Wouldn't You Know It?

I'm a big fan of wooden knitting needles,they have a much better feel than plastic and are much warmer (and less noisy) than metal. With the exception of socks,* almost all of my projects are knitted on wooden needles.



But, one problem with wooden needles is that they can break. In my experience, they don't break often, just when you do things like step on them. Thankfully, breakage is usually pretty rare.

However, I'm knitting on a deadline right now. So, breakage was inevitable. Husband forgot that a house rule is to check for stray needles before sitting (though Husband would say that it was my fault for leaving my knitting of the couch). I was left with a broken stump of a needle, and a half finished sweater.

I was forced to order replacement needle tips, and of course, I had to include some yarn (I needed to qualify for free shipping after all). The package took about a week to arrive, so that forced gave me the opportunity to complete my Citron shawl. It worked out well, actually, I bound off the shawl on the same day the box arrived.

Still, that was a week with no progress on the sweater, and now the wedding is only 13 days away. I have divided for the armholes and have about seven inches left on the body, plus the sleeves, and the ruffle trim. As a precaution, today I ordered a cardigan that would also work well with the skirt.

*As a side note , I would love to knit socks on wooden needles as well, but when they are that tiny, wooden needles just don't withstand the wear and tear I inflect upon them (and yes, I'm reasonably certain that the problem is me, not the needles.

 

It's Going to Be a Great Day!

There are few better ways to start a Saturday than to find a box from Knitpicks waiting on my front porch. Contents include some Wool of the Andes Tonal in Gypsy Queen (red) for the Milk Run Shawl (Rav. Link) and some Comfy Worsted in Celestial (blue), white, and black for a Tardis iPad sleeve, and my replacement needle tips in size 8.

Life is good.

 

Product Review: I Could Make That

I'm pretty good at dealing with, accepting, or at least tolerating other people's annoying habits. It's part of working with people, which, try as I might, is an unavoidable part of being human. There are some traits,, however, which seem prevalent in the species that bug the dickens out of me on a regular basis. Things like confusing "teach" with "learn" or "lend" with "borrow" or people who do not say "please" and "thank you" to service people. Generally that sort of thing.

But here's another one. People who look at handmade items that others have for sale and say in a snotty, condescending tone of voice, "well, I could do that." Yes, the item is handmade, you probably could do it, but if you're looking for things that a mere human could not make on their own, why are you at a craft fair. 

I'll admit, being a knitter, I fall victim to this exact thing. I find myself looking at some hand knit items while thinking, "I could make this for way cheaper." Usually, I'm looking at hand knit wash clothes when thinking this, which, yes I could make for cheaper, but I have about ten skeins of cotton yarn upstairs and a bunch of queued patterns on Ravelry that make me question if I'll ever get around to actually making the clothes. 

My new favorite purchase also falls under the "I probably could have done the same exact thing for cheaper" category, but I don't care. I love it, I love, love, love it.

The Knitter's Tool Tin

Those who know me, know that keeping my knitting tools handy is a bit of a problem for me. I keep the basics in a Namaste Buddy case, and keep the more specialized items in a Knit Happy Fold 'n Go Notions Box, both of which work well for home use. The problem comes in when I travel. I always have trouble remembering to pack up everything that I need, and keeping it all together without taking up too much space in my bags. And, despite my best efforts, I will end up in dire need of a darning needle, stitch markers, scissors, or a tape measure.

Enter The Knitter's Tool Tin, I can't remember if it was an ad on Ravelry, or something I saw in a magazine or on a blog, but somehow I ended up at the Sexy Knitter's Etsy store and found it.

So cute!

What is it? It is a tin, the size of an Altoid box, but clean and cute. Inside the box is a tape measure, a pair of puppy snips, 5 handmade stitch markers, a mini double ended crochet hook, a stitch holder, a cable needle, two tapestry needles (one blunt and one sharp), and a sewing needle.  On the lid of the tin is a magnetic strip to keep the needles from getting lost. Then there is the added detail that you can choose from a variety of cover designs and pictures, or get one custom made (I went with the orange owl cables). Absolute pure genius. 

The Contents, except I lost a stitch marker already.

Now, I know there are skeptics, who are thinking, "really, couldn't you have done this yourself?" And the answer is, yes, I could have. But that would have involved hunting down all the items (most likely ordering from multiple websites), and the tin and assembling everything. Then I would still have to decorate the tin, which still probably wouldn't have ended up nearly as cute. And that's a lot of knitting time that I would have wasted. In short, it wasn't worth it to me to make it, but it was worth it to me to buy it. So I did. 

And I don't regret it. This little tool tin lives in my purse and has the tools I need whenever I need them. I left for a road trip with a friend this weekend and didn't have to worry about whether or not I might have to sew a seam, or measure progress, or need a stitch marker, or pick up dropped stitches, or splice together yarn ends (all of which I did have to do this weekend); the tools to do it all were in my purse. 

Puppy Snips, open

Puppy Snips, closed

Add to that the bonus that everything in the kit is TSA approved, no more worrying about my scissors being confiscated at security checkpoints when I fly, the Puppy Snips, in addition to being adorable, are completely harmless.

In short, if you're a knitter, a kit like this is a must have. It was an idea I would never have thought of, and I'm not sure I could have assembled it for less money (especially when you factor in shipping and handling from several different websites), and I'm all for supporting sellers on etsy. These things made this wonderful little kit so worth the price for me, and added the bonus of less knitting time lost due to lacking or searching for the correct tools!