Good things do come in small packages!

A few weeks back I had been browsing around Amazon looking for deals on tunisian hooks. For some reason I've been at a loss at finding them in the city here. Granted I haven't searched high and low, but at the usual haunts I was at a loss. Which is really strange because I would've thought they'd be everywhere! :twisted: Since it's not something I was dying to get I only peruse around in hopes I'll come across one. What I didn't expect to find was this little wonder. A teeny tiny 9" bamboo circular needle. I thought that was the most brilliant thing ever! :D I suspect it's aimed more for people who make socks, but in my recent adventure into colourwork I'd thought multiple times how much easier it'd be if I could knit in a continuous round. I had no idea tiny circulars like that even existed! The smallest circumference I own is 12" and it's too big for what I want to do. I tried it and I had to really stretch it and it made for some very difficult knitting. :x




But alas, my hopes were soon dashed when I realized Amazon.ca didn't carry any. I could order from Amazon.com, but I was afraid of a few things. 1) Shipping would be costly for just 1 needle. 2) It would take forever to get here and I wanted to try it yesterday. And 3) I was concerned since it was so small and made of bamboo that it might get damaged in the mail. So, off I went in search for a Canadian retailer. Can you believe that I couldn't find anyone who sold those delightful little bamboo Clover circulars in that size?? :cry: BUT Elann had a lovely alternative. Which I liked even more since they're metal. They also came in 8" which was slightly smaller. I had worries that 9" might still be too large. There was another plus. I had been wanting to order something from there for some time, but I didn't want to get anything big (like lots of yarn :P) just to test out how efficient they were at sending my order, giving me tracking numbers and timing of my package's arrival. This seemed like the perfect opportunity! :)


The order process went well. I like that they also accept Paypal and money orders along with the major credit card companies. Shipping was very reasonable ($4) and actually cost less than if I had taken the bus to a store. :P The downside is I had to pay HST, but that's not really a huge complaint since I would've at a local store too heh. I was sent a tracking number a couple days later and it arrived safe and sound at my door 5 days later. In total it took about a week. That's not so bad.

Of course when it arrived I whipped out my yarn and knitted up a sampler! :D



This was the first design I had tried (and failed) after some modifications. I removed the big carpet pattern and fixed the colouring to make it easier to work with. In hindsight I probably should not have used red and pink... Oops :roll: I don't know what I was thinking. I admit momentary stupidity on that. Maybe it was because it looked fine on the computer... XD I really should know better. Anyways, it's a white mage and black mage from Final Fantasy with a heart between them. I inscribed 'Flumpkins' to try out the text to see how it would turn out. I was worried the 'm' would look wonky, but it looks like a 'm' to me, so no complaints here.

I am so so so happy with my new needle! :XO: It actually wasn't that uncomfortable to work with being so small. My workspace was a lot neater since I wasn't fighting with other yarn colours getting wrapped around DPNs... And best of all, it worked up A LOT faster! I'd say I got that sampler done at least 4x faster than if I had done it on DPNs. Also, working a kitchener stitch was easier too because the cord is very flexible. I would highly recommend these to anyone who does a lot of small work in the round, such as socks, mittens or cuffs. I'd have to say the only downside is that it's super tiny, so keep it in a safe place. :)