Signature Needle Arts

I don’t have to tell any of you that we have been asked literally thousands of times: “When will you have circulars?” At shows, online, on the phone, in person, “When will you have circulars?” Day in, day out, “When will you have circulars?”

FINALLY… we can answer: 12:01 am Saturday Dec. 19, 2009—the birthday of Signature circulars!

Everyone here knows that the new big question will be: “Why not interchangeables?” Honestly, we have considered this but to get the long lasting tool that our customers are used to we felt our best bet was the “fixed” route.

We know you will like the cable. We had literally hundreds of different cords that we considered from nylon fishing line (which is what many of the lower cost needles on the market now use) to custom blends of polymers. I know that you will understand how hard it is to sit across from a panel of chemists and try to tell them what we wanted: very slick, not “kinkable”, not too soft, not too hard. After one such session I wanted to just say: “go read Goldilocks and follow that model—we need something ‘just right’ and we can’t settle for less.”

The other issue we are considering is the education that needs to take place since we are offering an option that has never been seen before: you can choose a LENGTH for the hard needle part. We know that hands come in lots of sizes and that one length does not fit all!

4” needles  – If you have small hands or other circs with that length stalk that you just plain like or you are working on a small diameter piece.

5”  needles - If you have medium hands or like that length from other needles.

6”  needles  – If you have larger hands or are always being hurt at the side of your palm with your current needles. In addition a lace knitter told me that having a little longer stalk to hold the stitches rigid to see if there is a problem with the lace pattern before it leaves the needle and gets scrunched on the cord.

Of course since Daniella put the news on the site and at Ravelry we have had lots of calls and emails. We decided to put out a few sizes rather than wait for all the sizes to be done. I know this is a disappointment for those who want a whole set but we wanted to be able to keep our word that we would have some sizes by the end of 2009.

We have had a lot of anxiety here in anticipation of midnight. Laura brought up the point that when we first started the biggest paper in our state (“Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel” )did multipage article that started the phones ringing about 2 months before we THOUGHT we would be starting. We were thrown into the fire with no time for worry.

This time there has been months and years of prep work with people here like Bob, and Paul, and Brian, and the other Brian, and the other Paul, and Luis, and Bruce, and Kent who have worked tirelessly to make me happy. And that was NOT easy.

Time after time new versions of things would be brought in—things they thought were wonderful that were categorically rejected. This time it is different. We have so many customers who know our single and double points that we want to love our circulars. I had a call this morning from a repeat delightful customer named Margery. I told her about the anxiety and said that, for me, it must be based on some childhood disappointment at not being invited to a birthday party. She just laughed and told me that she and her daughters Stephanie, Jennifer and Elizabeth were ALL coming to the party tonight at midnight. She couldn’t have said anything that could have made me feel better.

Of course I did email others that they don’t need to stay up but can order any time after midnight. But count on it, I will be awake for the party!

The sock blocker is upside down on purpose—it is the new international sign of distress for knitters.

On Tues. December 8 we woke up to find that some X@%!@ robbers had come into our house and taken lots of things. The police had a horrified look on their faces when they realized Kent and I were upstairs, IN THE HOUSE, in bed. So, the silver lining was that we were not killed.

I had to really concentrate on that silver lining as I spent most of last week just trying to take care of stopping all the credit cards, getting new drivers’ license, replacing phones, laptop, etc. The prime officer told me to just take my time thinking about what they took because she recognized I was in shock.

If this has ever happened to you the biggest thing that was stolen was our sense of any security. Of course we also spent time upgrading our alarm system, getting new motion detector lights, and looking for really BIG guard dogs at rescue groups around the country. Paul did the research and found several breeds that seem to fit the “will eat the burglar” but have some other issues like: lots of slobber, will not go outside without digging holes everywhere etc.

As the 1st day and then the 2nd passed we realized more and more things were missing—like several bottles of liquor.

AND THEN….. OH THE HORROR! I looked under a counter near the liquor where I had squirreled a whole year’s Christmas knitting and IT WAS GONE! The bottom of the big tote had many pairs of socks and other things which it would seem served as a great carrying case for all the loot the X@%!@ robbers had taken.

