[Nfb-krafters-korner] Christmas Crafting Miracle!

[Eileen Scrivani]

Terry,

They can break, but the company like most of the companies that make the 
interchangeable sets are very reliable and I am sure they will replace my 
cable.  Even though the cable broke they are by far the best needles I've 
ever knit with and I think they are the only way to go.  It's taken me 20 
years of knitting to finally get to the point where I've figured out how to 
get them fixed up -- I'm a slow learner.  Remember, nothing lasts for ever 
and most things do break down over time.  I can't give the interchangeable 
needle sets high enough praise even if they do have minor issues.  My sets 
get a good workout so I am not upset with the needles.

Eileen

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]" <Terry.Powers at nih.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 7:42 AM
To: "'List for blind crafters and artists'" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Christmas Crafting Miracle!

> Congratulations on a job well done!  I sure know I could not have done it, 
> maybe one or two stitches, but surely not that many!  Just what happened 
> to you is one of my reasons for not buying interchangable needles.  Does 
> this happen often?
>
> Terry P.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eileen Scrivani [mailto:etscrivani at verizon.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 11:33 PM
> To: Nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Christmas Crafting Miracle!
>
> Okay, this is my own short story of a Christmas miracle...
>
> Since last week, I've been working on a military hat/face warmer for my 
> brother-in-law as a Christmas present. I wanted to finish it by tonight, 
> wash it and lay it out for blocking tomorrow and then if it stretched I 
> could re-wet and put in the drier to try and shrink it minimally.
>
> I finished the main hat portion last night without any problems, even was 
> smart enough to weave in my ends at that point so I would not have minor 
> finishing to deal  with at the end.  Then started on the face ribbing. 
> All was going well, except as I was sitting and working on it this 
> afternoon while readjusting my stitch markers I thought I felt something 
> weird!
>
> Panic!  The cable on my adjustable needle broke and about 30 or 40 
> stitches were just hanging there.  I felt heart sick and instantly started 
> thinking "Oh, s - - t" I'm going to have to rip the entire thing out and 
> it would never get done for Christmas.  Picking up stitches has remained 
> one of my short comings where my knitting is concerned. I tried my best to 
> stay cool as best I could without letting it get the best of me. I started 
> to think about what would be the best way to even try to attempt getting 
> all those dropped stitches back on the needles with the least frustration.
>
> Instantly, I went and got 2 size 0 needles, one that I use as a life line 
> and one that I have just as a skinny needle tool for other tricky knots 
> and dropped stitches which is a straight 0 needle, the smallest crochet 
> hook from my set. And of course a packet of the ever loved Clover locking 
> stitch markers.
>
> First those stitches that actually remained on the needle point I slipped 
> onto the size 0 circular needle, pushed them onto the cable portion and 
> just let it hang there while I worked on those that were in limbo.  I took 
> up the size 0 straight needle and no matter if I was able to grab up a 
> single nice loop or loops that felt doubled or triple thickness scooped 
> them onto the straight needle and used the clover locking markers to catch 
> the remaining stitches that already started running down the ribbing.
>
> Next I started to tink (knit backwards/unknit) stitch by stitch to make 
> them all behave and line up.  I was even able to use the crochet hook to 
> re hook up those stitches that were held by the locking markers. 
> Amazingly I finally figured out how to hook them up on both the 
> stockinette side and the rev st st sides. Whew!  After about 2 hours of 
> carefully working through this I got them all back; stitch count correct 
> and pattern in tact.  I know 2 hours of time sounds like a lot, but keep 
> in mind I've been working on this hat since about last Thursday.  Two 
> hours as compared to an entire weeks work is nothing.
>
> So tonight I've been happily working on my ribbing, have bound off and 
> will be able to launder it tomorrow and see what the fit is like.  I'm so 
> happy that I could actually get them all straightened out on my own and 
> was able to properly use the crochet hook on both the knit & purl sides of 
> the fabric to keep the ribbing pattern correct!
>
> Merry Christmas to all!
>
> Eileen
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