Knitting Question

[kaybee]

I want to make a shawl that will be 24-27 inches wide and have only been able to find straight needles that are 14 inches long. Instead of using circular needles, can I just use the straight needles and scrunch the work up on the needles as I knit? Will that affect the quality/appearance of my knitting? I bought a pair of circular needles, but the nylon between the needles is coiled very tightly and the needles, which are bamboo, are catching on my thread. I've read that they will get smoother as they are used, but I'm not sure I have the patience or skill to work with this!

KB

[margo49]

Of course you can!
Your tension is stitch by stitch so it should not affect the finished product. Personally I knit like I write - a bit uneven and tense. Mum knitted Dad a cricket jersey on regular needles and it even had all-over cables.
Remember knitting is like breadmaking - whatever you end up with you can use. (Eat or wear). You just might do it better next time
And (as the Mother Superior and the Mistress of Novices agreed in The sound of Music ) the wool of the black sheep is just as warm as the wool of the white
....but don't let me get started on that particular "kink" of mine

[kaybee]

Thanks Margo! I suspected I could, but I'm teaching myself this as I go along, and have "confidence issues." I don't want to waste precision time and yarn and end up with something that I don't want to wear. Of course, if it's not perfect, I could just say that the "imperfections" are part of the design!

KB

[margo49]

I grew up in a time and space where *all* girls were taught to knit as a matter of necessity. Knitting has now become a craft and an art. Mind you so has sewing and to some extent cooking...

[Bikingmomof3]

KB,
Yes straight needles would indeed work fine. My preference is circs. I knit everything with circs, but not bamboo. The only circs I use are Addi Turbo.

Have fun with the shawl.

[SadieKate]

Addi or Inox circs only for me!!!

Circs will let you support more of the weight of the shawl on your lap rather than on the needles. Supporting the growing weight on long straight needles can really affect fatigue and lack of skill. Not to mention, you can't ever sit in a chair with arms while you knit because the needles hit them. Scrunching the stitches on a straight needle too much means a stitch can pop of when you least expect it - not a happy event in any kind of fancy pattern.

The coils - the nylon will relax with the shawl's growing weight or a dunking in warmish water or simply hung from something with some weight attached. The nylon stays coiled from being stored in the packaging.

Secondly, different fibers react completely differently on different needle materials. Addis and nickel or teflon-coated (and less expensive) Inox are very slippery. Wool has a lot of little scales (like human hair) that will catch on wood. If you knit tightly (says the voice of experience), bamboo won't let the wool slide at all. If you knit loosely, bamboo can be wonderful. I use wood and bamboos needles only as a last resort because, well, when you have someone like Nancy Bush pick up your work and say she's never known anyone to knit that tightly, well, um, you don't use wood. I had the same thing happen to me in a pine needle basket course. I don't know why I'm wired that way.

Any way, you need to match the material type and your personal knitting tension to the needle material. For instance, if you knit with slippery synthetic ribbon, bamboo can be great.

Do you know about the knitting forum over at www.knitty.com? Those folks are a source for tons of anwers to any question you can think of, plus lots of great patterns.