I’m still a relative newbie to knitting things that are tiny, so it’s not surprising to make new discoveries at this point. But I gotta tell ya: these #2 Addi Turbo Lace needles are rocking my world.
In order to get started on my practicing for 2-at-a-time socks, I needed a 40-inch set of circular US 2 needles. I moseyed down to my LYS to pick some up.
I love browsing, of course, so even though I had only a few minutes to get this errand done, I got stuck in the first set of shelves I passed that contained yarn. I lingered there, mindlessly petting the yarn, sniffing the fiber-scented air around it (freaky, I know).
I was jolted back to my needle mission by the voice of a happy-to-help store person. Nervously, I looked around, found a few needles hanging nearby and said, “Uh, I’m just looking at these needles here.” Unfortunately those needles weren’t the needles I needed (it was the bamboo-only section, who knew?) and I was led (sulking slightly) over to the Addi section. Just before I said, “Thanks, I’ve got it from here,” the nice lady whipped a set of Turbos off the shelf. “Here you go.”
They were gold.
I’ve used Addi Turbos in the big-ass sizes, and they were always silver. I had been envisioning silver - what’s up with the gold? Thinking she was steering me toward a more expensive gold-edition type or something, I waited until she walked away and then spun the circular display around to find the silver ones. I found them, 40″ number twos, and clutched them triumphantly.
However. I still had the gold ones in my hand. Curiosity took over and I read the labels on both.
Regular Addi Turbo, in a nutshell:
- fast needles: yarn slides easily on nickel-plated brass
- soft cord: smooth transfers, yarn won’t snag
Addi Turbo Lace:
- sharp tips enhance lace and sock knitting
- soft, pliable cords with smooth joins
- hollow, coated brass tips
Although they sounded similar, I had to admit the sales lady might have been on to something. Skeptical as I’d been, and as much as I wanted to be loyal to the silver - I mean nickel-plated - ones for which I’d already developed such a fondness, I thought I’d better investigate the gold - em, brass - ones. Sharp tips sounded a little scary, but since I was new to tiny things, sharp might be good and I just didn’t know it. And the bright red, allegedly supple cords looked and sounded sexy.
Then - alas, my reverie was broken. Bidie-in and Squeezer walked in from their perch on the sidewalk, meaning my time was up. I bought the gold lace ones and hoped for the best.
Well. I tell you, these things are like butter. I mean like buttah, Babs. They feel all smooth and creamy on each other as stitches slide from left to right needle. It sounds dirty to say it like that, and maybe it is. But it’s true.
I know Addi Turbos are meant to allow faster knitting, as I had experienced before, and these needles didn’t disappoint. However, it wasn’t just about yarn moving quickly on a slick surface. Now that I’ve done a little research, I know that the aforementioned coating on the brass tips is “a fine resin for added control”; in other words, a coating that provides an ever-so-slight bit of drag to keep the tiny stitches from flying right off. I think that’s the origin of my smooth-like-buttah feeling.
Then how does the knitting feel so fast, if the coating creates drag? It’s because of the pointier points (I saw these termed “aggressively tapered” somewhere). It feels like magic as the tip end comes up clean every time after every stitch, even after speeding up, without any splitting. None.
It makes me feel very professional to see my fingers flying and little stitches bulking up in the wake of my right needle. Splitty yarn doesn’t get splitty. Thank you, Addi Turbo-people, for making me feel so special. I’m sorry I was wary of your gold-looking brass needles at first. I really really like them.
It is worth mentioning the sexy red cord between the needles, too, because it’s as sexy as I’d hoped in the store. Well, done, Addi - the cord looks like a thin string of luscious red licorice, except you can see through it, you can fold it over on itself and pinch it and it won’t break, and you can’t eat it. It’s softer and more malleable than the regular Turbo cord.
The super-bendy but not breaky part is especially nice for my 2-at-a-time sock effort, since this is kind of a required feature for the needle, to bend sharply in a loop.
So I’m off and running with my practice socks, which are being in made in two colors so that I don’t confuse the socks in following the directions in the tutorial.
I’m not going to lie to you (in fact, I’ll post a pic to show you) - they’re a little rough around the edges as I get my head around this method. But I’m getting better as I go, and even the cuff ribbing that’s fraught with loose ladders at the turns will probably block out and stretch to look OK on a baby’s foot.
Yes, this pair will probably go to E-dot, since she’s about the right size for them. Of course she might not get them until she’s too big for them since I’ll have to make these and then another set of two (one green, one tan) to match. Wait a second - didn’t I embark on learning this method so I didn’t get second-sock syndrome? Hmmmm.
In other knitting news, Bidie’s clamoring for his Fisherman’s Sweater - yes, my little creation will become his - which is coming along. He refers to this project as either “The Big Project” or “Project #1″ and gives me the stink eye whenever he sees me working on something else. Last night he pointed out that E-dot-sized socks did not look like Project #1, which is a true statement. In any case, I’m knitting it up on US 11s, so there’s no excuse for not forging ahead to polish this puppy off. Maybe this weekend.
Speaking of weekends - oh joy, I have happy plans to spend time with someone special this weekend. Hurrah, AJ is coming to visit from Arizona for a few days. She’s my mom’s sister, which makes her my aunt, and also my friend. We’re going to do relaxing girly things and other genetically-bred nerdy things like sitting around engrossed in our laptops and figuring out how to work some new software she has. In between all that, I’ll sneak in some knitting and it will be fabulous.
Ciao, bellas.
