Needles loved and needles hated

Recently, I was rushed, and left a stash of DPN in a rental car. Some of
those needles were loved.

This morning, I was in a LYS and noticed that she had a new rack of various
kinds of sock needles. I went through the rack looking for needles to
replace recent loss. There was some skacel addi steel US #1 (2.5 mm) DPN ,
20 cm long. I bought them. Bad idea!

Now I know why people hate steel needles! First those skacel are slippery!
(I do not polish mine that much.) Second, they feel "dead." they are
annealed and do not have the flex and "spring" of the spring steel needles
that I make. And, because they do not have any spring , they can not be used
for the high speed/ low stress knitting techniques. The only good thing
about them is that they will never wear out, because I am never going to use
them (again).


I did have a long talk with the blacksmith who was working as an enactor at
Louisburg. He assured me that while in 1744, all the iron came over from
Europe as large ingots, a good blacksmith could make a spring steel out of
it, similar to my spring steel knitting needles.

Aaron

Aaron Lewis wrote:
Recently, I was rushed, and left a stash of DPN in a rental car. Some of
those needles were loved.

This morning, I was in a LYS and noticed that she had a new rack of various
kinds of sock needles. I went through the rack looking for needles to
replace recent loss. There was some skacel addi steel US #1 (2.5 mm) DPN ,
20 cm long. I bought them. Bad idea!

Now I know why people hate steel needles! First those skacel are slippery!
(I do not polish mine that much.) Second, they feel "dead." they are
annealed and do not have the flex and "spring" of the spring steel needles
that I make. And, because they do not have any spring , they can not be used
for the high speed/ low stress knitting techniques. The only good thing
about them is that they will never wear out, because I am never going to use
them (again).


I did have a long talk with the blacksmith who was working as an enactor at
Louisburg. He assured me that while in 1744, all the iron came over from
Europe as large ingots, a good blacksmith could make a spring steel out of
it, similar to my spring steel knitting needles.

Aaron


Aaron,

I had the same experience and agree completely.
Dennis

In article ,
Aaron Lewis wrote:
Recently, I was rushed, and left a stash of DPN in a rental car. Some of
those needles were loved.

This morning, I was in a LYS and noticed that she had a new rack of various
kinds of sock needles. I went through the rack looking for needles to
replace recent loss. There was some skacel addi steel US #1 (2.5 mm) DPN ,
20 cm long. I bought them. Bad idea!

Now I know why people hate steel needles! First those skacel are slippery!
(I do not polish mine that much.) Second, they feel "dead." they are
annealed and do not have the flex and "spring" of the spring steel needles
that I make. And, because they do not have any spring , they can not be used
for the high speed/ low stress knitting techniques.

Aha! Now I wonder: I have quite a lot of old steel needles, which work okay
for me but I'm not using a knitting sheath. Have you compared your needles
with the "antique" ones (still fairly readily available on eBay)? Are the
"antique" ones springy enough, or somewhere in between, or just like the
modern ones?

I did have a long talk with the blacksmith who was working as an enactor at
Louisburg. He assured me that while in 1744, all the iron came over from
Europe as large ingots, a good blacksmith could make a spring steel out of
it, similar to my spring steel knitting needles.

Aha again. Please do put that information in the book that goes with your
video!

=Tamar

The simple answer is "No." I have not been able to get my hands on a set of
"old" gansey needles for testing.

Many of the Victorian era steel needles in shorter lengths were cast. Those
needles are stiffer, and brittle! Drop them on a stone floor and they break.
On the other hand, they work very well with the various styles of knitting
sheaths that do not require the needle to flex such as the Yorkshire Goose
wing. On the other hand, the modern skacel needle bent, and was useless with
a knitting sheath. perhaps they are assuming some use where the needle is
bent and used for gloves or doll clothes or

When could European knitters have been able to get spring steel needles? In
the 7th century, the Scandinavians discovered native steel deposits in what
is now Sweden. That allowed them to develop a set of tools for shipbuilders
that remained unchanged until the industrial revolution. After the 10th
century, sophisticated iron smelting in Africa was producing the steel that
the Arabs traded up into Spain and which become the basis for the famous
Spanish swords. Part of that same shipbuilders tool kit was used by
builders, coopers, carriage makers, and other professionals. Harness and
saddle makers were common, and required steel knives. Soldiers and fighting
men had their own needs. Even sheep shearers had their shears with spring.
Wherever there was a concentration of any of these professionals, with the
tools of their trade, there were blacksmiths that could make and repair such
tools. A master knitter could also have had excellent steel needles.

