Sunday, October 01, 2006

We Have Some Options Here

Ooh, ooh, look what I did:


The body of the bodice has been completed! This picture has been generously cropped to spare you all the horror of my worst skin-tone ever. The yarn color is pretty close in this shot, though maybe not as day-glo. I am loving the sweater so far, it fits perfectly and will look much better once I put in the neck. I seriously debated not doing sleeves at all and just binding off here, but I'd like to wear this with a camisole in the spring and hate having my upper arms exposed.

I started the right sleeve last night during Saturday Night Live. Boy and I were a little wary of the pared-down cast, but agreed that Seth Meyers can handle the Update desk. The first half of the show was a little strained, but the second half was much better.

Anyway, back to knitting: This is my first project using the Options needles from KnitPicks, so I thought I'd whip up a review for all you nice folks.

The Official Mid-Project Options Review

I have been using the us 4 and 7 needles for the bodice and so far have no serious complaints. They are shiny, sharp, and smooth, making for easy, frictionless knitting. The interchangeable cables have to be my favorite feature. I bought a set of 24" and 36" cable sets to knit up this sweater and used the two 24"s to hold the sleeve stitches while I worked on the body, allowing me to try it on without a lot of hassle. Then, when I was ready to start working on the sleeves, all I had to do was plug the tips in and start working.

I've only had two problems with the needles so far: When I was knitting the lace section the working needle was starting to unscrew. The screw is long enough that I didn't lose it entirely, and once I got home and used the little wrench-thingy it didn't happen anymore. I'm hoping this is an I-didn't-have-my-wrench-thingy issue and not a it-starts-to-unscrew-when-you-do-lace issue; I also picked up a set of us 11's for a pi shawl for my grammy. Also, I stabbed myself in the thumb with one of the needles last night when I missed with the point protector. These buggers are sharp!

My only lingering concern are these parts:
I have a feeling they will be meeting the fate of scores of Barbie shoes and other small plastic accessories before you know it...

1 comment:

aija said...

Thanks for the review! I haven't seen anyone actually use those little stopper things yet, I wonder if people choose to.