In Which the Pirate Tries Flexi-Flips.

Five and a half years ago, I bought this green Austermann Step yarn at The Mannings (which, sadly, closed a few years ago. Ah well.) It’s going to make be my next traveling sock, perfect for hauling around with me to work on while waiting for mechanics and flying across the country. As a winterholiday gift, I got a set of Addi FlexiFlips, and thought that this would be a great time to test them out. I’ve heard both good and bad things about them, and I’ve been curious to see if I’ll love or hate them.

I already had several inches of sock knitted on my trusty old DPNs, which meant that I’d be working from them onto the new FlexiFlips.

But when I went to make the first stitch, something seemed off. The new needle seemed subtly thicker. Maybe it was just my imagination? I got my gauge ruler.

It wasn’t my imagination.

I almost always knit socks on US 1 (2.25mm) Susan Bates DPNs, which I buy at Joann in a multi-pack of sock-sized DPNs for a small amount of money. (They’re $10, but then everything at Joann is at least 40% off.) So I’d asked for the FlexiFlips in size 1 as well… without realizing that while Addi do sell a size 2.25mm set of FlexiFlips, their size 1 is actually 2.5mm.

Well, heck. Everyone else calls a 2.5mm needle a US size 1½, not a 1. And Addi’s other needle sizes match up with the usual US to mm conversions. Harrumph!

I guess I’ll just keep going on the DPNs, because even a .25mm difference in needle size can make an obvious difference in gauge, but… do I spend the money for a set of 2.25mm FlexiFlips, when I’m not even sure I’ll like knitting with them? Do I try a different sock on these 2.5mm ones first, despite my concern that they’ll be too loose? Do I write to Addi and complain about their non-conventional sizing? How disappointing.

The “obvious” solution, I guess, is to hang onto them and spin some more sock yarn, which tends to come out a little thicker than the commercial yarn (at least it does when I spin it) so that I can finally try these.