Is Anybody Listening?

Funny thing about blogging, it is sort of like talking to yourself. I talk to myself all the time. My assistant once said she learned how to do General Journal entries by listening to me talk my way through them. My Mother would talk to herself, and my Dad would ask, “What did you say honey?” She would answer, “I was just talking to myself. I needed a little intelligent conversation.” I learned from the best!

Another thing about blogging is that some posts result in great comments, and others, seemingly, are never read. In those cases, we are very much talking to ourselves. Since that is apparently how I organize my thoughts I guess it’s okay. This little critical assessment leads to my purpose today—to discuss Comfort Zone double pointed needles. A few things come to mind that might help my CZ using friends make the transition from other brands of dpns to CZs:

1. They are extremely flexible. They will bend as you use them and your hands heat the polymer. Because there is a large nylon content, they will also bend back to straight with a little encouragement. I have heard from a few users that they let them stay bent, because they have conformed to their hands, which adds to the comfort. Best advice: don’t fight them, join them! Let them bend and conform to your style of knitting.

2. The comfort element comes from the fact that they are so flexible. They don’t fight your hands, or bite into your skin. When they were first produced, we had a little problem with points breaking. It was back to the drawing board for a bit, and the result was the addition of nylon to the polymer, producing a more resilient needle. Best advice: if your knitted stitches are tight, these needles have sharp points that will slide in easily and get the job done. They won’t break if the points are twisted around in the stitches. Just knit the way you usually do and don’t worry about them breaking.

3. There is a fair amount of drag created by CZs. The sides of the needles are a little rougher than most plastic needles, a lot rougher than aluminum, and maybe a little more than bamboo or rosewood. Some users have told me that it took some practice not to object to the drag. It has never bothered me, and others have gotten used to it. The purpose of the drag is so they will NOT fall out of stitches. One customer wrote to tell me that she throws them into her backpack, and never worries about them falling out of stitches or breaking. Best advice: knit a whole pair of socks with them, under the best and worst circumstances before you decide you don’t like the drag. Leave them lying around, throw them in a purse or knitting bag, knit with them in the car. I think you will find that their staying power is extraordinary.

4. Comfort Zone needles were developed by my son-in-law, a plastics manufacturer, so that I could knit socks for the family without the hand pain caused by other types of needles. I found that friends I shared them with wanted more, and that led to the E-business. We’ve done our best to offer a solution to all the reasons knitters don’t like dpns. We even package them in sets of six, so if you lose one your project doesn’t have to be put on hold until you buy more.

Questions anyone? Or am I just talking to myself? If so, it’s okay—my thoughts are really organized now. I feel so much better!