Needle Review: ChiaoGoo Spin

I couldn't stop after just the Karbonz review, so bring you a wee note on my new chiaogoo needles! Bought from Meadow Yarn at Yarndale, I obtained a little set of 2.75 bamboos on the 'spin' cable. 

The spin needles are bamboo, nice and sharp tipped, and come in short or regular lengths.  These are the shorter needles, and I love them.  So dinky!  The 'spin' part relates to the ability of the cable to move independently of the needles, so that you never end up with a large kinked & twirling stretch of cable when working in the round. 

These needles also come in metal 'twist'; the 'twist' is the ability of the cable not to twist around whilst you're working.  I've not tried this type, but they seem pretty cool. 

As you probably know, wooden needles are my favourite kind, so these wee needles are off to a headstart.  They're very smooth and have a nice amount of flexibility.  The tips are not as smooth as those of last months Karbons, which is both good and bad.  Good, because I feel I have more control over the stitches, and they grab slipped stitches back up nicely.  Bad, as they do catch a little more on the stitches sometimes.

The cable is really nice to work with - the clear cable turns independently of the needles, so there's no pulling a needle out and letting it untwist when you reach a new row when using them for magic loop.  I think this might be an issue which affects magic loopers more, as I don't see how you could twist the cable around quite so much when working in the round with full needles, but it definitely makes sock knitting two at a time less twirly.




Do you have a set of these?  Are they your favourites or do you prefer others?




The yarn is from the lovely Jess of Ginger Twist Studio, and is used in my lovely new socks which will be released this weekend :p

Yours truly will also be in Ginger Twist Studio this weekend with some of my patterns and knits to show you lot!  Do drop by for some tea and a chat :)

Needle Review: Karbonz

Christmas is over, the tidying is finished, and you have a (relatively) calm house for a day.   Well, I do at least.  So far I've spent the morning drinking coffee, sorting through my knitting box and listening to musics on my new speakers  - a very appreciated present from the boy.

I bought a set of these needles recently - because I wanted to.  Let's not beat about the bush, I could make up some sort of excuse, but I just wanted to knit with the shiny new needles in the shop.  

They're called 'Karbonz' because they're made from carbon fiber with nickel plated brass tips.  At £9, these are one of the more expensive sets of needles I've purchased.  I'm using the 2.25mm 80cm circulars for two at a time sock knitting, and they're going well!  

The carbon needles are nice and grippy without being sticky.  I usually use wooden needles, as I'm not fond of the slippyness of a metal needle, nor the way they feel to hold - who likes cold needles?  The carbon feels nice and grippy with a little give.  The needles themselves are lighter than metal ones too, about 1/3 of the weight.  

The plated tips are unusual, because they allow stitches to move differently once near the end of the needles.  Where the body of the needle feels closer to wood, you do then have a change of feel when the stitches migrate onto the metal tip.  This isn't really good or bad, just different; the stitches move more easily, facilitating slipping onto the other needle (or, depending  how you knit, let you drop them easier).  I do find it more tricky to pick up dropped stitches with these guys than with a pair of my usual wooden needles.  On the flip side of this though, I suppose it means that the tips are exceptionally smooth, and shouldn't snag on your finer yarns.  

Being knit-pros, I know knitters sometimes have issues with where the cables join the needles, but no problems here so far.  You can also grab karbonz as DPNs and traditional long needles.  

Did I mention they look so shiny and pretty?  They're one of those sets it just feels nice to use, because they are nice.

Will it stop me using wooden needles?  No, but I hear quite a few of you lot snap wooden needles on a regular basis, so maybe these guys have a place in your knitting basket.

Apparently they're useful for people who prefer metal needles but have nickel allergies?  

Pros:

easy to hold, lightweight, warm

grippier than metal needles

stronger than wooden needles

pretty

nice clean tips

Cons:

change in feel along the needle

not the cheapest (but not really break the bank?)

What are your favourite needles?  Why did you change to these, or are they just what you've always used?

Also, yarns in the photo above as follows:

Green: Sylvan tiger yarns from The Golden Skein club

Grey: Sara's Texture Craft; guest post here.  

Some musics too: