Knitting Needles - my favorites

My husband makes bone needles, those who buy them think they're wonderful. Their great property is that althugh they're smooth when new they become more polished with use.

We wouldn't use any kind of tusk.

Mary

Padisher like you i found that the Bamboo circulars arent well attached to the plastic ,,,, mirjam

I'm partial to rosewoods - circulars and DPNs. I like nylon circulars for working with slippery yarns that have a high silk content. My one set of bone DPNs isn't doing much for me but I don't use them often enough to really have an opinion.

Personally, I'm against ivory of any kind, but that's just me. I've been a bamboo devotee for a long time now. I like the control they give me, and I fumble fewer stitches.

I've been converting my needles to Addi Natura circulars, just buying them as I need them. The join on these is pretty smooth; I haven't had any yarn catch at the join since I started using these a couple years ago. The cable is absolutely kink-proof; I've tried and not succeeded, and even my youngest, who loves to tie knots in my cable needles, hasn't been able to get the cable to kink.

I also like the Addi lace circulars. So far I haven't actually used them for lace, though. They're a bit pointier than my Naturas, and I've used them for cotton yarns, which I have problems with when using bamboo needles. They're brass and aren't as slippery as the Turbos. I recently acquired some nice merino/silk laceweight and have the Moonlight Sonata shawl planned - pattern available at Elann - so I'll give these a try on actual lace.

I've recently accumulated a near-complete set of Crystal Palace bamboo DPs that I am absolutely in love with. I only need to pick up size 1 and 1.5 and the set will be complete - woohoo!!

The Other Kim kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom

I once saw some knitting needles that ahd been carved from moose antler tips (which are long and thin naturally). Since antlers are thrown and regrown every year, they are renewable, like fingernails. The needles were long and slender, and rather expensive, and I suppose there wouldn't be a wide range of sizes, but I still think they were pretty neat.

I've seen antique bone needles, too, and they are almost as fragile as antique plastic needles. I'm pretty rough on needles so I stick to metal and plastic.

=Tamar

We don't have moose in Britain and red deer antler don't usually come with long or straight enough tines to make needles of a usable size but it's a thought - he got a consignment of antlers yesterday to make dice, combs etc. I'll suggest it. Antler is stronger than bone.

Well, the antique ones might be but new bone ones aren't unless you put a lot of sideways pressure on them. We always say that if ours break and the bits are returned we'll send replacements. Then Spouse makes sewing needles from the pieces, thus making more profit :-) It's only happened once.

Mary

... forgot to say that they're expensive because of the work which goes into them.

Mary

I told Spouse about antler needles and he's very keen to make some from the consignment he's just received. It's not all suitable for what he wanted but there are some long tines which will make good antler knitting and sewing needles - thanks for the idea.

Mary

Of course. The ones I saw had little flat ends where the tine had come out from the wider antler; that part was carved into a tiny leaf shape.

=Tamar

That sounds lovely - but not historically authentic for our period.

He could make some just for me but I really don't need any more needles :-)

Mary