I'm sure others have blogged about this already - needles with built-in sensors that log the stitch count for you. There's a base station that displays the count, and appears to have holders to park the needles when they're not in use.

I can't find any confirmation that this has moved beyond prototyping into the realm of a real product, but regardless of development stage I would have some questions for the maker:

1. Are the sensors adaptable to any size needle, or is the knitter locked into using only one size?
2. What is that size, and how long are the needles?
   
3. Does it equally sense the movements of both throwers and pickers (British/American and Continental styles)?
4. How does it handle complex stitches?? For example, would it log a SSK as one stitch or three - counting the three movements it takes to produce it as separate stitches?
5. Can you dial up or down to readjust stitch count and compensate for multiple movement stitches?
6. Is there a memory function?? For example, if I sit down and knit today will it remember where I left off yesterday?
7. Is it possible to get interim counts, kind of like the way you can use trip set on a car odometer to record smaller intervals?? This might come in handy if one wanted to track a repeat in addition to tracking total stitch count.
8. Does it handle row count?? (For most knitters, row count is a far more annoying tracking problem than is stitch count).
   
9. Is there an upper limit? For example, if I work a flat piece in a tiny yarn, I could easily have a couple hundred stitches across, even on a 14-inch straight.
   
10. Does the count span rows, or is it set up to track on a single row basis?
11. How sensitive is it to spurious movements?? For example, if I bobble the needles as I reach for something or flip the work over, will that increment the count?
    

I'm not about to run out and buy something like this, even if my questions were all answered, but it's very interesting to see some creativity and technology applied to the problem.

For me, low tech is still the way to go:? my stitch marker abacus for tracking rows, and for those projects where I need to know count across at all times (very few and far between), a series of stitch markers placed every 10 or 25 stitches (or between repeats), as counted out from the center.

I have to admit that I'm no longer a big fan of wooden and bamboo needles. I liked them when I was just starting out, but as I got more miles under my fingers, I developed a serious desire for speed. These days I stick to shiny, lethal looking metal needles, and only pull out the woods and bamboos when I have to tame a particularly nasty and slippery novelty yarn. Since I detest working with those yarns, my non-metal needles are no longer part of my first bench team. Still, I do have some experiences to report. Note that elswhere on String I've got more on comparative sizes and their metric equivalents, and on comparative needle lengths for circs.

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace markets Japanese-made bamboo needles of several types:

• Single point, 9 inches long, size US #0-19
• Single point, 12 inches long, size US#0-19
• Double points, sets of five, 8 inches long, size US#0-15
• Double points, sets of five, 6 inches long, size US#0-8
  

In general, these are smooth, nicely finished bamboo needles. The single points have rounded wooden beads on the non-business end. Tapers are a bit less pointy than metal needles. I've found the smaller sizes to be a bit less fragile than the same size needle in wood because the bamboo tends to flex and stay bent rather than bend and (eventually) snap, but even so - if you are someone who routinely finds that your metal needles sport a scimitar-like curve after use, you might find these in sizes smaller than US #3 to be too fragile for extended use.

One other word about bamboo needles in general, sometimes the tips denature a bit, especially if they get damp. When that happens the consituent fibers that make up the bamboo fuzz out a bit and begin catching on one's work. I haven't knit with enough Clovers and CPs to be able to do a comparison between the two lines, but this has happened often enough to be noticeable. A smooth down with very fine emery paper helped get rid of my tip burrs.

Takumi Clover Bamboo

Very similar to the Crystal Palace bamboos, the Takumi are smooth finish, with moderate tapers, and wooden beads on the ends of the single points. The beads are more barrel than round, but the look is very similar. They come in a wider range of lengths, but fewer diameters than CP. Current offerings on their home website include:

• Single point 13-inch long, size US#0-10.5
• Single point 14 inches long, size US#11-15
• Single point 9 inches long, size US #3-10.5
• Double point sets of four, 7 inches long, size US #0-10.5
• Double point sets of four, 16 inches long, size US #3-10.5

I also see these other sizes listed at various vendors

• Single point 16 inches long, size US #17-19
• Circualrs 16 inches long, plastic cables, sizes US#3-15
• Circulars 24 inches long, plastic cables, sizes US#3-15
• Circulars 29 inches long, plastic cables, sizes US #3-15
• Circulars, 36 inches long, plastic cables, sizes US #3-15
• Flex (Jumper needles), 20 inches long, sizes US #3-15
  

The largest difference between the Crystal Palace and Clover circulars is the nature of the join. CP uses a metal cowling into which fit both the needle end and the cable. Clover slots the cable into the butt end of the needle itself, tapering the cable so that it joins the end of the bamboo part smoothly. I can't speak to which is better because I have not used them extensively. I will say that the Clover cable seems a bit stiffer than the Crystal Palace cable.

