I like the fabrics produced by fine needles, and thus I have not been making the needles/adapters for large needles. I have suggested that users of large needles can reduce the stress on their hands by simply dropping down a needle size. I was wrong, and I am sorry.
I do not do commissions, however my SIL's 60th birthday is coming up and she wants a cowl. She has been asking for this for a couple of years, now she is saying that I must do it for her big birthday. The pattern calls for large needles. I got out my old cables and swatched. It did not look very good. I was up until midnight making adapters to use those big old DPN in the bottom of the stash needles with a knitting sheath.
Next morning, sure enough, it looks my knitting again.
I will make adapters to use large needles with knitting sheaths.
I do not do commissions, however my SIL's 60th birthday is coming up and she wants a cowl. She has been asking for this for a couple of years, now she is saying that I must do it for her big birthday. The pattern calls for large needles. I got out my old cables and swatched. It did not look very good. I was up until midnight making adapters to use those big old DPN in the bottom of the stash needles with a knitting sheath.
Next morning, sure enough, it looks my knitting again.
I will make adapters to use large needles with knitting sheaths.
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6 comments:
How do you make an adapter for a cable needle? What's the material you're using for the needles?
I do not. I have not found a way to use cable needles with a knitting sheath or knitting belt.
Oh, okay. I must have read it wrong. Sorry!
No, unclear on my part.
Aaron, about six months ago, I worked out a way to make a sheath that works quite well for circs, but the drawback is it only allows a working width a bit smaller than the length of the needle itself, not including the cable. That means in most cases I can make perfectly good socks, mittens, or gloves, but anything wider than about 32 stitches or so cannot fit in the working space. I have made several pairs of boot socks, and a few fingering weight pairs, and find it greatly speeds my production and reduces stress on fingers and thumb. I also use a tensioning method essentionally the same as Stephanie Purl McPhee, rather than the more traditional English Lever style. I am continuing to try to work out a method that will allow including the cable in the working space, but so far the inventing muse has eluded me.
I have found that the 14" Susab Bates aluminum needles (the ones with the plastic bit on the ends with the size stmped on) can be easily used with a sheath if you just remove the plastic end pieces. I have found that you can actually use these in the same manner as DPNs, so long as you start each with the point in the proper direction. It has allowed me to make some circular items in larger gauge without having to shop all over for spring steel in the desired diameter. If you have trouble with stitches slipping off when knitting large pieces, you can wrap a rebber band tightly around the non-pointed ends about 1" from the end, allowing the last inch for inserting into the sheath. This has greatly expanded my project capabilities at a much lower cost.
I hardly ever knit a stitch without a sheath, as my right-hand thumb basal joint is rather painfull from arthritis. I somtimes do a bit of pit knitting, but usually only on projects with Aran designs, because I am not too good with turning cables while using the sheath. A beautiful gansey in overall snakes and ladders broke me of trying to do that very much with the sheath. Unfortunately, as a guy, I don't have the nearly required chest endowment to be a great pit knitter. Stephanie has me beat there!
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