Honestly this was the worst—all that work gone, and since none of the socks had been finished since I thought I would do all the Kitchener stitching at one time to finally get some good muscle memory of how to do it—I knew it would all be thrown in the garbage. All my beautiful Lorna’s Laces sock yarn, my special cotton blend for the allergic, and the crazy colors for the creative. All GONE!

There was one special project that I worked like crazy to find replacement discontinued yarn. I had UPS next day air coming and damn the cost—I just needed to try and get something back.

AND THEN… The miracle. I hazily had remembered that the tote was so big that I wanted to take it in the basement to my stash room but when I looked it was not there. BUT on the first day of Hanukkah (Friday) when I went down to the basement pantry to get a Christmas table cloth there it was! On the floor-in a room in which I would never have put it! I can only think that some family member must have taken the bag down and put it in the wrong place, or it was elves, or I just don’t care—it is back.

I always take off the day before Thanksgiving to get things ready for the wonderful holiday when all the friends and family we can gather help us with our “BIG” turkey. It is organic, it is from a farmer we know, and it is BIG—although this year is a bit on the puny side at only 45#. It doesn’t beat the 52# from a few years ago but it will do.

Mostly everyone takes some time on Thanksgiving to think about the things for which they are thankful. As I started to do that my first thought was “Oh brother, same thing every year:  wonderful husband (who will celebrate 43 years of sainthood on Thanksgiving):grown kids who each make us proud; delightful in-laws; fabulous grandchildren; job I LOVE; terrific work family; true friends: the luck to live in the United States and the chance to buy the BIG turkey.”  Of course my second thought was, “WOW, the same wonderful blessings for another year!” Nothing better than that.
Today as I was ready to leave, Bill who is a vital part of the work family, had his two grandchildren come in. He is just crazy about those kids: darling Paityn who is his daughter Courtney’s girl and is 11 months old and the newest member Adian who is just 4 weeks old. Bill’s son Nick is his father and Nick is in our prayers while he is in Afghanistan serving in the Air Force. Aiden’s mom is also in the service and we all have to be thankful for families like this who sacrifice a whole lot.

Here is one work thing I am thankful for: getting my office cleared out from all the cables we DIDN’T pick for the new circulars. I hope you can see how many roads we went down. Paul found literally hundreds of things to consider. Who knew how many different possibilities there were. More at a later date on the “road to cablesville”.

Of course I would be remiss in not thanking all the wonderful people we have met since there was a Signature Needle Arts. Honestly, some of them are like family to us and I am more than thankful for every single customer. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I wish I could share the leftovers with you.

As many of you know Signature Needle Arts is based at the “mother ship” Bothe Associates Inc which is an almost 60 year old manufacturing company.  While the knitting needle business has been wonderful –thanks completely to the response by the knitting world to Signature needles–the manufacturing world is not such a happy place.  I hope you will indulge me as I take off my Signature hat and put on my Bothe hat.

 The world of manufacturing has been hard hit with the downturn in the economy. At Bothe not only do we make Signature needles but parts that are much bigger, much flatter, much more complicated. In past downturns we hardly noticed because of the wide range of customers—from hydraulics to medical devices to vacuum cleaner parts.   We have customers who have worked with us for decades but every one of them is down too.

 The sad result is that we have people and machines just waiting to make bigger parts than needles. Bothe can make round things with a diameter of 16”—not even the hugest knitting needle is anywhere near that! Flat things we can make up to 9 feet long.  We know that many of you may have some contact with folks who are buying machined parts for various industries and we want to offer a win-win proposition:  If any of you can help us get a chance to work with a new customer we will arrange for a “finder’s fee” –either in needles or cash.

 Just to repeat there will be no effect on knitting needle production—really. And the circulars will be made even if the machines that can take a bar of big material are busy instead of idle! So put on your thinking hats and see if you can think of anyone who needs parts of metal or plastic. It really will be a win-win.

A lot of really great sock patterns are written specifically for the Magic Loop technique. The funny thing is that the type of needles you’re using to knit the sock isn’t actually relevant to the pattern instructions.  It’s sort of like specifying what type of spoon you use to mix the cookie dough – although it’s helpful, it’s doesn’t make a difference to the final product, or more importantly, the way you work it.

