The story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears was spinning thru my head the other day. It all had to do with this.

Yup, a stack of needles and some red tweedy yarn. All I was trying to do was knit a swatch. But…..the yarn was pulling a Goldilock’s on me.

I cast on at my LYS with some borrowed Rosewood needles, Size 7, the prior evening  just to determine if I this yarn would come close to the gauge I needed.  Gauge was a little large and the yarn was  fussy on these needles. It would not have a been a comfortable knit. However, I loved the yarn, knew I could pull gauge, and believed my Signature Stiletto’s would be “just right”.  I bought the yarn and went home excited to start a new project.

If you have the need for speed in your knitting, Signature Needles are the bomb, add the stiletto points and you can scream thru a project. Any project, so I thought.  Time to swatch with new yarn and Signature Needle’s, Size 7. I knit a little tighter on metal than wood and thought I would land spot on gauge. Cast on for swatch and was amazed. I could barely move yarn along the needles to knit one row! The Goldilock’s voice was saying this is toooooo firm.  Rip, rip, toss Signature Needles aside and reach for another pair.

Next up, Clover Bamboo, Size 6. I knit looser on the Bamboo and based upon the Rosewood experience the prior evening thought this would pull gauge. Cast on for swatch. Ok so I could move the yarn along a little better, but could not envision knitting a whole sweater on these needles with the effort it required to do the K2Tog YO pattern. Goldilock’s was saying this was toooooooo soft.   Rip, rip toss Clover Bamboo Needles aside.  I was about ready to give up when I remembered I had one more type of needle.

Yup, the cheap ones, the Prym teflon coated needles. Pulled the size 6 and cast on. And Goldilock’s said “This is Just Right”  Needles and yarn were the perfect match. Gauge was spot on and pattern was a breeze to execute with these needles.

Moral of the story……..sometimes you need to step beyond the swatch and have to try many needles before your find that “just right” match for your “Goldilock’s” (yarn).

In case you are wondering the yarn is Rowan Summer Tweed and the pattern is the Belvedere Cardigan from the winter/spring11 Knitscene. I have been speeding along and only have a sleeve and 1/2 left before blocking.