The original was a 3mm, 80cm circular needle. I cut the points off the wood (with scissors) and Nathan sharpened them for me. (Think he sandpapered them. I re-sandpapered the ends later, and it was quite easy.) The wood left was 5cm long. I found it hard to pull off the tube, so I cut it off one end with a sharp knife.
I measured my tube, cut it to length, and put the end back on. It was hard to squish on, but it went on eventually.
I found the cut-off points, and decided to try and whittle the ends so I could stick on the leftover tube. It didn't work so well, because I'm not much of a whittler. So, with a file in the vice, I filed the end down until the tube could be squished on.
My first was 20cm (about 8"), because I've heard of 8" circulars, and I figured it wasn't possible to knit with them much smaller.
The second was 25.5cm (about 10"). The joins aren't perfect, so I'll see how they go with knitting. I suspect my little one will work best, if I hold the original (good) end in my right hand.
If they work well, my future socks will be much easier!
Sock number 2 is down to the foot. So not long to go, and then I'll give the mini-circs a try!
5 comments:
I've purchased the mini-circs in 11 inch length and used them for knitting fingerless gloves. Although I found them extremely uncomfortable to work with. What a handy gal you are! Are you making mini-socks? I saw in a previous post about knitting socks on 2 circs.. have you tried Magic Loop?
Either way.. good for you for knitting socks. It's like the final frontier for me.
Haven't tried two circulars or ML yet. I thought my 20cm circulars might be a good size for socks... if they don't give my hand a cramp! I don't have trouble with dpn's, except that I leave ladders of loose stitches between the needles, no matter what I try!
I think lace is my Final Frontier. It looks so complex, and SO easy to stuff up. And the yarn is so thin, and shawls are so big... Nope, my simple 8ply socks aren't so bad.
Too bad you can't get KnitPicks out there. They've got wonderful sock-size circulars.
I admire your tenacity! I don't think I would have thought of making my own needles!
Gosh, I don't know if I could knit on such small circular needles. You are awesome if you can do that!
Karin
wow that's clever. I had some 30cm addi's which I ended up giving away because I found them too painful to knit with.
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