I purchase a lot of knitting items for myself and for the Men’s Knitting Retreats. But I may have to reconsider buying shit from China in the future.

Buying Exactly What Shit From China

Needles, stitch markers, point protectors, needle gauges.

So many items that I give away in the project bags at the two retreats I coordinate are purchased from China. I need enough for 40 guys. Plus I usually put together “beginner knitting kits” for any guys coming to the retreat who want to learn to knit.

The latest purchase from China is for newbie knitter kits. Specifically, I wanted to see how good/bad the interchangeable set of needles was since I could get an entire set for under $35.

I purchased two interchangeable sets of needles from China. Then, I opened this set of needles for my current project (see below). The needle section is made of a lightweight plastic, so I hope they’ll be durable. Some of the needle tips have a tiny bit of plastic residue that wasn’t removed after the molding of the needle, but it’s easy to fix. And the cables and hardware seem very much like my much nicer Lykke needle set.

Overall, I think they make for a perfectly good starter set for a newbie knitter. If you can’t wait a few weeks for delivery and you don’t want to pay for a good set of needles. And if you don’t object to supporting China commercially, then this set will work.

Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be switching over to plastic needles from my Lykke Driftwoods or Blush needle sets. But I don’t have any issue giving these sets away to new knitters at the retreat.

I am open and receptive to any feedback y’all might have.

Current Crochet/Knitting

So excited to announce that I finished the silk lace version of the April Showers Shawl.

Overall, the shawl is about 72″ (183 cm) point-to-point and 25″ (64 cm) tall.

I could have actually made at least one more row of crochet on this beauty, but I was ready to finish it. And I’m quite pleased with the result.

I mentioned I had also cast on a new project in the last blog entry.

I’m hopeful to have a few more of my signature scarf (the Knitted Cross Stitch Scarf) for sale at the craft show in early November. Fortunately, I’ve gotten very efficient at making these rather quickly.

Hands don’t fail me now!