these puppies on the bus, and it will go round and visit every passenger on the bus and end up under the driver's seat.

=Tamar said...

$8, eh? I'm getting more interested by the month. If only I weren't too paranoid to use Paypal or any of those systems.

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