The Clover form factor I have used quite a bit is the Flex jumper needle. Jumper needles are sort of a hybrid between circs and straights. They're used like straights, but being flexible and whippy at the end allow the weight of the work to puddle on the lap similar to circs. I have several friends who prefer straights, but because of limited hand mobility find even short straights tiresome or painful because of the leverage caused by the weight of the project on the ends of their needles. They greatly prefer jumpers to classic straights. I also liked them because I used to knit quite a bit while riding on the Washington, D.C. subway. Jumpers minimized the threat level for the rider sitting next to me. No needle ends were waving about at the edge of his/her space. (Yes, using circs flat is good for this, too.) I did have problems with my Clover tips furring, especially in the humidity of a Washington summer. Eventually I switched entirely over to metal needles, using circs in the flat rather than jumpers.

Brittany

I adore the look of Brittany needles. I've broken about a dozen over the years. Some died in the course of normal knitting. Others were in-bag or sofa-side casualties. Again, while I like the look, these aren't among the needles I reach for first.

Brittany makes several styles of needle:

• Single points, birchwood, 10 inches long, sizes US #3-17
• Single points, birchwood, 14 inches long, size US #3-17
• Double points, birchwood, sets of five, 7.5 inches long, sizes US #0-17
• Double points, birchwood, sets of five, 5 inches long, size US #0-17
• Double points, birchwood, sets of five, 10 inches long, sizes US#0-17
  

The birch single points have simple but pretty turned ends. Tapers are slightly less pointy across the line compared to bamboo needles. They also tend to be a bit more slick than bamboo, but are still nowhere near as slippery as metal. Some people who are fond of wooden needles keep a piece of nice lanolin-rich fleece or roving around, and rub their wooden needles with it after use. I'm not entirely convinced that this helps, as most of the wood and bamboo finishes used appear to be some kind of polyurethane or other plastic. I doubt the moisture can penetrate the finish, but I guess special care can't hurt.

Brittany also used to sell walnut single points with more ornate turned ends. It doesn't look like they still carry the line. I'm not surprised, as my walnut needles did tend to both dry out and break more than did my birch ones. Over the years I am responsible for the demise of about five pairs of walnut needles, ranging in size from US #10s (trodden upon) to US #5s (mashed when my knitting bag got clipped by a revolving door). I've also snapped quite a few birch single points. I took to using them for traveling back before metal needles were added to the list of allowables on US domestic flights. I must have the finger strength of a moose because I can break birch up to size US #5 clean through just by knitting with it. I do prefer these harder woods to bamboo though. They're smoother, especially at the tip, and their finish is more satiny. They're nice tools. Now if only I could learn to knit gently.

I have now survived my week from hell, managed to recuperate (somewhat); and we have returned the house to something resembling order. It's not a very close resemblance, as this family's housekeeping skill set is rather deficient, but horizontal surfaces can now be seen, laundry is no longer threatening to avalanche, and a machete is no longer needed to find the front door.

Add to that some progress on my counterpane:



As you can see, I've finished the first meta-motif, including seaming in the corner triangles. It's a bit smaller than my original estimate, but not by much. Plus it will be stretched a bit not only in the blocking, but also by the natural tension of the surrounding motifs once it is in place. One thing I'm pleased with is the lack of cupping in the center hex. Too tight blocking plus that extra seam between the bottom of the squares and the sides of the hex constrained the stretch of the thing the last time around. Working the squares directly onto live stitches around the hex appears to have eliminated that problem.

Now there's a new thing to consider. I've got a dodecagon (a twelve sided figure) here. Right now the triangle units are knit base to tip. But if I figure out a way to flip the design over, it's conceivable that I could translate the thing into a tip-out piece. AND if I can do that, it's possible for me to add those units to the squares, already worked center out, and instead of a bunch of smaller seamed pieces, produce the twelve sided meta-unit as a single piece.

Food for thought here...

How do you start the hexes?

There are quite a few ways to start off a flat knit piece done both in the round and center out. I keep gravitating back to the I-cord method. This piece is a hex, so I start by casting on a three-stitch I-cord, and working one round (I'd start off an octagon with four stitches). On the second round of the I-cord, I take my first needle and knit one, then make an increase in the space between the just worked and next stitch. If I want a more open center I'll do a YO. If I want a more solidly filled center, I'll do a make 1 lifted bar increase (a devil to do on the second round of an I-cord). Then I'll take another needle and repeat the K1, increase 1 unit. And again on a third needle. Now I have three needles in the work, each bearing two stitches, plus one in the hand to work with. At this point I flip over and begin following my pattern. For an octagon, I'd do much the same, but with a set of five instead of four needles.

