Square knitting needles custom made

Do be a square

A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away (OK, so it was the Renaissance Festival in Colorado some 7 years ago) an elderly lady visited our shop and fondled the yarn and said, wistfully, “I used to love yarn and knitting, but I have arthritis now and it hurts to grip the needles for any length of time.”

That sounded like a challenge to me!

“M’lady,” says I. “Wouldst thou like to knit once again? I believe I canst make needles that wouldst alleviate the painful aggravation thou art feeling.”

Well, it was something like that.

She responded in the positive and I bade her return on the week.

During the days that followed, I read up on as much online literature and research as I could regarding ergonomic this and stress relieving that. The solution was actually quite simple once one knew the right questions to ask: Why did gripping the needles hurt? Because, in order to keep them from rolling about in ones fingers, one had to hold them tight. What would prevent that AND allow the yarn to slide up the needles? I say AND so loudly because one of the solutions for crocheters is to use oversize rubber grips – obviously not a solution, when the yarn needs to slide. The solution: Square Knitting Needles!

She tried ‘em, she like ‘em, she bought lots of ‘em and yarns, too. I still hear from her every once in a while…

The process for making the square knitting needles is much the same as process for making the regular knitting needles. After turning and the first round of sanding, though, the needles are again sanded with a coarse grade of sandpaper on one side. Where’d I find a side on a round needle? I made one up! Once that side is flat, the needle is turned over and the other side is sanded flat, then the two opposing sides until the needle is as square as I can make it.

At this point, using my trusty gauge thingy, the needle measures about two sizes too large. Back comes the sandpaper in increasingly finer grits until the needle is snug, but passes through a hole one size larger than the needle is supposed to be. That is to say that a size 7 needle passes through a size 8 hole. There’s a lot of math involved, right? Nope. I knitted a test swatch for most of the sizes and made sure they worked.

The set pictured here was ordered a couple days ago and will be shipping tomorrow morning. The needles are made from birch shafts and walnut toppers.

One interesting note… the fabric that the knitting needles are photographed against isn’t knitted, it’s hand woven out of hand spun wool yarn. It’s the outer case of a crochet tool roll that was ordered (Hi Brenda) and is being made by Jeanette. At one point in time, the fabric was used in a skirt that Jeanette made for a costume contest (I think she took third, but I might be wrong) at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado… that was the year our flock of Jacob Sheep pretty much swept the farm flock division… more purple ribbons that I could count!

Complete gallery of knitting needles (there ain’t much here… yet… still converting pictures from some old galleries)

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