More Needles, Ma'am?

It's all well and good when you work on just one project at a time and you have a full rack of needles in different sizes and length. It's another thing when you've got two projects going on (one of which may be a project started 3 years ago and only 20% completed).

Here am I, working on the Norge 200 cardigan and I'm using 3.25mm needle for the hemming portion. The length is 24“ and I'm finding it a bit too tight for comfort. So I decide that I need to look for one that is 32” inches long (by the way, I almost exclusively use Addi Turbo needles, for sake of consistency and because these don't have weird bends like some of the needles that I used early in my knitting career. Yes, the cost of the needles has increased over the years, but you got to go with the best tools that you can find). I take out the gauge from Springwater Fiber Arts which I have accidently broken in half, in such a manner that one gauge hole cannot be used unless I manage to wrest the circular needle into control and slap the broken gauge around it.

And then I pick up one uncompleted project after another, to see which needle is the same size as the current needle. When I find a couple of candidates, these needles get yanked out, while I make a mental note to write down the size used for the unfinished project, and then grab my tape measure to see which needle is the longer.

Now that I've finished the hemming and the bottom color pattern, I've switched to size 3.5mm needle, in 32“ length. Suddenly, I realize that I'd bought a new circular needle and I vaguely recall that it was a size4.5mm, in 40” length. Or was I hallucinating? I move piles of paper, look in my current knitting bag, and try to recall what I was doing last week with hopes that I would remember that shopping bag, to no avail.

So, I start up another project, an MS vest in Plymouth Galway, of which I have but 4 skeins, not enough for a sweater but enough for a vest. Again I retrieve a needle from another UFO. After knitting the first pattern row I find that I've somehow created a mobius, which is not what I'd intended, and off comes the yarn and untangling, only to be recast and carefully aligned in broad daylight. I do not get much work done on it last night because I've been pulled into kitchen duty by G. and constantly reminded to check the sheperd's pie and homemade buttermilk biscuits (by moi) while G. takes the phone call and Bruce sits on the sofa watching tv after fixing G.'s bathroom lights.

Earlier today I pack the vest project in my backpack as I meet with the DORS counselor as I work on finding a job that will keep me supplied in fleece and yarn, I discover that I've left the pattern at home. Rats. Since I cannot just hop on the metro and go to Knit Happens as they're closed mondays, I then drive up to Knitgenia's territory to visit the yarn shop. My worst fears are realized as I look at the almost-bare wall to see what sizes of the Addi Turbo needles there are, I nonetheless ask for 4.00mm in 40“ length, only to be told no, and would I like to order one (as I wonder why haven't they put in an order to refresh their stock). I decline, as I know this size will exist at other locations within driving distance.

So, I go home and start clearing off this pile on my desk. Lo and behold, I find that 40” needle on the desk. The only problem is . . . it's size 3.25. Now, how many hours from the moment this entry is posted until 9:30am, when I will set forth in my car and zoom down to the metro station so I can go over to Knit Happens?