Why bother with the multiple units when you can just assemble the hexes into a perfectly good counterpane?

For pretty much the same reason I make cassoulet instead of being happy with franks and beans.

How big are your motifs?? How many are you planning on making?

It's difficult to get a gauge on this stuff, but if forced, I'd say I'm getting approximately 6 stitches and 8 rows per inch over the stockinette areas. Unblocked, my center most hexes are about 10 inches across at the widest point. The squares are about 5.5 inches on a side. The bases of the triangles are also about 5.5 inches across. One entire meta-unit of hex surrounded by squares and triangles (unblocked) is about 21 inches across. I haven't measured my bed yet, but it's only a queen size. Given the vague bed linen sizes posted here and there, my counterpane should be a square or a rectangle something between 85 and 100 inches on a side. I'll need at least 4 units across and 5 units head to foot. Given my chosen layout, that's about four rows of four units, plus three rows of three units, or 28 units. That adds up to 28 hexes plus 168 squares and 168 triangles. Plus half hexes, and the smaller units needed to square out the edges somewhat (they're never going to be exactly linear), and an edging of some unknown depth. I'm not quite sure how many of the other shapes I'll need yet.

Doing the same size counterpane using only the hex units would mean making about 10 rows of 8 units, and 9 rows of 7 units - that's 142 hexes, plus edge half hexes and a border.

This project should keep me busy for a while.

There's nothing like a flurry of activity at work to make one feel appreciated. I feel very appreciated right now. My priorities being in the right place, there's been precious little knitting here since my return from vacation. I anticipate things returning to the chaos that passes for normalcy here by next week.

Even though I have no knitting or stitching goodies to share today, I can't let you wander off unrewarded. Here's another beach picture to contemplate. This one was taken last Tuesday by The Resident Male, of a beach shack perched in the dunes of the National Seashore near Provincetown, Massachusetts.

A few knitting and non-knitting related questions from the inbox:

How did Killer Bunnies go?

Tons of fun. We played as a mixed-age group, with the youngest being 7. We had hoped to get the Red Expansion Pack at Puzzle Me This in Provincetown, but they were out. We settled for Violet, the next one in sequence. The game plays more smoothly if you add them in order because each pack builds on the last, but we were able to use most of the Violet cards anyway.

What size needles did you use for the two versions of your counterpane?

The old version in the heavier cotton was knit on one of my odd size needles, it's a set of old long steel DPNs, they're probably antique 9s - and just a bit larger than standard US #4s (3.5mm), but closer to #4s than #5s (3.75mm). The new piece is knit on 3mm needles, which in some makers' lines is a US #2, and in some is somewhere between a US#2 and a US #3.

Did you finish that embroidery doodle while you were away?



Are you planning on assembling the counterpane in the same way as the last try?

No. These units can be joined in many ways. Last time I butted the triangles together. This time I plan to join squares. My goal is to do the layout shown at the upper right. Last time I used the one at the lower right. Both use some plain solid triangles in addition to the pattern bearing units.



Where did you buy the counterpane pattern?

I didn't. I made it up, starting with a standard spiraled star. I added the outline-like bars to emphasize the motif, and played with several treatments for the ground behind the star. This one like my Mountain Laurel counterpane plays with a textured ground and smooth star, but unlike that piece, plays a bit more with the ground. I also wanted to do a counterpane that was an tessellation of more interest than a flat tiled hex or a plain octagon and hex. That's why there are four units - the center hex, a patterned square, a patterned triangle, and a plain triangle. The layout above is actually an early draft showing how I played with the concept, looking at ways in which I could use the patterned units to extend the lines of the center hexes.

Can you send me the pattern?

Be patient. I plan on posting it to wiseNeedle this year - probably after I've gotten considerably more done on the thing and have a decent representation of the piece's final look. I'd also like to noodle up a complementing half hex and border.

The only problem with starting out the summer with one's vacation is that while there's lots for the kids to look forward to in July and August, to me it feels like summer is already over.

While we had great fun on our week away, the weather wasn't ideal. I didn't mind the wet and cold because I was at my favorite place on earth - the beach in North Truro on Cape Cod. This is sunset over Provincetown, as seen from the deck of our room on one of the nicer days.



