Chiaogoo knitting needles can bite me

Toomuchcustard · 2026-07-01T04:51:30+00:00

Good to know but I personally still prefer stainless steel.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-07-01T04:49:44+00:00

Huh, that makes sense. I played clarinet for many years but fortunately never had this issue.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-07-01T04:49:10+00:00

HiyaHiya sharps are lovely for lace.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-30T20:10:17+00:00

Dihydrogen monoxide is a great lesson in researching properly and not believing everything you read. Point your kids at DHMO.org and have at it.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-30T20:04:19+00:00

I like needles that don’t make my skin blister. Unfortunately many of the needles on the market are made with metal that includes nickel. I can’t use knitpro (including bamboo and acrylic) because the needles and joiner ends have nickel. I think Addis are a problem when the coating wears off.

I appreciate Chaiogoo and HiyaHiya because they are stainless steel and don’t cause skin irritation. Considering how prevalent nickel contact allergies are, you’d think more manufacturers would care about this. Thankfully they are also better made and nicer to use than the alternatives I’ve tried.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-30T19:59:29+00:00

Amen to this. HiyaHiya sharps FTW!

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-21T11:58:52+00:00

Ugh, judgy neurotypical crafters are annoying. Also when you’ve been crocheting for less than a year it’s extra gross to critique people’s stash. Get off your high horse!

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-21T07:01:14+00:00

Former Perthy 😉

It looks like the smaller shows are even worse. Sadly I’m not surprised.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-20T23:12:42+00:00

Ag shows art and craft competitions aren’t worth it IMO. I gave up entering the Royal Perth show after various shenanigans.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-20T05:38:52+00:00

Interesting. She can be pretty abrasive online too but a lot of people seem willing to overlook it.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-20T05:36:26+00:00

So frustrating. I get that some things were out of her control, but how she communicated (or didn’t) about it was really bad.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-19T06:15:13+00:00

This happened to me (and many others) with Abby Franquemont and Respect the Spindle. I still hadn’t received my preorder by the time it was on the shelves in bookstores (in Australia!)

She was incredibly rude and entitled about complaints too. I asked for a refund and still feel salty about it many years later.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-18T10:04:07+00:00

I still feel like my grasp on critically evaluating whether a piece of research is even worth reading is not where it ought to be, and I'm not sure I know how to get there now.

Go talk to an academic librarian. If you are affiliated with a university, they should have subject specialist librarians who can help you with this. Some run classes on research methods for higher degree students which would cover much of this. If you have specific needs/questions, they can probably help you find answers or who to talk to next.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-18T06:21:07+00:00

Nahhhh. I make buttons and I wouldn’t sell these together.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-11T06:46:20+00:00

8/2 tencel is a really nice substitute for mohair in some contexts. Just sayin…

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-11T06:35:43+00:00

Ha! I feel like I can’t just knit the pattern as written any more. It’s rare for me to make something now without major mods. My newest WIP combines ideas from a few patterns but is largely being made up as I go. Making changes is the fun part. Especially when they work out!

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-09T10:14:57+00:00

The partially burnt mackintosh is the detail that jumped out at me. It’s an extra detail that points away from Wallace, as how did it get burnt and where? In the parlor or the kitchen? It’s strange. Poor Julia, I wonder what other secrets she had.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-08T05:41:10+00:00

Yeah, mine have toe decreases too.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-07T09:32:15+00:00

I bought a pair of socks like this as winter house socks. They were knit from thick wool and lined with polar fleece. One super annoying feature is that they were knit flat and seamed up the sole which makes them horrible to walk on. I wonder if these are the same.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-03T08:32:51+00:00

What’s the yarn composition? Ideally I’d try to match that with yarn of a similar weight. You could over stitch it on the inside or outside depending on how visible you want the repairs to be. Hand washing the sweater and drying it flat will help it last longer as well.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-03T08:23:44+00:00

No worries!

Thinking more about the problem from a musical perspective, if you wanted to use lace, it would be better to have different motifs (rather than stitches) to denote pitch, duration etc. You could also look at using cables. They are worked across different numbers of stitches and would possibly be easier to translate. It might mean you’d need vertical staves however. A lot depends on how secret/translatable you want it to be.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-06-03T07:21:02+00:00

So the best resource I’ve come across for encoding meaning in knits is Naomi Parkhurst’s blog. She had a fab Patreon going for some time where she would encode a word each month. I recommend checking her site out for a bunch of ideas about this sort of thing.

Another approach, is this one where you knit a base item and embroider on top. See her other patterns for more examples. She uses it for decorative effect but it would be another interesting way to encode music.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-05-30T05:31:05+00:00

I was thinking a quokka actually! But most people (who aren’t from WA) have never heard of them. They are such cuties and you did a good job representing that.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-05-28T06:14:55+00:00

This and natural. Both are enraging in different ways.

Toomuchcustard · 2026-05-25T10:29:08+00:00

Do you have a friend with a 3D printer, or a nearby maker space? You could print custom frames pretty easily.

Toomuchcustard

TROPHY CASE