Could the average household have afforded a set of steel knitting needles?
I do not expect that a set of gansey needles would have been much more
valuable than a good iron cooking pot or a good steel ax head. (Speculation
on my part, at this time G) Certainly, fine steel needles might have been
something of an extravagance for anyone except a professional knitter or
someone knitting for a fisherman or sailor. Rather on the same level as a
modern automobile. Cars are expensive, and yet today, many households own
one or more cars. G

Looking at the pictures in Mary Wright, we can tell that after 1840, the
poor were knitting with low quality iron needles. But those were not master
knitters, those were the poor that had been taught to knit (It may also be
that bent needle is the result of using the needle to poke the fire, whereby
the needle became annealed and the knitter did not know how to retemper the
needle.)
..
The softness of the modern skacel needle is a function of how they are
tempered. It can be changed. I just heated one of those needles to red
heat, dropped it in water, reheated it to ~300 F, and allowed it to air
cool. That retempered needle now has a spring to it that I like and I
expect that I will retemper the other needles in the package.


Aaron

"Richard Eney" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Aaron Lewis wrote:
Recently, I was rushed, and left a stash of DPN in a rental car. Some of
those needles were loved.

This morning, I was in a LYS and noticed that she had a new rack of
various
kinds of sock needles. I went through the rack looking for needles to
replace recent loss. There was some skacel addi steel US #1 (2.5 mm) DPN
,
20 cm long. I bought them. Bad idea!

Now I know why people hate steel needles! First those skacel are
slippery!
(I do not polish mine that much.) Second, they feel "dead." they are
annealed and do not have the flex and "spring" of the spring steel needles
that I make. And, because they do not have any spring , they can not be
used
for the high speed/ low stress knitting techniques.

Aha! Now I wonder: I have quite a lot of old steel needles, which work
okay
for me but I'm not using a knitting sheath. Have you compared your
needles
with the "antique" ones (still fairly readily available on eBay)? Are the
"antique" ones springy enough, or somewhere in between, or just like the
modern ones?

I did have a long talk with the blacksmith who was working as an enactor
at
Louisburg. He assured me that while in 1744, all the iron came over from
Europe as large ingots, a good blacksmith could make a spring steel out of
it, similar to my spring steel knitting needles.

Aha again. Please do put that information in the book that goes with your
video!

=Tamar

On Jul 14, 8:48 pm, "Aaron Lewis" wrote:
Recently, I was rushed, and left a stash of DPN in a rental car. Some of
those needles were loved.

This morning, I was in a LYS and noticed that she had a new rack of various
kinds of sock needles. I went through the rack looking for needles to
replace recent loss. There was some skacel addi steel US #1 (2.5 mm) DPN ,
20 cm long. I bought them. Bad idea!

Now I know why people hate steel needles! First those skacel are slippery!
(I do not polish mine that much.) Second, they feel "dead." they are
annealed and do not have the flex and "spring" of the spring steel needles
that I make. And, because they do not have any spring , they can not be used
for the high speed/ low stress knitting techniques. The only good thing
about them is that they will never wear out, because I am never going to use
them (again).

I did have a long talk with the blacksmith who was working as an enactor at
Louisburg. He assured me that while in 1744, all the iron came over from
Europe as large ingots, a good blacksmith could make a spring steel out of
it, similar to my spring steel knitting needles.

I have some steel needles which belonged to my mother. I use them only
when I am desperate.

Higs,
Katherine

Katherine i went to check my inherited needles , i see that the ones i
enjoy are all aluminium and painted , i have some metal , i can`t
remember ever using them ...

when I am desperate.

