less than 4 months until Christmas!

On Tuesday, when I was teaching some guitar students, I mentioned to all of them, that we were 4 months from Christmas. Some of them are school age students and they don't want summer to be over, but hearing that Christmas is right around the corner seemed to lift their spirits.

I'm happy to report that I am on track, project-wise. I have nearly 5 knitted gifts complete and I'm keeping an open mind about some of the remaining planned gifts. My mind is WIDE open because I used a $5 Borders Reward to pick up VK, and I must admit that now, I'm thinking about hats. The whole Fall 2009 edition is lovely.

early review of knitpicks zephyr options

My 2 pair of Zephyr Acrylic Options interchangeable knitting needle tips arrived last week. They're a little strange looking but they're light weight and I doubt that they will hold cold the way nickle ones do. I have to say, I'm skeptical about their "staying power." The threaded collar into which the threaded pin on the end of the cables to which these tips attach, is affixed in the same way the Harmony Wood Options interchangeable knitting needle tips were. I didn't have a good experience with those, as much as I wanted to. I have nearly finished the 1st project for which I'm using the new tips. So far, I'm neutral. I don't love them yet, but they function just fine. I need to spend a little more time with them.

new zephyr needles from knitpicks

I have been getting emails about KnitPick's new acrylic Options tips, which are called Zephyr. I have and use Options circular needles 95% of the time. I only occasionally use Pony Pearl straights to teach someone to knit, test a stitch or other atypical use for which I have a yen to or feel compelled to knit with straights.

My original KnitPicks Options purchase was a full set of Harmony Wood needles. They are beautiful and delightful to knit with. The problem is that the metal collar that holds the screw that the cable locks onto, unattaches. KnitPicks is always accommodating and replaces tips that have come apart, but after it occurred too many times, I returned the Harmony Wood set and exchanged it for the Nickel set. Not as lovely to look at, but not a wimper of a problem with them.

On close examination of the connectors on the Zephyrs, they appear to be the same as the Harmony Woods. I'm probably going to try a set or 2 of Zephyr tips and hope the adhesive bonds more permanently to the acrylic than it did to wood. I know I can return them if they don't live up to my expectations.