We had a couple of good beach days at the start of the week, then the weather turned cold and nasty. Luckily we were there with friends, and between good companionship and copiously applied wine, were able to keep both warm and entertained.

I did get in some knitting, but progress was slow. I was re-creating my North Truro counterpane pattern - invented in the very same spot - from my sketchy notes. I got off to a couple of false starts, regraphed some probelm areas, made some of the lines of the piece crisper, and played with various methods of joniing that avoid some need for seaming. Here's the result:



As you can see, I'm mid-motif. The initial unit is the hex in the center. I knit that starting on some 3mm DPNs, moving to a circ as it got larger. Instead of binding off, I purled my final row, and left the thing on the circ. Then I attached my yarn at what looked to be a good corner point, and holding the thing with the reverse side front, knit one side's worth of stitches. That produced the appearance of two rounds of purl on the front at the base of my soon-to-be-knit side square. I then worked the side square out using two DPNs. I worked my side squares attached like this, one at a time. After I got a couple done, I knit a side triangle separately (it's worked base to tip) and sewed it into place.

I also experimented with skewing the attachment of the square unit. Since it really doesn't matter where on the center hex the sides begin and end, I knit one square on katywumpus - aligning its center to the point of the star instead of to the center of the leaf motif in between the star arms. You can see it above. It's the lone square that I've pointed out with the arrow. I've decided I like the original orientation better and left it intact just long enough to photograph.

Well and good. Things look like they're working out. I've avoided working all those squares separately and the seams joining them to the hex in the center. My bargain basement Webs-find yarn is working out well, with a very soft slubby cotton hand. I like it a lot. Compare it to my first iteration of this idea:



I don't know if you can see it, but the older yarn is MUCH heavier. It's a very dense cotton worsted - almost a twine. The newer yarn is a 90% cotton, 10% acrylic blend, and is somewhere between DK and sport in thickness, plus it's much less densely structured than the older stuff. The lighter yarn drapes better, plus it shows off the motifs better. All in all, things look quite promising!

That's it! I grafted the final row of the edging to the first row to make an invisible seam. I'm done except for blocking. That will have to wait a bit as I am swamped right now, with no prospect for a large block of free time with a floor to hand in order to play with the thing before the latter part of July. Still, I'm done. Here's a shot of my Alcazar in all its rumpled, squished edge, pre-block glory that we can use for comparison to the (eventual) post-block photo I promise to plaster up here as soon as it is available.



Unblocked it measures about 40 inches across. If worked in the suggested needle size with the suggested yarn, this shawl is supposed to block out to be 56 or so inches across. I'll probably make it to 48 or so, tops because both my yarn and needle were smaller than those recommended.

Lessons learned:

1. Read the pattern and make sure you understand it before embarking on a project.
2. Faux silk (rayon) is a very unforgiving and unstretchy material from which to knit lace. Care must be taken with gauge because it's very easy to knit too tightly.
3. Did I mention the "read your pattern" thing?
   
4. There are some minor quibbles in the pivot charts. Occasional one or two stitch fudging is necessary to make the edging and corners come out right. While I'd rate the majority of this pattern as "quite straightforward and quick to knit if you're comfortable with charts" and "a challenge mostly because of size, not because of complexity" those little problems might be enough to set a beginner off his or her feed. But even a lace knitting beginner, armed with the knowledge of where those little nuisances might be and the courage to work through them, could complete this project.
   

Now what?

I have the opportunity for some serious knitting time over the next week. I had hoped that I'd still be working on this shawl, but wonder of wonders - I finished early. I might pick up the Rogue again, but it's not particularly convenient for my target window (why will become evident in ten days).

To be truthful, I haven't quite licked the lace/non-wool knitting bug yet. There are lots of options. I've got some lace-weight linen in the stash. I've got a Rachel Schelling pattern collection here somewhere. I could play with them together. Or now that I've got the cotton to knit my North Truro Counterpane, I could restart that project. Other possibilities are the doilies on Yarn Over. I have as little use for doilies as I have for shawls. They look fun to knit, but I haven't the inclination to use them. I could use a table runner though. Hmmm.

Round-up - Needle sizes and Kitchener Stitch

Finally, for those that are asking - I will return to the needle summary as soon as I have time. Those data notes take a bit of research to write up, and time hasn't exactly been plentiful.

And on the Kitchener Stitch documentation project, I've been in touch with a couple of people active in historical British military kit research. They're branching out to their own networks, and have recommended some sources that might confirm (or debunk) the notion that Kitchener's revised clothing specifications included seamless toe socks. No one has offered up any other citations. So I'm still looking...