Tools of the Trade

As anyone that has read the prior posts on the Master's Hand Knit I am striving to increase my technical ability.  This has caused me to really start looking at all the aspects of the knitting process.  I've been rather dismayed to look at my first three swatches and see rows with the kind of tension problems that look like a failed sobriety test.  Denial being a useful coping mechanism, I was sure I knitted better than that which sent me to my closet to start pulling out some of my hand knitted items and staring intently at the rows and tension.  They weren't perfect, but they weren't that bad and none of the items had been blocked.  I've never been big on blocking until I did it for the first time for the Hand Knit program.  Given how my swatches came out, I'm not sure I'm a convert to blocking - but that's a different issue. 

I then looked at a project sitting in my chair and thought the tension looked pretty good or least better than the first three swatches.  The above knitted piece hasn't been blocked but seems to have better tension then the SS swatch below. 

It occurred to me I had knitted the Cat in the Hat piece with a set of Addi Turbo lace points, while the MHK swatch had been knitted with an old pair of size 7 Boyle Balene knitting needles.  Metal vs. Casein.  The original Boyle Balene needles were Casein.  These needles are apparently made from a milk product, which explains why I can vaguely recall being told they didn't travel well, or handle sudden or extreme changes in climate becoming brittle and snapping.  They were suppose to mimic whalebone. This is a link to a website that sells these and has some information which I found interesting.  Casein Knitting Needles. 

I remembered  Montse Stanley's book The Knitter's Handbook  mentioned problems with tension sometimes being caused by tips that are to long. This sent me to the pile of knitting needles I have collected over 3 decades - wood, metal, bamboo, casein, all different. 

I compared three different sets I had and noticed some interesting differences.

 First the Casein needles are long in the tips and have a definite ridge before they drop off into the point.  These are the needles I have been using for the swatches. They have a clear ridge and if you look really carefully the tips are not uniform, there are subtle differences in their thickness.  Hmmm.....

Casein needles

The Susan Bates are metal and you would expect them to be consistent, but these are even more disparate in the tips.

Now I am assuming I bought the Bates needles as a pair rather than having picked them up at a garage sale or thrift store - but I really don't know.  The tips are clearly different - and I have to assume that this would have an impact on gauge and tension.  The last pair are an old pair of wooden needles and I don't have a clue where they came from.  They have very short tips, but at least look identical, however one shaft is longer than the other.  This makes me wonder if there is a subtle difference in the thickness of the shaft and to what degree this affects gauge and tension.

While I believe you can knit with just about anything, I think tools or the quality of the tool will have an impact on the finished product.  Will it magically make your knitting perfect, well no - but it will certainly contribute to the end result.