Needles Galore

Knitting skipped a generation in my family and my Grandmother was the one who taught me. Since her knitting days are over (arthritis), she's passed her needles down to me and I've also bought many over the years. This morning I tackled cataloguing and organizing them.

One of the biggest problems with knitting needles is the numbering system. Millimeters make the most sense to me, but then there's the US sizing and the Canada/UK sizing. Plus, there's the problem of double pointed and circular needles that don't even come with a size noted on them so that if you don't keep the original packaging you'll forever be pulling out your needle pin to figure out what the heck size they are. This is one reason why I have such an appreciation for Addi circulars which note the size and length on the cord. Brillant.

Anyway, this morning, while sipping coffee and watching my usual line up of HGTV, A&E, TLC and FoodTV, I discovered that I have a lot of multiples of the same size, in fact I have four sets of 5mm straight needles and two pairs of 5mm circulars. I've also got a lot of missing needles, leaving me with one of a pair. Poor lonely guys, who knows why their mates have left them or what happened to them. Maybe they hook up with all those MIA socks under the washing machine.

And to answer our anonymous poster's query about the purpose of the enormous socks, it's really not much of a mystery. Big thick socks to keep feet warm. Yup.

By the way, spring will officially arrive on March 20, 2006. 119 days away!