Teeny Tiny Itsy Bitsy

I have been curious to try a tiny short sock circular needle since I first heard of them - maybe last year? These miniature circular needles are about nine inches long from needle tip to needle tip and come with a choice of steel or bamboo tips that are a teeny weeny two inches long. When you join the ends of your knitting in a circle they are the perfect length for socks (I can also imagine a little sleeve might work well too). 

Opinion seems to be divided about them with some loving them and others really not and I was keen to take some for a whirl. So, when a friend suggested I try hers, I jumped at the chance. I borrowed her Hiya Hiya nine inch US1/2.25mm bamboo needles. 

They look very cute and happily the size is stamped into the wood rather than printed on, so it shouldn't disappear with use. The needles are like thickened matchsticks and the ends taper to a nice sharp point but don't seem so sharp as to poke a hole in my finger. I do like the joins. The needle tips are fixed to the cable and the joins are lovely and smooth. 

So, with a mixture of trepidation and excitement, off I went. 

I hit my first hurdle casting on. My go-to cast-on is a cable cast-on so I gave that a go. Hopeless! I absolutely could not coordinate myself to manage that cast-on with such tiny needles and after trying to get even stitches and fumbling and failing, I gave up. As far as I can work out the best cast-ons for these little needles are ones that involve one needle - backwards loop and long tail. In the end it was long tail that won the day but look at the length of my tail?! looooooong. One day I'll figure that out.

Joining in the round was a breeze and I doubt there's much risk of twisting your stitches because it's so easy to see if they're straight. I cast on an extra stitch and joined by knitting my first and last stitches together. 

We'll see how the rest goes. I'm using some very lovely sock yarn dyed by a local New Zealand dyer Happy Go Knitty - I thought it was the same base as I used for my striped socks earlier in the year (alpaca/merino/nylon) but since I've put the tag in a safe place that now eludes me ... I'm not sure. Maybe it's her BFL sock?! Who knows. It's gloriously soft either way!

I'm reserving judgment about the needles for now. I'm still on the fence. I'll let you know how I get on ...