Higs,
Katherine

Is there a convention among knitters not to consider aluminum, a metal?

My 2 cents is that for travel, I like wooden or bamboo needles because I
find that I am less likely to drop a stitch. While at home, my spring steel
needles are a bit faster than even the super polished bamboo sprayed with
silicon.


Aaron
"Mirjam Bruck-Cohen" wrote in message
...
Katherine i went to check my inherited needles , i see that the ones i
enjoy are all aluminium and painted , i have some metal , i can`t
remember ever using them ...

when I am desperate.

Higs,
Katherine

No it iss not a convention and i am sure we all know that Aluminium is
a metal , but it is a light metal and feels so much nicer than other
metal Needles ,,,,, mirjam


Is there a convention among knitters not to consider aluminum, a metal?

My 2 cents is that for travel, I like wooden or bamboo needles because I
find that I am less likely to drop a stitch. While at home, my spring steel
needles are a bit faster than even the super polished bamboo sprayed with
silicon.


Aaron
"Mirjam Bruck-Cohen" wrote in message
...
Katherine i went to check my inherited needles , i see that the ones i
enjoy are all aluminium and painted , i have some metal , i can`t
remember ever using them ...

when I am desperate.

Higs,
Katherine

When I first knitted in 1972, I had Milward aluminum needles. I was only
making baby clothes, and they were fine., mostly size 7 and 8 Canadian. The
larger ones size 5 and under which I would use for a scarf or hat were Aero,
grey plastic, not so nice to use. Then fast forward to now, when I've
started knitting again. I got my first bamboo needles, and only because they
were a dollar less than the plastic ones...which are some other brand now,
there is no Milward or Aero. Anyway I loved the bamboo right away. After a
few hours they get nice and sort of coated, I guess with the natural oil
from my hands even though they were washed. They are fast or seem faster
than the plastic ones. I stopped using the plastic, circular needle I was
knitting the afghan on, and switched to the 8 mm bamboo needles; much faster
and nicer. However, circular needles with a cable are good to knit in your
lap when waiting in a doctor's office or something.

But when I learned to knit, my teacher, a neighbour, used the aluminum
needles and that is all they had in the stores back in the 70s.

I had one odd set, a bright blue steel set, size 6, probably for some
one-time project. I tried them last night and they are horrible to use,
clicking and tapping and so heavy.

I'm not going to waste all my many aluminum Milward needles, they are quite
nice as they are coated and smooth, but any time I need another size or set,
it will be bamboo - I already have two sets. I have about 5 scarves and one
afghan going right now; I alternate for variety. I've finished 4 already,
and am about satisfied now, and starting to be critical of the needle size
and number cast on....noticing that with a smaller needle, the scarf is more
lush and dense...but I can't really unravel them all and start over....
After this, I have to do some real things, like baby clothes for the new
grandchild due in September, as I think my daughter indicated she won't want
her baby clothes I knitted 32 years ago...which is pretty surprising for me
but that is the lot of the older generation and I'm now a full fledged
member, arthritis and all...
so although I first knit when I was 22, for the joy of it and practicality
of it, now I am the "age group" to knit..but I'm not doing it because I'm
old, but because of the joy of it....it's a funny world.

"Aaron Lewis" wrote in message
et...

Is there a convention among knitters not to consider aluminum, a metal?

My 2 cents is that for travel, I like wooden or bamboo needles because I
find that I am less likely to drop a stitch. While at home, my spring
steel needles are a bit faster than even the super polished bamboo sprayed
with silicon.


Aaron
"Mirjam Bruck-Cohen" wrote in message
...
Katherine i went to check my inherited needles , i see that the ones i
enjoy are all aluminium and painted , i have some metal , i can`t
remember ever using them ...

when I am desperate.

Higs,
Katherine

"Aaron Lewis" wrote in message
et...

Many of the Victorian era steel needles in shorter lengths were cast.
Those needles are stiffer, and brittle! Drop them on a stone floor and
they break.

I was talking to Spouse about this yesterday, he's a ferrous metallurgist
and didn't think knitting needles could be cast. Can you give more details?

Mary