Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 6: A Tool to Covet

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward

So today I finally get to blog about my latest and greatest tool. It is the ChiaoGoo Twist interchangeable needle set.

I want to start out with a word of warning. Buyer beware, if there is a set out there for less than the going rate, then it is less than a full set. So my set arrived with less cords than it was supposed to. My set had a 2 pair of 8 inch cords in small and large. I was missing all of the longer ones frustratingly enough. The good news is that when I use the cable connectors this makes a 24 inch needle, which is what I like to use anyways.

I am planning on ordering the missing cords, from a trusted source, Grandma's Knitting and Crochet on Etsy. I would have bought my set from her initially but she was out of stock and I had no clue when she would restock. She is my Chiaogoo source, and low and behold she has them in stock now  *evil grin*.

 It comes in a small compact case. It would be easy to throw in a bag, and not worry about the pieces going everywhere. I also like the attractive fabric.

The tips are sorted based on size. The small cable size on one side and the large cable on the other. The tips are the long pointy smooth lace tips. I realized when ChiaoGoo released the interchangable set that this was going to be the best fit for me. When I do a project that calls for a size I have in ChiaoGoo I go to them first. So when I found out I could buy all of the sizes at once with any cable length. I was sold.

The cables are female and the tips are male. There are also handy pockets for storing the cables and half sizes that do not come with the kit.

The large needle sizes have an impressive taper to them.

The set comes with many accessories, like cable connector, cable stops, keys, stitch markers and a needle gauge.

It all neatly fits in the front pouch.. I might end up moving the stitch markers out, since I normally keep those in my knitting bag.

I have used the needles on 2 projects so far. To put them through the paces I used the smallest size, 2, while I was knitting the long edge on the indecisive stripes cowl. I did notice that the stitches would catch on the cable connectors. So, for the finer gauge projects it is better to use the right length cable. I also used the largest size, the 15s. The needle tips felt fairly short, but otherwise the needles were very invisible.

 So here is the project I was working on. The cable is the perfect length for this. It is plastic coated braided wire. So it is strong, flexible, but firm. Probably not to the taste of magic loopers, but certainly perfect for knitting in the round.

As I mentioned earlier, the taper on the needle is pretty extreme. I think it makes the needles feel shorter than they actually are. The good news is that I had no trouble knitting in the round. This taper allows the stitches to smoothly transition from the cable to the needle.They do not catch.

Here is the join. With super bulky yarn I couldn't even tell it was there. With light fingering I could tell. The cable has a through hole that you can stick the key into to tighten. Hand tight will result in the pieces unscrewing themselves. The key is easy to use, and you need to use 2 if you are joining the cables to the cable connector. On the needle end you use the key in the cable and your hand on the needle.
 

I apologize for the blurry photo. Every needle has the size clearly printed on it.

That's all for now, take care guys

Molly : )