Making the leap to interchangeable needles.

I wanted to make a hat by knitting in the round.

I tried out one of these circular needle affairs, but I didn't like it, because the connecting cable was way too stiff.  I decided to shop around for one of those circular needle sets, because they can also be used for straight knitting, and I wouldn't need to buy any more straight needles. I started by checking Amazon reviews, and narrowed it down to the Knitter's Pride brand.





Then I watched this review:

I didn't want to commit to a full set without knitting on a few of the different ones, so I ordered this little Comby Sampler.

It has cables to make 24" and 40" circles, plus three different tips: Dreamz, Cubics, and Nova. The Nova is metal, and it is the least expensive of the three. In this set, it's a US size 8. The two wooden ones are shown in close-up below.

The one on the left is a US size 7 Cubics, and you can see here that it is square in cross section. The one on the right is the US size 6 Dreamz.

I played with all three and decided the Cubics was nice, but since the Cubics sets have fewer sizes, I would go for the Dreamz. The Nova was out because a beginner has trouble keeping the stitches on a metal needle. They are slippery.

The tips are 4 1/2" long. I was concerned they might be too short, especially after trying the cheap bamboo ones. The ones in the set felt really good.

Each tip screws onto the threaded end of the cable. There is a hole that goes through the bottom of each tip where you can insert a little key to get some leverage and make the joint tight. This is a picture of the cable end with the key sticking through it.

As Amy points out in the video above, the hole also provides an easy method for inserting a lifeline.

Knowing how the pieces go together will become important when I post about starting to knit my first project in the round.




Today I ordered the deluxe set of the Dreamz. It contains nine  different sizes of needles, four cables in three sizes, and some little accessories for storing projects on the cables while you use the needles for a different project.

Knitter's Pride Deluxe Dreamz












I am working on the hat on the US size 8 Nova metal needles attached to the 24" cord. As I begin it from scratch for the fourth time, I will update the blog with progress notes and tell the story of each of the project's incarnations thus far.

The learning continues.

I made this practice cloth to see how I would handle an actual pattern requiring certain things to happen in certain rows. This is the one I have previously posted about, where the pattern eventually ends up with diamonds in the middle. In another of my baby steps, I decided to do one with just the seed stitch border, and make the entire middle where the diamonds will go into stockinette.

Both times I took this project to knit group meetings, I ended up ripping out everything I did there or shortly thereafter. It wasn't any big deal, since I had lifelines inserted.

I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, and I will take the next step and do the diamonds soon. I have some pretty yellow yarn, since this multicolor stuff doesn't really lend itself to highlighting little bumps here and there.

I wanted to make something round and experiment with circular needles. I ordered a sampler pack of three different Knitter's Pride styles and sizes, and it came with two different-length cables. Kent and I went to the store, where he chose some yarn, and I got it started. My next post will be about the hat and the disaster. Hint: Cable detachment is involved. I tried to get it back in order last night, but three attempts failed, so the 4" or so of hat that I had knitted are now back in a ball.

We screw up, we learn. Kind of like life.