Hooked on Needles

Friday, October 17, 2008

Bamboo Knitting Needles

I have always knitted with aluminum knitting needles and for the most part I've been happy with them. I prefer the shiny Boye brand, but have also used the matte finished Susan Bates brand. I have noticed recently that lots of different types of knitting needles have hit the market - plastic, gigantic, square, lighted, knitting needles with ruler markings on them. I realize some of these are not new, and some are quite ingenious. But I tried one type of knitting needle recently that I thought I would share with you.

I live not too far from a yarn manufacturing company that makes some pretty well known name brands and once a year they have a factory sale where they offer huge discounts on factory lots of their yarn. I always go and see what I can pick up for cheap. This year I didn't have too much spending money for this shopping trip, but I did pick up a few lots of some nice cotton yarn that I will be putting to good use some time in the future. Anyway, while I was standing in line, the lady behind me was looking at the rack of bamboo needles and commenting that the price wasn't that good, at least no better than Michael's or anywhere else you could buy them. I thought, naturally, this is a yarn manufacturer and they are trying to unload their overstock of yarn, not their needles. But I engaged her in polite conversation anyway and asked her if she actually used bamboo needles. She started telling me all about how wonderful they are to knit with and how smooth they become and how warm they are in the cold weather and how they don't make her hands hurt and on and on. The line moved fast and that was the end of our conversation.

The next time I was at Michael's with a good coupon, guess what I bought. Ok, if you don't want to guess, you can just continue reading and you'll find out!


Bamboo Knitting NeedlesYep, a pair of size 9 short bamboo knitting needles by Clover. That was the same shopping trip during which I also purchased the Clover Yo Yo maker that I had such fun with a few weeks ago. I decided to use my new needles for the first time with cotton yarn to make this face cloth. I must say, I really liked how smooth the needles were and how the yarn slipped effortlessly on them. They really did feel good and I thoroughly enjoyed using them with the cotton yarn.

Then I started another project with them, which you see still on the needles in the picture above. This was Red Heart worsted weight yarn in the Delft Blue for the Special Olympics scarves I am making. I don't know if it is the acrylic yarn or what, but I'm not liking how this yarn and these needles work together. The yarn seems to stick to the needles, even when I make sure my stitches are loose. I am going to continue this project with these needles just to see if I can work it out, but I may have to change to aluminum needles if things don't improve.

Have you ever worked with bamboo needles? How did you like them? Do you prefer certain types of yarn with the bamboo needles or do they work great for you no matter what kind of yarn you are using? I would love to get feedback from people who have a lot of experience with bamboo knitting needles. I would really appreciate it.

Happy Stitching!


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1 Comments:

  • i LOVE bamboo needles, i do all my knitting on bamboo circulars. the bamboo does stick to acrylic yarns though, i actually like this cause i can work quickly and i rarely drop stitches. they are great for slippery yarns, also very light in my hands. also like double pointed bamboo sets, they dont fall out of the stitching. it seems like they soak up oil from my hands, they get smoother & darker in color the more projects they are used for. i love the variety of needles types out there, something for everyone!
    happy knitting!
    =0)jessica

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At November 28, 2009 at 4:59 PM  

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