An AddiCrasyTrio Review or What Might Finally Turn Me into a Sock Knitter. . .

Last month there was a bit of a buzz in the knitting world as Addi released these new bendy sock needles.  I'm not a big sock knitter, mostly because I find knitting socks with dpns quite fiddly - I am always dropping stitches off them -  and I get bored with magic loop for small circumferences.  However, since they come in needle sizes up to 5mm and I was about to start on the sleeves of my Carpino jumper, I thought I would give these a try.  I have always enjoyed knitting with Addi needles, especially the lace ones, so was happy to make the investment. You can never have too many tools, can you?

In each package  you get three needles - you divide your stitches evenly between two of them and then knit with the third.  In the photo below, I am using 3.5mm needles.

I initially found them a bit awkward until I'd knit a few rounds and found a way of holding them that felt comfortable in my hands.  When switching needles, I found it worked best if I held the new left hand needle behind the needle I had just finished knitting, and straightened out the bendy bit of the needle so that I was knitting straight.  I found the transition between one needle and another quite smooth - there were no visible ladders as long as I gave the first two stitches a nice tug. My only reservation about using these for sleeves is that the length is just a wee bit small and I did accidentally drop a few stitches, particularly at the beginning (I was knitting the sleeves top down). Fortunately it was very easy to pick them up in stocking stitch.  As I did my decreases and got used to the needles, it wasn't as much of a problem.  My advice for the larger circumferences is definitely to have a few needle point protectors on hand, especially when putting the knitting aside, or shoving it into a project bag. And I probably wouldn't use them on sleeves with a lace or cable pattern. They are definitely more user friendly (for me at least) than dpns, and much faster than magic loop, which is usually my preferred method of knitting sleeves.

I had purchased needles in two sizes, so I next decided to try them on mini-socks.  I've been participating in The Loveliest Yarn Company's Sockvent 2017 KAL.  Michelle has designed 25 mini-sock patterns and I get one delivered to my inbox every day. They can be used as decorations or strung together as festive bunting. There is no way I will get them all done by Christmas, but will work on them over the next twelve months in smug preparation for next year. It is definitely getting me interested in casting on more sock knitting.

For these tiny socks, I've really enjoyed using the AddiCrasyTrio.  No worries with dropped stitches and I don't even need stitch markers. They also fold up nicely in a project bag and don't pierce the fabric as my sharper dpns used to do.  Here are three of my finished mini-socks. 

And my finished Carpino, designed by Carol Feller and knit in Baa Ram Ewe's Titus 4ply in the delicious Eccup colourway.  I think I need more teal in my wardrobe.  Excuse the wrinkles, but I do think it came out rather nice.

I really love the fit, especially around the shoulders.

So far, given the projects I have used them for, I would definitely recommend the AddiCrasyTrio needles but I suppose the ultimate test would be to actually use them for wearable socks. To be continued. . .