patterns and spindles

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Knitting needles out of bike spokes - myth or true?

So, was is done or no bikes parts were ever refurbished for knitting needles?
First of all, what is knitting needle Russian folk have used for lace warm shawls?
Straight stainless steel light and not fragile rod, 2mm or lesser diameter. Bead or some kind of a stopper on one side, sharpened and polished on another side.

What is is a bike spoke? short of more advanced ones with variable diameter (like DT alpine III) for example these are simply 2mm or 1.8mm stainless steel rods.
In very useful sizes from 180 mm to 300 mm .
The bottom line is these are light for stainless steel and very durable rods. and these have nice weight distribution as bike wheel parts.
Knitting needles made out of that kind of stainless steel rod do balance well. Because these rods are made this way so the bike wheels do not wobble. It is simple physics and nothing more.
When one can buy bike spokes (and there are plenty stores that sell these) as is there is no actual need to disassemble any bicycles. These spokes are simply parts. One sharpens one end, cuts off the bend tiny bit of the other end , they will loose a bit of the length, that's why spokes were bought a bit larger. And it is quite budget friendly.
Were any beat up bicycles ever dissembled for knitting needles in Russian or Orenburg per say? Well... some were, ones that kind of broke but had nice not damaged spokes. However if one can simple buy this type of stainless steel rod - here you go. Needles were made out of 2mm stainless steel rods. And bike spokes are quite common thing one can buy. They are simply bike repair shop parts. Sold in packs. It's not like one would buy whole bike  for that or something...

1.8mm, 2mm, 2.34mm is common diameter. sharpen, polish. tada.
many other stainless steel rods were re purposed like that.
oh, here you go
Where one finds themselves 1mm-2mm stainless steel rod that behaves like what is called spring steel , does not break, does not bend, is balanced is right length or a bit bigger does not really matter.
It's a stainless steel rod. Makes a nice knitting needle. And very inexpensive one.
If I had me 30cm+ dpn's easily available in under 2mm, that would be super great. I can find 20cm easy enough. 30cm - that's a lot harder.

Pst :), Orenburg folk by the way say, yeah, there was such a thing like knitting needle made out of bike spoke, no big deal. and not only them. Hey, we were not that fancy with all the knitting boutiques and trade shows, fine cool looking wood, carbon and what else. We did not have that. It's all really cool, but we have managed to make our knits with what was there. nothing wrong wit that. Humans have amazing ability to adapt and find uses to the available materials. That's international thing and that's where it boils down to.

Happy knitting. and Merry Russian Orthodox Christmas!
Yes I know, in old days folk could not quite agree on time and calendar, I say, it's a very good holiday, well worth celebrating with Western folk in December and  with Russian folk in January, twice the holiday, twice twice celebration, twice good company, twice good food... That sounds very good to me.

1 comment:

  1. Love the re purposed knitting needles, Some times people get very wasteful and forget how to be resourceful. And Wow! Merry Christmas to you again what fun you must have :)

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