Sticks and Stones

As luck would have it, I did get to play a little at the golf event on Monday. I didn't have that gym class nightmare come to life of being picked last - or not picked at all - but I was grouped with the lame and the sickly. It was like the kids table of golf. I played with my boss, who was trying to pass a kidney stone so he couldn't play with the "good" golfers. We played Scramble, which had to be developed by some Special Education professionals because it's just so fair to the sorry and crippled: everyone plays off the best situated ball on the green, which in our case was the boss's ball every time. I wasn't a better player than the other two in our party (both from Finance) but I was more serious and made good putts in spite of the boss's occaisional high pitched whimpers and screams as that kidney stone got ready to launch.

This week was also notable because Nancy bought a whole set of irons at Enterprise Golf. They were very cute, blue shafts and highlights on the club head I think, and she got a good buy on them. It had all the irons a girl could need and one one unexpected club in the set, a number 9 3/4.

Thinking about that club purchase made me think about interchangeable knitting needle sets. As you may recall from an earlier post I am a big fan of Denise Interchangable Needles. The big drawback is that they only come in sizes 5 to15. For most knitters these are enough for almost any project but I work a lot in 0 - 4 . I certainly own enough variety and lengths of small size circulars, but the benefit of the interchangable needles is that you can very easily switch needles to get a better gauge withouth having to go through that Ziploc bag full of tangled needles which are usually not in the same place I am. Plus the storage case for the Denise needles is highly satisfactory, as it fits in the utility pocket of my yarn bag. Although I prefer bamboo, the Denise needles are made of a very lightweight resin which warms up fast in your hands and does not cause hand cramping or the fatigue like Addi Turbo metal tips or straight needles. The resin isn't for everyone, though: Trouble borrowed a pair once and remarked it was like knitting with drinking straws.

I'll see how Nancy likes those clubs over the summer. While I do like the thrill of going through the golf club bargain bin, having those interchangable needles has really improved my knitting skills and maybe a full set of clubs can give me a similar improvement in my game. And it might help me move out from the kids table.