Tell him it is whale bone, baleen, not plastic.

I have never seen circulars that did not use plastic or metal cables, even if the needles are made of bamboo or other wood.

If you had your knitting covering most of the cable, then no-one would see it. Bryspun and Balene II make circular needles that are off-white and could pose as whalebone. I prefer the Bryspuns but the Balene is yellower and looks more like old bone.

Do you need the needles to be circular for a particular project, or are circualars your needle of preferance? I am not sure that they even used circular needles then. Bamboo striats will be more period correct, if you can use straits for your project. Otherwise, could you make a pair with dowel rods and glue in wire for the cable?

Tami

boy, they're really going for the historical accuracy, aren't they, having an ill-tempered, lazy servant working in the big house?

oh- wait. you're not kidding. you really DO think the job is stupid.

lovely. let's reinforce the idea that americans aren't really the good natured, hard working pioneers, but a bunch of whiners who think of nothing but their own convenience.

there may have been a few innovators using cabled needles back then, but they were never in circulation.

not that it's going to matter, since I'm sure that the majority of the tourists you interact with will be just as apathetic and ignorant as you are...

so you might as well just take your crappy plastic needles, scrub them hard with 80 grit sandpaper to imitate 'grain' and stain them with shoe polish or wood stain, let them dry overnight, and then seal them with hairspray.

anything more elaborate would be a waste of effort on your part.

Chinacat, I think that was totally uncalled for. This is the first time I've seen xminion at this forum, and you, too, for that matter. That is not what this forum is about. We help each other here, and I hope that xminion will come back for any help she might need in the future.

Tami

Have done a quick Google search (of "circular knitting needles history") and found the following:

"All knitting was done by hand until 1589, when the English clergyman William Lee invented a machine that could knit stockings. ... In the early 19th century the British engineer Marc Isambard Brunel invented a circular knitting frame, to which he gave the name tricoteur."

So at least the word "circular" was in use in the 1800's!

A couple of sites mentioned that:
"Both tubular and flat knitting is also done on circular needles, today consisting of two pointed needles joined together by a flexible wire or length of nylon."
and
"Today, circular needles consist of two pointed needles joined together by a flexible wire or length of nylon."

So your solution would seem to be that you need circs with a wire "join" instead of a nylon one.
(Mind you, I don't think I've ever seen them so I don't know how readily available they are.)

Perhaps the cost of the needles could be a "business expense"? That's after you work up a short spiel about the history of knitting needles - both for your boss and for your visitors.

Happy knitting,
Jane

What are you working on? Would it be possible to use strait needles while you are working, or is it something like an afghan, or a sweater in the round, where you need the circlars? Or work on a different project during the day on strait bamboo needles, and the project on the circulars when you are at home. Hope you find a solution. Please let us know what you ended up doing.

Tami

Tami,Thanks for you response to Chinacat. I was just as shocked as you to see such a bitter, judgemental response.Maybe if you can't say something nice you should just keep you keyboard SHUT!

I'm glad that you seem to think it's a good thing to support a girl who doesn't even want to be DOING her job, Tami...

but I'll bet she winds up quitting. or gets fired after two weeks of complaining that the costumes is too hot, the period colors are 'lame', she's not allowed to wear her walkman on the job, and that she's expected to know SOMETHING about the room she is sitting in.

it's nice that you ladies are all soft and helpful (well, at least Jane2 is helpful) but since I sew for a historic society when I have the time, the very idea of someone treating historic reconstruction as a 'stupid job' offends the heck out of me.

you can go on and be shocked.

I'm shocked that I seem to be the only person here besides jane who has the least idea what a historical reconstruction is all about.

Yes, well, your malicious pontification about a person you know nothing more about than the short paragraph she wrote offends me.

I, too, was dismayed and saddened by the sanctimonious and unfortunate response of chinacat. I hope that it will not prevent you, xminion, from returning here in the future for help and camaraderie in our stitching circle. Although I am of no assistance in your present problem I felt compelled to verbalize my feelings about this most inappropriate use of our forum. I have been a member for only a short while but I have received quick and generous help/feedback whenever I have posted, and I hope you can overlook this incident as the exception and not the rule. I canÂt imagine that anyone would think that we adequately characterize ourselves in this forum through the small amount of words we type to be enough to judge us so harshly and negatively as Chinacat did you. I hope to see you again here!! Chinacat, too, if she can put away her clawsÂ

Peace,
kindrat

while chinacats reaction might have been a little strident, the original poster opened herself/himself by calling the job stupid and admitting that she knits all day rather than learning something that might make her job more interesting. As someone who likes to visit historical sights when traveling, I always appreciate finding a guide or aide who is passionate about the work rather than those who act as if my visit is a large bother to them because they must get up and greet me.

plus the poster seems too lazy to even walk into a knitting store and see the substantial array of new needles made of natural products and wants others to do her work for her.

Many of us are not so fortunate as to live close to a knitting store. Please, let's try to keep kindness in our comments here.

Each and every person is entitled to have an opinion on everything. That includes the first poster. That means that there are going to be a lot of opinions about EVERYTHING. In a community or family people try to respect the feelings of others (I consider this a community). If you are the type of person who likes to belittle others because their opinions are not like yours, you don't need to waste your time coming here to find victims. You are probably surrounded by potential victims.

yeah lets everyone cut everyone else some slack.

Maybe chinacat is fortunate to never have been stuck in a job s/he loathed but needed. Thank you, Jane2, for choosing to share your knowledge about the history of circular knitting needles. Instead of using this forum to take his/her frustrations on others anonymously, chinacat could have chosen to enlighten the rest of us.

Well, according to Maggie Rightetti in "Knitting in Plain English" circular knitting needles were devloped sometime during the Bronze age, were essentially just wire bent in a circle, and were not made thick enough to knit the "thick" yarns we use today (I kinda got the impression that even today's fingering yarns are too thick to knit on the wire-circular knitting needles.) The earliest reference I know of for circular knitting needles similar to todays is sometime in the early 20th century.

If it is something that needs to be worked in the round I suggest you buy and use multiple sets of double-points. (I realise I am in a serious minority here, but I personally prefer double-points, anyways). You may also want to research historical Scandinavian knitting, since that is traditionally worked in the round, and it may be possible they once had something other than double-points or thin wire-circulars.

If you are just knitting for something to do, you could take up sock kniting, and use double-points, which would be period not just for the materials used but for the 'chore' you are doing :-)

Actually, I think double points would be most historically accurate...there are actually paintings (16th century) that show the virgin mary knitting with double point needles...they seem to have been common up until 'today'.

If you were crafty, you could put together something with historically accurate materials, and claim that you were 'cutting edge'...but double pointed needles seem to be most accurate.

OHG, give me a break. I am new to this forum and behold the first post I read, you all have opinions. I don't think I have ever done this before, (give a negative opinion on the forums) but just leave things alone. More than likely she is a young person and not real trilled with working, they just need to grow up a little and sometimes it takes some time. I do remember waaaay back when, my first job, i hated it and thought all the OLD people were stupid. But guess what, I learned and now am one of those OLD people and try to remember what it was like being a young adult. I might be wrong, but that is my opinion. NOW, for the thing that I came her for. I am looking for a poncho pattern that has a turtleneck. I have found a few but just not the right one. If anyone wants to help me, it would be appreciated. Sorry for the rant.......

Kitticruiser,
You may want to start a new thread and describe what you're looking for in greater detail.