From Chopsticks to needles in no time flat!

Below, you can see how I started with Chopsticks, saved from a recent trip to my favorite Chinese Restaurant, and ended up with 4 sets of circulars, in less than an hour. This is about 10 minutes per needle. How cool is that?

Chopsticks before...
Chopsticks after....


And... ooooohhhhh.... these are soooooo nice! They were very easy to work - very easy to carve and to shape. They are SO lightweight. I love them!!! Now, I'm knitting my Log Cabin Squares in style! lol

I am using one circular per side of the square. This is the sort of luxury one can indulge in when one has the gumption to make her own circular needles out of her eating utensils. It makes for a regular octupus of needles, but I got tired of threading stitches onto needles, then onto pieces of yarn, then onto needles and etc. I put them onto the needles and there they stay! I sharpened the tips really long and sharp and pointy, which makes it easy to pick up stitches, so I don't need to use my little, skinny, sock needle anymore.

I eyed the skewers at the grocery store tonight with new interest. My grocer has two different sets of skewers - one looks to be about a size 3 and the other looks to be a size 5 or there'bouts. These chopsticks are about a size 7 or 8. (All sizes are estimated, based on my familiarity with the US sizes.) The grocery store skewers seem to be made out of the same sort of bamboo as these chopsticks - a nice, solid, smooth bamboo - not the splintery stuff that skewers are usually made out of. The added bonus - the grocery store skewers come with really nice points! No carving necessary, if you want to make straights. $2.50 for 5o pairs of needles? What a deal!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

All I can say about your needles, is "WOW"! Great job!

Emma said...

They look just like store-bought ones too! Nice job.

Teri said...

Just wanted to let you know how inspirational I find your blog. I love how you've always come up with some new fiber tool. Wish I were half as clever!