Needle review

Back during the Super Summer of Sensational Sock Bag Swapping, I engaged in an exchange with another knitter to swap a couple of sock bags for some hand-made knitting needles; one swap was for a set of curly maple dpns and the other was for a pair of bloodwood straight needles. Let me first say that I do not normally knit on straight needles. In fact, I donated all of my straight needles to Frances for her school's knitting club.

Okay, back from the commercial break, I wanted the straights solely for the purpose of knitting dishcloths and potholders (I used to knit them on dpns with stoppers jammed on the ends) and so, I thought that today I would post my review of the bloodwood needles.

My bloodwood (a.k.a. Cardinal wood) needles were handmade by Sam at Books, Yarn, and More and are guaranteed for life. In addition, the customer service is wonderful.

I had requested from the swapper the shorter needles listed, 10 inch. I didn't realize at the time that this is the length of the working shaft and that the decorative ends stick out an additional 1¾". Hm. A pair of nearly 12" needles? Way to long for me. So, I emailed Sam asking him if he could cut them down to 7". Not a problem. What he actually did was to make me a whole new set (he said cutting down an existing pair gave him the willies). I sent the long ones back to him and he sent me my nice short custom made for me needles.

But how do they feel?

They feel great - well balanced and smooth. With respect to the level of slickness, I'd have to say that they are not as slippery as Crystal Palace bamboos or Colonial Rosewoods but they are more slippery than Clover Takumis. Turning to the tips, these are very pointy needles. There is no comparison with the Takumis at all. They are probably about as pointy as my Crystal Palace dpns though the taper is more gradual, more like the Colonial Rosewoods, but a bit sharper than the rosewoods.

Oh, and the knitting you see here? That's a potholder. Cast on 28 stitches with two strands of Sugar'n Cream held together on the size 7 needles. Knit five rows, then purl one row. Repeat eight times. Bind off knitwise until there are three sts rem. Use these three to make an i-cord loop for hanging.

Come to think of it, this would probably be a good repeat for a baby bib. A little less monotonous than straight garter stitch.

PS - The second Skweffle is blocked and drying.

PPS - I have an unused set of Crystal Palace bamboo dpns (size US 2½ , 6" long) that I would like to swap for the same needles in a size US 1. If you have such a set and would like to swap, please leave me a comment or email me. Cheers.