I’m a confirmed fan of double-pointed needles – Signatures, of course! – for working socks, so it frustrates me when I see a pattern written for magic loop.  (My friends who use magic loop also get annoyed when they see patterns written for double-pointed needles. And there are knitters who like working with two circulars – it seems like fewer patterns take their preference into account.)

Since at Signature, we’re all about double-pointed needles, we want you to be able to work any sock pattern, no matter how it’s written.

Here are a few tips for converting magic loop (or indeed two-circulars) patterns for working on double-pointed needles.

Distributing The Stitches On Your Needles

In a magic loop pattern, the stitches are divided onto two needles – most often evenly. Therefore, if working on DPNs, you can simply divide the stitches up one step further: if you’re working with 4 DPNs, just take the stitches from one of the two magic loop needles and divide across two of your DPNs; if you’re working with 5 DPNs, divide up the stitches from each of the two magic loop needles onto two DPNs.

Pay attention to how you divide them up.  If there’s a pattern stitch, you’ll want to make sure you divide them up at the end of a pattern repeat, for easier working and keeping track.  For example, if the leg uses a 7-stitch pattern repeat, make sure that each DPN has a multiple of 7 stitches on it.

Remember, you can always rearrange your stitches as you’re working – slip them purlwise from one needle to another. When you’re sliding them around, make sure you keep track of the start of the round – I usually stick a safety pin in the sock.  (You can’t place a marker at the beginning or end of a needle, it will just fall off!)

Working The Leg

Whether cuff-down or toe-up, the leg is the easiest section to convert.  To some extent, it doesn’t matter how the stitches are divided up, just make sure you have the right number, and you know where the round starts.

The Heel

The heel is the only bit that might be a bit tricky.  It’s usually worked on half the stitches – sometimes a few  more or less, depending on whether there’s a pattern  to be accommodated. For ease of working, make sure your heel stitches are all on one needle. The other stitches will just wait until the heel is finished – they can be divided up however you want, or even put on a holder if that’s easier.

You’ll be working back and forth, on two needles – just like normal flat knitting.  Once the heel turn is complete, all the stitches will be on one needle.

The general convention for magic loop patterns for the gusset, foot and toe is that  the instep sts are one one needle, and the sole stitches are on the second. To work on DPNs, therefore, all you need to do is divide up the sole stitches onto two DPNs (and of course, you can also divide up the instep stitches, too, if you like working with five DPNs).  The start of round can be in one of two places: the center of heel or start of instep stitches. If it’s at the center of the heel – and you can tell that because you need to place a marker in the middle of one of the magic loop needles – it provides a nice dividing point for the sole stitches.

The Gusset Decreases

A cuff-down sock will often have a gusset & corresponding decrease. The decreases are worked at the edges of the sole stitches; sometimes right at the edge, sometimes one stitch in. As long as you know which are the sole stitches, you’re good.

Working The Foot & Setting Up for Toe:

Simple! Keep the instep stitches grouped together on one or two needles, and the sole stitches divided across two needles, and keep a safety pin in place to mark the start of the round.

The Cuff-Down Toe:

In most cases, the decreases for the toe are worked at the sides of the foot – one each at the beginning and end of the instep stitches, and one each and the beginning and end of the sole stitches. This gives pairs of increases on the sides of the foot. Typically, the decreases are worked one stitch in from the edge – so that there are two stitches between the decreases. This creates a classic wedge toe.

Here’s a filthy secret: unless the designer has done something tricky like worked a patterned toe – and this is pretty rare – you can actually do what you want with the toe. When you’re ready to start decreasing – typically about 2 inches short of the full foot length – just arrange the stitches so you’ve got half for the instep and half for the sole, and then just start working decreases.  It doesn’t even matter where the start of the round is!

The standard decrease round: On both the instep and the sole stitches, work [k1, ssk, k to last three stitches of instep, k2tog, k1].

Consult the pattern to see how often you work a decrease. Some patterns have you working a decrease every other round to a certain number of stitches, other have a different rhythm.

The Toe-Up Toe:

Instead of decreases as in the Cuff-Down Toe, you’re doing increases at the edges of the instep and sole.  They’re usually positioned one stitch in from the edge, so you’ve got a two-stitch wedge on each side.  Again, just divide up as you feel comfortable – on three or four needles.  As long as you know where the instep stitches end and the sole stitches start, and where the beginning of your round is, you’re good.