They’re here! My new Knit Picks needles arrived way ahead of schedule. Usually my orders take at least two weeks to arrive. These were supposedly backordered, but arrived in a week and a half. No complaints here. My verdict? An enthusiastic Thumbs Up! Here’s my review:

POSITIVES:
1. Wicked sharp points. The best thing about these needles! In fact, I’m not going to pack these in my carry-on for the flight. They might be considered lethal weapons. However, I’ve not had a problem with them hurting my finger tips either.
2. Everything in one neat little binder. This is going to be great when going on retreats or workshops. All the sizes are right there with extra space for stitch holders, scissors, crochet hooks and all your other assorted knitting paraphenalia.
3. Each component can be bought separately. This is huge! We all have our favorite size needles, cables, etc. I will never need more than one set of #10’s, but I will definitely order more 4’s and 5’s – the sizes I use the most.
4. The price. Like all of Knit Picks items, they are quite reasonable. I think this is going to be a huge blow for Addi Turbos.
5. Oh – and the join? Very nice. I’m noticing that I wasn’t able to get as tight a join on one side of the cable I’m using now as the other, but even with that, it’s smooth and not snagging.
6. The cable is wonderful. The plastic has no memory, which means that after being coiled up in the pouch, it relaxes out to its original, non-kinky position. No more dunking in boiling water to straighten out cables.
7. Nice, long needle tips. These are really substantial and give you something to grab on to.

NEGATIVES:
1. No 16 inch cable. Refer to #7 above. The needle tips are too long to allow for the shorter cable. But, they are so economical, I can easily afford to use two longer cables in the double circ method.
2. The smallest size in the set is #4. But I can see the rationale behind that as well. With the small size needles, it was impossible to get the smooth join with the connection needed for the larger sizes.
3. That’s it – no other negatives that I can think about.

Of course, I had to cast on right away for a trial project. And, in the interest of killing two birds with one stone, I found a project for the poor Shine that has been looking for a home:

This will be a little jumper for Izzy. It’s a discontinued Minnow Knits and I can’t get a good scan of the pattern, so you’ll have to wait for the finished object to see it in all its glory. My goal is to take this with me on the trip and finish it while I’m there so she can model it right away.

I also ordered a set of size O’s. I have made three unsuccessful attempts to start the Unst Stole from Sharon Miller’s Heirloom Knitting. With the cobweb weight yarn and pattern on every row, the Addi blunt tip just wasn’t hacking it. I could do it, but it just wasn’t fun. So, last night I sat down to see how the Knit Picks needle, with its sharp tip, would do. The difference is like night and day. This pattern will never “fly” – it’s still difficult and fiddly, but the Knit Picks needle raises it to the level of fun. Here’s a picture of two hours worth of knitting (that’s 15 rows) :

As you can see, this will be a multi-year project! Don’t look for pictures on a regular basis – but I’ll post pictures when there’s enough progress to actually see.

On the school front, I got some exciting news. My new study plan was posted and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! If I really apply myself, I may be able to graduate in December 2007. That will be just a little less than 10 years after I started!! I am so ready to be done. What it does mean is that posting will probably be relegated to only once a week once school starts August 21st. I promise not to abandon all of my faithful readers (all 30 of you!), but I am going to go through Bloglines and cull down the number of blogs I read. I will try to get those listed on my sidebar because I’m going for quality and I think they need to be shared. Li and I both agree that we enjoy blogs that are upbeat, positive and whine-free zones. I also like blogs that have at least a smattering of knitting content, although I enjoy hearing about everyone’s lives and Marguerite’s nature photos. Well, off to a busy day of last minute preparations for Orlando – how much exercise and diet can you do in one week to get into swimsuit shape?