Knit Picks Nickle Plated Circle Needles

As you all know I have been learning to knit these past few months. While I am happy to say I finally finished my 30's 3 hour sweater of doom, you will have to wait until next week to see the results. I learned sooooo much working that first project, and decided to keep on learning new techniques with my next project too. This time I will be learning how to use circle needles and to knit in the round. I've chosen an Andi Satterlund pattern for a cropped sweater, and luckily she has a step by step instructional guide for making this particular sweater. I decided after the very vague directions of the 3 hour sweater pattern, I wanted more clear direction for my next project to remove at least some of the guesswork!

Still, this project began with an auspicious start, I just could get gauge with size 8 needles (Boye needles from Joanns) and my Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Tweed yarn. I needed larger needles, and sadly Joanns doesn't carry size 9 circle needles. I quickly decided if I had to order needles online, I might as well find some that were a bit nice. Seeing as I am a Knit Picks groupie already, I decided to try out their nickel-plated interchangeable knitting needles. The tips of these circle needles are changeable meaning they twist off to be multi-purpose. I ordered both size 9 and size 10 tips, a 32" cable, and both size 9 and 10 fixed 16" circle needles. I should mention before I rave about everything that no, Knit Picks isn't sponsoring this post. (Though if they are interested...so am I *wink*)

I wasn't sure what it was going to be like knitting with the smooth nickle plated coating as I had so far only been knitting with the traditional aluminum needles. Let me tell you, it is a smooth dream working with these! I only wish they had this same finish in regular needles too (they only have them in double pointed) as I would probably switch over to using these for everything. The tips were easy to install onto the flexible purple cable and haven't budged from their sockets at all. The joint is virtually invisible. As a newbie to circle needles I was a bit scared they would feel really weird to work with, but these super smooth needles are a breeze! So that's my mini review, if you are in the market for new metal circle needles, I totally recommend the Knit Picks ones!

 So far my new project is coming along fine, though somehow I have 75 stitches across instead of the 73 I am supposed to have. I really don't know how I managed to cast on 2 extra, but I am way too lazy to redo the whole upper back for just 2 extra stitches. Seeing as my first sweater is a bit too small, hopefully I can avoid that with this next project. I ended up having to use the size 9 needles (the pattern calls for size 8) to get the proper gauge in the end. I really like working with this yarn too, it feels a bit thicker than the regular Wool of the Andes worsted and I like the little flecks. This color is called Farmhouse Heather and is a lovely dark brown shade. Here's hoping I can make some good progress on this next sweater this weekend!