The Importance of Good Equipment

Any endeavor that one takes on is, of course, made easier if one has the right tools: I'm not just talking about having any old hammer to pound with (although any old hammer sure beats using a piece of 2x4 to drive a nail), or a simple pair of pliers to grab with. There are hammers and there are hammers; there are pliers and there are pliers. Anybody who uses tools on a steady basis knows this, and will usually try, over time, to have handy the tool that does the best job.

Needlework is no different. I have long enjoyed sewing applique quilt tops, and the best needle for my purposes was either a beading needle or a millinery needle--certainly not the usual sewing needle,
since they weren't long enough for a
comfortable grip, the eyes were too small
for easy threading and usually they were

too dull. I was thrilled when I found the
longer, sharper millinery needles--they
made the craft way easier. And when-
ever I feel I can again take on another
quilt top (one left to go), I will again
use those needles I like so much.

Again, in the long ago when I first began knitting (never mind how long ago), I used straight metal needles. Eventually, my hands began to get painful and crampy from using those needles, and I switched to crochet. But I never have cared for the look of crochet as much as knitting, and it had the drawback of being way quicker than knitting, so I had trouble keeping up with buying the yarn.
Someone to whom I happened to mention my problem suggested I use circular needles because the weight of the project is held by the cable between the needles, resting in the lap, and not by the hands. It made a great deal of difference in how comfortable I felt knitting, and I proceeded to build up an array of circular needles.

But there was the problem of the kinky, stiff cables--a dip in hot water would take out the kink, but it would return as soon as the needle was curled again to store it. Prior to about 2002, the magic loop method of knitting hadn't been thought of yet, probably because those old, stiff cables didn't lend themselves to being pinched into a magic loop. With the discovery of Magic Loop by Sarah Hauschka, circular knitting took on an entirely new dimension. New materials made cables softer and more pliable so an entire project--say a sweater--could be knit on one circular needle. No need for either 16" circulars, or double pointed needles to work the lower sleeves. From start to finish, only one circular was needed using the magic loop method. Now we have available switchable tips and cables to make an infinite variety of needle set ups--we had switchable tips before, but because they were using the stiff, kinky cables, they were no better than the fixed needles. Personally, I prefer the needle sets sold by Knitpicks (www.knitpicks.com). I haven't found better tips (I prefer lace tips over standard tips) or more pliable cables, and better still, all their circular needles are switchable above size 3 (sizes 3, 2 and 1 are too small to allow the joining mechanism) so any length cable can be joined to any tip sized 4 and above.

Options Interchangeable Rainbow Wood Circular Knitting Needle Tips
Sadly, although I have found what I feel to be the perfect needles, I have developed a problem that precludes really enjoying those needles. For a bit over a year, my rheumatoid arthritis has been getting more active until now, I must be very careful how I use my hands, and not to stress them out too much by over knitting. I still knit and at times it is actually helpful, like in the morning when I first awake. I usually try to do a few rows of lace knitting (size 6 needles, right now about 288 stitches and a simple lace pattern called Gull Wings) and I find that the motions of knitting help to loosen up my joints, but I have to stop at some point because over use will just make them more sore.
And it isn't just my hands--it is wrists and shoulders (so far, not elbows).

When I was first diagnosed with the RA, I thought it prudent to learn other ways of knitting. In the event that I found one way too stressful, I could switch to another way to relieve that stress, and so far it has worked rather well, although some of the ways are slower than my usual pace. And in case you're wondering what those other ways are:
Usually, I do Continental knitting--hold the yarn in the left hand, right needle goes into the next stitch on the left needle, over the top of the yarn, back out and slip the new stitch onto the right needle.
If needed I switch to English knitting: hold the yarn in the right hand, put the needle through the next stitch on the left needle, "throw" the yarn under the needle, pull the loop back through on the right needle. This method is made easier (at least for me) by wrapping the working yarn around my long finger, then over my index finger. I find I have better control and the yarn doesn't get in the way of the action.
A third method is Portuguese or South American knitting. The yarn goes around the back of the neck and down to the work, which puts it in a position for extremely easy purling but difficult knitting--just the opposite of usual knitting, where the knit stitch is easy, but purl stitch not so easy.
But lately, I have begun not purling at all--I don't turn my work when I reach the end of a knit row. Instead, I knit back with English knitting--throwing the yarn over the needle tip. I learned this doing Entrelac knitting, where most pattern books tell you to turn and purl back after knitting just 8 or 10 stitches. I find that tremendously clunky, to say nothing of tangling the daylights out of your yarn (I tend to knit Entrelac with multiple colors). When I knit back, I always have the right side of my work facing me and I don't have to purl--my least favorite thing about knitting.
There are other methods of knitting, but the differences are so small--like Norwegian purling, in which the yarn remains on the same side of the work as knitting--it doesn't make a difference in how my hands respond to the new method.

For the time being, I will work with what I have and hope for the time when my "hand" tools will be as sharp as my working tools.