addi Turbo

I made a trip over to Acorn Street to pick up some circular needles for the Japanese Shortrows class that I’ll be taking in August.

While I almost always knit with addi Turbo needles, I haven’t purchase any for a while and wasn’t sure I’d purchase more this time. Last year I noticed that the cables seemed to be much less supple and had this observation confirmed by other knitters from Socknitters. The stiff cables just weren’t worth fighting so I wasn’t going buy any more until the cables improved.

Well, I’m happy to report that it seems like the distributor and manufacturer have listen to complaints and are now using a more supple cable.

I advise checking out the cables before you buy. Pull the needle out of the package and see if the needle tips dangle easily without having kinks near the join. The more supple the cable, the easier it will be to knit socks with two or one circular needle.

Jo Sharp DK

Earlier this year, Hilltop had a sample of Jo Sharp’s Tundra sweater on display that caught my eye. I was fascinated with the stitch pattern and decided to pick up a ball to try a swatch. I was immediately impressed with this top quality yarn and returned to purchase enough for a sweater. At the time, Hilltop had lots of Jo Sharp DK that they were clearing out for 30% off. As I purchased their remaining stock of the miro color, I mentioned that it’s too bad they won’t be carrying this yarn anymore but the clerk didn’t offer a reason.

Yesterday while in Acorn Street I noticed that their stock was down to only a few dozen balls, which were marked down. Since I was so impressed with this yarn, I just had to ask why they were no longer carrying it. A clerk mentioned that the distributor, KFI, is no longer carrying Jo Sharp yarn and that DK will no longer be made but some of the other lines have been picked up by another distributor.

I was so curious as to why this yarn was being discontinued and figured Knitter’s Review would have something about it. I didn’t find it mentioned so I wrote a post hoping to hear more. Greta was kind enough to post a comment on my blog pointing out that there was a long post about this and that Jo Sharp has been picked up by another distributor. This morning, I did another search and found it. Check out the distributors reply on page two which says, “… WHY ALL THE NOISE? YOU ARE NOT HAPPY, DON’T BUY OUR PRODUCTS. GO ELSEWHERE.” The mystery is solved; there’s no wonder why Jo Sharp is no longer being distributed by KFI. Someone mentioned that JCA/Reynolds will pick up the DK line. Yahoo!

Greta also asked, “Do you find Morehouse yarn (soft and wonderful though it is) to have way to much chaff and straw. I found myself constantly pulling out straw and burrs- especially when knitting baby stuff. Had to give it up and now find myself looking at my Morehouse stash wondering how big of a rug I could make!”

The 2-ply that I purchased didn’t seem soft to me and produced uneven stitches, but that’s my personal observation. I know that other folks really rave about this yarn. The size and twist of the 2-ply is similar to what I need to produce for the Spin-Off sweater so I’m using it as a model but I’m not planning on using it in a project.