Knitting

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Square Knitting Needles

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Now I ask you, who would imagine that square needles would be the next greatest thing in [tag]knitting[/tag]? I’m old school and still use my [tag]Susan Bates[/tag] and [tag]Berna[/tag]t needles that are 30 years old. Though I will admit I did buy a new turbo 40” circular needle to do the [tag]Magic Loop[/tag] sock thing – more in another posting, LOL.

 

Square NeedlesQuite by accident I found [tag]Kollage Yarns[/tag] advertising [tag]square needles[/tag]. The Kollage website writes that they are easier on the hands and enable you to knit faster with more uniform stitches. Well, I wanted to put them to the test so I went in search of a pair at my LYS. My LYS only had needles sized 9 and up, darn I wanted an 8 to do a dishcloth. Oh well, 9 it is!

Yes, they really are easier on your hands!Round needles are hard to hold especially if you have arthritis, carpal tunnel, or stiffness in your hands and fingers like I do.I was able to easily knit with these needles and did not have square stitches!

Another bonus – when you cast on, your stitches lay nice and straight on the “flat” side of the needle and don’t get twisted, sister! Makes it easier to do that first row.

I want to do a whole project with these needles to see if square needles change the look of a pattern, but that will need to wait for a bit. Need to find a store that sells smaller sizes and finish some of my other projects.

Comments

  1. I have used the square needles on multiple projects now. They really do improve teh consistency of teh guage and are erally very nice to use. I find that I am able to knit llonger without my hands starting to ach. If you are still looking, http://www.yarmbazaar.com seems to always have the full selection of sizes in stock.

  3. I have not used them I think they look great probably easier on the hands to knit with I need to get some
    Louise

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]