Do you use circular needs for your larger knitting? They are great for afghans and large items. But one of the problems is that they are always curled round and round after being stored in the holders they come in.
I recently started a new knitting project of a scarf out of some lovely soft alpaca yarn and it called for circular needles. So I got out my holder for all the circular needles that I made awhile ago, chose the size I needed only to find it coiled tightly as I hadn’t used it for ages.
Here is the circular needle holder when it is opened flat. It measures 51 cm x 35 cm approximately (about 20 x 14 inches). I made it with 3 rows of 4 pockets to hold the various sized needles.
It folds in half and then in half again for flat storage inside the craft closet. When you choose a circular needle to knit with and take it out of the pocket it is all curled up and hard to use. Here’a little tip I have for straightening it out.
The photo on the left show it all curled up. To straighten it I boil some water, pour it into the sink and drop the circ needle into it. It is like magic and as the plastic warms up you can see it uncoiling right in the water. Lift it out carefully and dry it off with a towel and then presto, it is straight and ready to use just like the photo on the right. I don’t drop my bamboo circulars into the water but just lay in the plastic cord. You can hang circular needles so they don’t coil but I don’t have a spot to have a lot of needles hanging around, especially when I don’t use them a lot.
Here is the start of the lovely, soft, brown alpaca yarn scarf on a straightened out circular needle. The pattern is called April Scarf and is a free download from Revelry.
The scarf is getting longer and longer while I watch Coronation Street and the Brier mens curling.
~needle & hook accessories~
