Needle Profile:
Addi Turbo Lace NeedlesThese needles are a perfect example of what happens when knitters tell manufacturers what they want, and manufacturers actually listen. Over a four-week period, Skacel received more than 1,000 emails from avid Addi fans requesting that the company offer lace-gauge needles with sharper tips. These needles are a direct result of those emails. They have much more going for them than just sharp tips.
To the Point
But first, the tip. Why all the fuss over a sharper tip anyway? Lace knitting requires a lot of detailed manipulation of stitches—knitting multiple stitches together, passing stitches over one another, knitting through the backs of multiple stitches, etc.—using an extremely fine yarn. A sharp-tipped needle helps you navigate and manipulate your work more easily.But the tip can't be too sharp or it becomes potentially dangerous to both your yarn and your hands. So the goal was to create a pair of needles with sharp enough tips to do the job without requiring that you cover all your fingertips with band-aids to keep from getting blisters.
I knit a sizeable lace swatch trying all sorts of knitting techniques that introduce more contact between finger and needle tip, and I didn't experience any irritation at all. I'd say they got the sharpness just right here. They're a wee bit less sharp than the same gauge of Knit Picks circulars.
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OH DEAR.. must.order.now!