Backup knitting
What we have here is my backup project in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK from a LYS sale bin. I started this Memorial Day weekend when Salt Lake got buried under a cold stormy weather front. Trying not to impale myself on these bamboo needles kept me entertained while waiting for the deluge to end. Blue is also the Project Spectrum colour for June.
So far, I'm underwhelmed by the yarn in spite of the soft shininess and pretty colour: it's fragile (loosely plied, fairly splitty, tends to pill) and slippery as hell. For the sake of my sanity as well as my wallet, I would hesitate to use it or the aran weight (assuming it has the same problems) to knit a sweater. We'll see how the hat progresses. 
4 comments:
Dude! Some may disagree, but I personally found that using smoother needles (i.e. the cheapo aluminum ones ) makes splitty yarns (like alpaca laceweight) less splitty. So go out and buy a $4 pair of INOX or Brittany aliminum circulars.
Cheers,
Ivanova
Thanks for the tip, but as I mentioned on Sunday, I broke down and bought a 16 in. coated aluminum Inox needle last week because the bamboo was getting difficult to handle. Hasn't helped. I might consider trying a smooth aluminum set next. The bamboo needles are in exile until maybe a sock project. We'll see.
If you ever do a laceweight project, you may appreciate having the bamboo needles around, the yarn will grab the needles better...
Have you seen the new KnitPicks needles? They have an interchangeable kit, circulars and double-points.
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