Sonnet to Chiaogoo needles

Shall I compare thee to a plastic dpn?

Thou art more lovely and more durable.

Tight tensions do shake the weaker needles,

And other needles hath all too stiff a cable.

Sometime too stickily the yarn moves,

And often is hard to tame with a blunt needle;

And every fairest join sometime breaks,

By chance, or nature's changing course, unmaintained;

But thy red cable shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that flexibility thou ow'st,

Nor shall your needles bend thou my grip is tight,

When your sharp ends the stitches hunt'st.

So long as hands endure, or eyes can see,
So long I knit socks, and knit socks with Chiaogoo to thee.

 -Knitspeare, sonnet 18

What: Delbert / Rachel Coopey
How: Chiagoo circular needle 2.25 mm
From: Wollmeise Pure + Coopknits SocksYEAH!, 102 + 57 g

In some past decades, it was custom to buy matching shell suits with the hubby and go for a walk in them in the evening. I can't see myself doing that but I did a knitter's version: matching socks. I did use different yarns, though.

I've been thinking about matching socks for a while and finally made them. First, I had to look for a suitable unisex pattern. I know, I think pretty much any socks are unisex, but the Hubby has his own opinions. No lace then. After a few years of active conversion, I've managed to get him to like cables. Finally, I found a cabled sock design that I too wanted for myself. Even though, I don't really enjoy knitting cables.

Since knitting two pairs of socks means knitting F.O.U.R. socks in a row, I needed to take some precautionary measures to ensure I wouldn't abandon this project. I definitely needed to start off with the Hubby's bigger socks. I did get a case of second sock syndrome and left sock number two on a timeout for a month. Finally I pulled myself together and decided to finish what I had started.

I was going on a work trip and packed with me only the unfinished socks and yarn for my own pair. Two days of seminar talks and train rides did the trick. I finished the sock number two and immediately cast on for the next pair. After finishing Hubby's huge socks, my own pair felt like the tiniest bit of work.

The size difference was quite ridicilous. I knitted Hubby's socks with 72 sts from Wollmeise which is a bit heavier than your basic fingering weight yarn. My own pair I made from SocksYEAH! with 64 sts and that yarn is lighter than fingering weight. Usually, 64 sts is a bit too much for me but with this lighter yarn and the cables, it fits like a glove. I mean... Oh, you get the point!

The pattern was neat and simple. There are four sections with cables across 10 sts and otherwise the socks are different types of ribbing. The different sizes have a different amount of knitted sts between the cable sections. The ribbing continues over the heel flap. The socks turned out super cute but as I said before, I don't really enjoy knitting cables. I'm more of a lace knitter.

But now, to get back to the title: I knitted the sock blank socks of the last post with a Karbonz circular needle and these socks with a Chiaogoo Red Lace circular needle. The difference was like night and day! I shall never ever ever again voluntarily knit socks with any other needles than my beloved Chiaogoos. Oh, why did I ever use anything else? All the other needles I've used over the years have something annoying about them: some aren't sharp enough, some have too stiff or curly cables. Or then, the yarn gets stuck at the join between the cable and the needle. But not with these lovely Chiaogoos. As they are lace needles, the needle ends are perfectly sharp so no stitch gets left behind. The red cable is flexible and resilient. Oh my. As I was enjoying the knitting experience so much, I cast on yet another pair of socks.

This was no paid advertisement. Just the confessions of a happy knitter.