Mittens, swaps and needles

Well I couldn't wait any longer, I had to buy some needles (thanks for the comment Laura) so I have ordered two sets of addi turbos for a bargain price on ebay (from this shop). Ostensibly as I want to finally get on and do Bayeriche at last but more because I'm itching to have another go at fair isle. It's not as though I don't have enough other projects on the go already or anything!

Anyhoo, I had to pop into town today to collect a library book I'd ordered but of course I couldn't resist just popping upstairs to see if there'd been any additions to the knitting section since my last visit. I found this one, Mostly Mittens by Charlene Schurch. I'm sure it's been on the shelf there for a while but it'd never appealed to be before but this time it positively leapt off the shelf. Of course, I then had to spend some time this evening trawling the internet for other patterns just to see, that and Ravelry - my new best friend. I can myself wasting a lot of time on there, everyone's pictures are so great and I'm sure I will find lots more projects to try.

Back to the mittens, I also came across a mitten swap - registration's open until Sept 30th for anyone interested. I'm not going to actually join it but it's going to be a great one to watch I think. There's some really good links to patterns including these fabulous pirate mittens - check the rest of the free patterns there's a matching pirate hat too. Superb, I want one!

I'm not sure whether I can wait for my new needles to arrive before I cast on

Magic loop needles?

Am thinking of adding to some new needles to my collection as I really enjoyed magic looping the fair isle swatch. Anyhow, I need better needles - the cable is far too inflexible on my pony needles but they're all I can get locally. So, I'm thinking I will probably try some addi turbos but what length of needles to buy is the question?
I'll probably just being using them for socks or small diameter knitting so, is 80cm (32" for those of you across the pond) long enough? In which case I can actually get some knit picks instead as Get Knitted have started stocking them.

So for all you magic loopers out there, what do you use?

Denises .. again

I'm sorry to keep harping on about this, well actually, I'm not. Fiona (resident AY guru and general enabler) pointed me in the direction of these... Rainbow Denises!! How cool are they? Only downside is that they are on the other side of the pond. I very nearly ordered them last night but I have been good and resisted, well so far anyway. I am going to take a wander over to Maldon tomorrow morning if I have the time and take a look at the regular ones in Ethnits. I think I'd like to have a fondle before I commit myself and also, I'm not sure I want to wait for the delivery. Well that and it gives me an excuse to have a wander round the shop - if I save on the delivery etc, I can buy more yarn! Hmm, coloured needles or more yarn - it is a bit of a dilemma. Still, if I take the munchkin with me it should limit my spending. His current phrase when I want to look at something is "it's boring" - who is it that teaches children these things? grrr

Denise's... to buy or not to buy?

I have come to the conclusion of late that I need more needles. Well, circular needles anyhow as I have piles of the regular sort. The question is, can I justify buying a complete set of Denises? At £30 a pop it's a big investment. I can see the benefit of being able to lengthen and shorten your cable but I'm not sure that I will actually make use of all of the sizes in it. Also they don't actually go down small enough to knit socks on (I do like my DPN's anyhow and have just received a teeny weeny pair from AY anyhow). Hmm, I shall have to have a think about it some more and in the meantime hope that the cable doesn't actually finally snap on the one that I'm currently using.