Blogstalking '08, Week Two. My needles.

I actually suggested this topic, "my knitting needles all in one place." I figured that it would be an easy one for me, since I mostly use my Knitpicks Options set for most things. But then I realized that I would have to round up my many WIPs and needles that I do not use often. Suddenly, I got scared. If I show all of it, then people will know about how many projects I have on the needles, with little to no hope of finishing. ouch. Maybe that should have been my "bad habit" post last week. I have developed a bad case of Cast-On-itis.

In the interest of good sportsmanship, I did round up a few WIPs for this assignment, but not all of them. There are at least three still sitting in project bags, not pictured. I would love to finish any of them, but between my desire to start new projects and my children and this here computer thingy, I don't hold out much hope for them.

But I digress. I'll get down to business. First up is the tin where my DPNs live. They are pretty happy in there, as it still smells like cookies, but I'd love to have a needle roll, so I didn't have to sort through them, then pull out the needle gauge to figure which ones I need. (That's on my very long sewing to-do list.)
And here are most of my needles, attractively displayed. I think metal needles are so pretty and shiny. They make me happy. Wooden ones are great, too, but I don't own any of them (anymore,that is. The boy broke my one pair), so I cannot vouch for the happy-factor of wood needles. The Knitpicks Harmony needles are awfully pretty, though.

And here is my favorite set. This is a vintage Boye Needlemaster set, as bought at auction by my grandmother. It apparently originally was owned by a woman named Louise Jones. I wonder if Louise agreed that it was the "most exciting knitting innovations ever." It really is quite a nifty concept, but the execution in the 1960's lacked a little.


Look at the cords. The things are huge. When stuck through my handy dandy needle-sizer, I find that they are equivalent to a US6 needle: a far cry from today's skinny cords. Funny enough, though, they aren't much less flexibly than some of the cheaper circs' cords I've tried. And the needle tips are actually a bit smoother and nicer than the modern Boye Knitmates needle(one-at-a-time version of the Needlemasters) I bought last year. When I was a novice knitter, I did complete a few projects on these. I'm quietly proud of that.


So there you have it, most of my needles in one place. Ta daa! Now I am going to sign off and use them a little bit.