Hot August Nights Rewind

I’m reknitting Hot August Nights to send in a swap I signed up for in Ravelry.  I’ve been wanting to redo these with beads for some time.  I came up with this design to see just how lacey I could go and still create a wearable glove.  The lace pattern itself doesn’t have any stitches more complicated than the occasional sk2p, however, knitting a small circle in laceweight on the wrong circs, well, that’s a challenge I should have avoided.  Of course when I wanted to start this project, I couldn’t find the right size Addi circular needles, not even a KnitPicks, and because I had to start NOW, I blew the dust off a Clover bamboo circular figuring that it would do well enough.  (So wrong!)

Do not, do not, waste your time wrestling with an inflexible cord and stubby-ended needles on a fiddly project.  I frogged the gloves twice and set them aside while I went on a couple of business trips.  During my travels, I spent some well won $$ that my ever-loving partner gave me on a set of Hiya Hiya interchangeable needles.  Of course as soon as I got home, I cast on for Hot August Nights again with my fine new needles:

 

Once I got over how pretty the yarn is (bought in Shanghai, I can only tell you its 80% merino and was very inexpensive), I had to take pics and come here to share my appreciation of these needles. 

I bought the small needle sizes in the 5″ needle point length. For about $75 I got seven pairs of needles, a selection of cords, and a very pretty case that holds all these with room for more and an extra zippered pocket.  If you find yourself always using the same length cords, you can build a collection of fixed needles for less money.  However, I like having the case to organize everything, and really like being able to keep spare stitches (ie: for thumbs) on a spare cord.  I thoroughly dislike trying to transfer stitches from waste yarn and so interchangeables are the way to go for me.

These needles are made of stainless steel – the colour is light so dark yarns are a little easier to see, and the material is very lightweight.  The joins are smooth; my stitches only gripped and stuck a little on the first dozen or so rows, so I think that there may be something on the surface for shipping that soon went away.  Points are pointy!  Long tapered points that picked up my skinny yarn with ease.  Best part is this – no need to find a tool to tighten the needles onto the cords.  (This is important or me because I lose little things).  I thought that the joints would loosen up over time, but they do not.  I’m sure this is because the cords swivel in the joint, so the needle does not get twisted over and over as you knit.  This also causes the pliable cords to behave nicely when using magic loop.   The only thing I’m missing, is caps to put on the cords to prevent stitches falling off if I’m holding them for later.  Nonetheless, I’m a fan – I will be checking out Hiya Hiya products next time I’m shopping for knitting tools. 

I’ll come back and show off my pretty FGs once I get one finished and blocked…..

Tags: fingerless gloves, Hand Knit, Hiya Hiya Needles, Hot August Nights, Interchangeable Needle Review, Knitted Lace, Knitting Needle Review, Knitting Needle Sets, Lace Gloves