Needles with a Hint of Fibre

Due to a lack of time right now, this will not be the awesome in-depth review I’ve been writing in my head for the past month. It will be a start. There are some awesome new products being released and I feel the need to talk about them. I don’t want this to be an advertisement. I cannot insist that you buy them or that they are the best things out there for you, but want to raise awareness of some new things and explain how they work for me.

I’m a “little knitter” — what does that mean? Many things. We know I’m petite, but in this case it means I like to knit with tiny needles and “tiny yarns”. The heaviest weight I generally knit with is worsted. I prefer sport weight or lighter with a definite preference to fingering (“sock”) weight.

My preference means that I am unable to take advantage of most interchangeable needles sets as the range they include, starts at a US4 (3.5mm) and goes up to a US11 (8mm). The things I knit mean that the needles I primarily use range from 0.7mm (US4-0 or US0000) to a US6 (4mm). I couldn’t quite justify the cost of buying a set where I’d use 2 or 3 of the 9 included tips and not have the sizes I would use more frequently.

So a while back I was reading the Lion Brand Yarn Studio‘s Blog (more on them in another post) and I learned that Hiya Hiya was releasing an interchangeable set that went down toward needle sizes I used and didn’t include the ones I wouldn’t. I placed my pre-order asap and called it my graduation present.

It has exceeded my expectations. I own a few needles purchased singly from another company’s set. I’m underwhelmed by them.

The Hiya-Hiya by contrast are everything I look for in a circular needle: pointy, flexible, and just perfect. The cable starts at 16″ which means I can easily knit cowls with them and goes up to a 40″ included with the option to go up to 60!

I decided to cast on with the very first yarn I bought at the Studio, LB 1878″ in Natural Heather. Last year Lion Brand (a family owned company) started a new collection of yarns, their LB Collection. The LB 1878 is a cone of fingering weight wool and it is beyond amazing. I’m knitting Hannah Fettig‘s Whisper Cardigan from the Spring 2009 Interweave Knits. I’m doing the sleeves with magic loop, that’s how flexible the cable is.

Next week hopefully I will be able to give some more detail to the topics I’ve hinted at here: the LB Yarn Studio, the awesomeness that is my new hiya-hiya set, and the great new LB Collection. You should really check out the Silk Mohair I really enjoyed working with it and the final result.

Disclaimer: I am not employed by Lion Brand or Hiya-Hiya. I am just happy with what they are doing and how I’ve seen the Studio staff treated over the past seven months.

• Category: handmade
• Tag: knit