New Toys

I'm growing to REALLY love 7:45 am. That's about the time my post man usually leaves my treat of the week in my mail box. This week, my set of Knit Picks "Options" interchangable needles arrived. Voila! Here they are in all their purply glory. I didn't go for the "starter set" because I rarely use anything over a 6mm needle. I ended up ordering ala carte and took 3.5mm to 6mm tips with all the stops in between . I then ordered cables in 24", 32", 40", 47" and 60" to cover my bases. The buzz on these babies is pretty good and they seem to be of decent quality. The real attraction according to various Internet posts is the nice sharp tips these have. I'm making the Vogue Cover skirt from the Spring 2006 magazine with my Holtz and Stein ebony needles right now and those pointy tips are a delight.



There is a little hole at the base of each nickle plated tip of the Options needles where you insert a metal "key" to help tighten the tip onto the cable and hopefully prevent the needle from coming loose. Those purple discs you see in the box are "stoppers" that screw onto the end of the cable so you can use the cable as a holder. Each cable comes with a twin - one for holding and one to continue knitting . That's a very cool and unexpected feature in my book.

I'm generally a far bigger fan of wooden needles than I am of nickle plated. I know many people swear by their Addi Turbos and they do have their place but nothing beats the warmth and silkiness of a luxury wood. I've decided to treat myself to a pair of Lantern Moon circular needles when I go to the Kitchener / Waterloo Knitter's Fair on Sept. 9. Guess I better tell Julie to bring them along when she sets up her booth. Though somehow, I expect she's planning to do so already. I'm planning to christen the Options needles this weekend by playing with some of the new Rowan Tapestry. I could probably buy a small island with the money I've spent on needles but when you spend so much time with a project, the yarn and the needles gotta be worth touching. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!