Joining with Ginny for another week’s yarn along!
With all the excitement of our book sale finds there has been more time spent reading than knitting over the last few days. Even so, I’ve been making some progress on the elephant I’m knitting for a friend’s babe with this wool along with a newborn hat in this beautiful sock yarn (my specific colour has been discontinued). Both projects required the same size needle so I got a head start on the hat before making a special trip out for a circular needle to use instead. Oh boy, how I prefer bamboo needles to metal…my fingers, shoulders and head all sighed when I traded the metal dpns(double pointed needles) out for the bamboo circular. I’m thinking there will be a second trip out to replace the metal dpns with bamboo before I get too much further on the elephant. My fingers, hands and wrists get rather sore from the extra work of holding on to metal needles. I have mostly bamboo already but not in this small size.
I am most excited to share about our reading this week. I’ve been enjoying The Forgotten Garden on loan from a sweet friend (whose books are all in pristine condition giving me just a little stress at bringing some of them into this house with many curious hands…). I haven’t gotten far but I’m intrigued and enjoying the pace. I have heard warnings that it gets rather slower towards the middle but, to be honest, my favourite books are slow-paced classics so I don’t know if I’ll mind.
The other books shown are book sale finds that had been whisked away to little beds before I managed to snap pics for my previous post. I found a copy of one of the Rupert Annuals for a little friend across the country – the Rupert loving children of this home are making sure we’ve read through it before sending it off. Have you seen these books before? They are so great – we’re very happy this little friend’s mama introduced us to them!
I also found an unabridged, lap-size copy of Swiss Family Robinson. The copy is one in a series (!!) of classics (I missed out on nabbing the copy of Robin Hood). It is illustrated with encyclopaedic-type entries in the margins relevant to the story – info on whelks, mutton and beaver rats for example, along with vocabulary definitions. I love it!
And the last set of books which have seen near constant attention over the last few days are the BOB books I also picked up. Liam has been scream reading them at every opportunity. I’m not sure why his out-loud reading comes out quite so loud but his confidence sure has been boosted to discover he can read “real” books. I love watching children learn to read and enjoy reading! So, so wonderful!
Since I like to leave you with a question I’m curious after my rant about the metal needles what type of needles other knitters prefer to use. Are you firmly attached your bamboo, metal or plastic needles? Or do you use an assortment of different types?
Thanks for coming by! As always it will be nice to wander around other yarn along posts for some knitty and reading inspiration.
I love my bamboo needles – but I’m afraid I’ll break them… The metal dpns get dropped way too often!
Have you read about the author of Swiss Family? So interesting. The Disney version (and others) cut out all of the religious notions. I’m looking for a good copy too that contains a full translation.
Cheers to a happy week!
I love it! Gorgeous color. And all those books…more about books for me than knitting, I admit. Right now, I use metal needles. I blogged about it a couple weeks ago. I can get them cheaply or free and they are easier for me. I suspect it has to do with being a beginner knitter. Maybe as I get better, the bamboo or wood will be easier. Certainly they are prettier than metal!
I am a big fan of bamboo! I will only use metal as a last resort and then I complain and whine the whole time. It’s not pretty. I always loose my stitches with metal needles which just fustrates me to no end.
That little hat is gorgeous and I love the colour. All those books sound divine. As for needles, I too prefer bamboo, so much warmer and not so slippery. I tend to drop stitches more easily with metal. I am a lover of circular needles and tend to use them over straight needles where possible. I have less shoulder and arm fatigue when using circular needles too. I am knitting on straight metal needles at the moment as I didn’t have the correct size in circular, but I see a trip to the craft store this week to rectify the situation! I would like to buy one of those kits with the interchangeable wooden circular needles one of these days. Jacinta
First of all, I think I’m going to have to add The Forgotten Garden to my list of books to read. You’re the second person this week that I’ve come across, so far, that’s reading it and it sounds so good!
To answer your question…
I use my Knit Picks Nickel needle set the majority of the time. When I bought them, they were the lesser of two evils (by that I mean, cheaper). They are great if you’re working with yarn where you need some slipperyness. I really like bamboo, though. They’re great when working with slippery yarn where you really need some grip.
That book sounds wonderful! I’m off to check it off from the library … but did want to say that needles work best for certain yarns … metal are great for sticky yarns (like cotton or linen) while wood/bamboo are great for silky, slippery yarns (like bamboo, rayon) … if I’m doing lace on big needles, I tend to like the wood since the yarn doesn’t slide off so easily (and dropping sts is NO fun). I don’t use plastic unless it’s the only thing available.
I love my wooden needles – I have Knit Picks Harmony circulars & DPNs; I rarely use straight needles because I find I like using my interchangeables with a cap on the end of each cable better! I’m not a fan of metal needles; I just prefer the feel of wood in my hands.
I love the yarn you’re using for the hat. Bummer that the color is discontinued because it’s fantastic! xo
I also love my wooden needles. I learned on plastic ones and I can barely even pick those up anymore! It sounds like you got so many great books this weekend! You have me really wanting to hit the yard sales around here!
I think you’ll like The Forgotten Garden. I really enjoyed it.
On the needles…I knit most everything on Addi Circulars. My dpns are Brittany so wood 😉
Reading lots of books is a good thing, I always enjoyed when my kids were interested in a book series. I am a metal knitting fan, I have tried wooden many times and I am much more comfortable with metal. I think the wooden ones are much prettier 🙂
Love that yarn and the “out-loud” reading!
I have a fair amount of bamboo needles. However I just discovered Addi Turbos and my life will never be the same again. I did use Susan Bates metal needles. They always kind of grated me. Now that I have found the Addis I will replace those (budget willing) as needed. I do like bamboo dpns though especially for yarns that enjoy slipping off needles!
It’s all about bamboo here. But I will use almost anything. I only buy bamboo though!
oh man…I Love the Swiss Family Robertson!What a great find!I bet you the pics are divine in it.Your book collection is making me drool!(do people drool over books???)(laughing over the “little friend”)….(sigh…..)
Love the colour of your little hat. Too bad that wool’s no longer available – why do they do that? Can’t wait to hear Liam reading “out loud”. When Dan was little we loved the Roald Dahl books. We still have the BFG and Danny the Champion of the World.
I mostly like wood or bamboo, circular even for straight projects, but I have a couple of metal ones I like too.
I only ever use Addi turbo needles. Hands down my favorite. Sometimes, if I have a really slippery yarn and the right needle size, I’ll start a project on bamboo and then move to the Addi.
All my double pointed are wood ’cause the lady at the knitting store told me to. I’m glad she did!:)
The yarn you are using is just beautiful, I love the multi colored one! I have some metal and some bamboo needles and I much prefer the bamboo over the metal. The only reason I still use the metal is because I’m too cheap to replace them…
In general, I love my metal knitting needles. I use Addi Turbos and Knitpicks interchangeables, and I find them really easy to work with. However, when I was knitting my lacy scarf last week, I found it really nice to be working with bamboo. The bamboo had a little grip to it which was helpful for the smaller stitches. And I’m also reading The Forgotten Garden and really enjoying it. I do wish it was shorter–so that I could see how it all wraps up more quickly–but I’ll have to have patience.
My children always enjoyed the book sales–it’s a great family event. I will have to find a copy of Forgotten Garden. Ginny mentioned it also.
I have always used metal needles, but maybe I will pick up some bamboo to try.
YAY! Your projects are coming right along! That blanket looks so inviting!
My hubby once bought me a beautiful pair of rosewood needles. They were amazingly incredible, until a small child put his “sword” in it’s “sheath” (the side of the recliner). It got all chewed up in the mechanism, which was very sad, but I long one day to have a whole collection of rosewood needles…
Oh I hope you do enjoy the forgotten garden :). I sure did. And as far as needles, I have tried metal, bamboo, and rosewood and I like them all for different reasons. As a newer knitter, I think I am grateful for the bamboo though!! And working with the rosewood is pure luxury :).
And I wanted to comment on your book post, I loved it!! There are so many wonderful things that old books bring out in me–a little bit of romance, nostalgia, the smell of history, knowing someone else held and enjoyed the same book at some time. My favorite series was Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time series–LOVED those books :).
I have seen Forgotten Garden popping up everywhere- I suppose I really must read it instead of allowing it to languish at the bottom of my reading pile…
In general I love my Addi turbos, but I do like bamboo for lace or other projects where I want the yarn to “stick” a little. I do always use metal for socks now after breaking one too many bamboo needles and losing sock stitches.
[…] to show the books that the kids have been choosing for bedtime reading lately. As I mentioned in this previous post, we love the Rupert Annuals. The older girls adore these stories, as do I, so […]
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