Needlemania from Across the Pond...

I stopped by Joann after work today, thinking a bout settling for the not quite perfect color of Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky that I wrote about earlier. I noticed as soon as I walked in the door some coupons that would get me 50% off the yarn. So I decided to wait.

However, I did decide to take advantage of some clearance items, including several pairs of knitting needles.

You can keep your rosewoods. I love metal needles. Usually the Boye needles are just fine with me. I may splurge on some Addis every now again. (Although I wish I had waited to get Knit Picks Options rather than the
Boye Needlemaster set.)

At any rate, some of the Joann brand needles were marked down to 97 cents a pair ($1.97 for the US 35 pair.) I decided this was a great chance to fill in some gaps in my straight needle collection with these metal needles (coated in some sort of plastic, I believe.)

Boy did I fill in some gaps. The US 35's and the US 13's were nothing special. But look closely at these needles. I picked up a needles gauge, and discovered the 7 mm needles (the straight ones on the left) aren't equivalent to any US sizes (they are a size 2 UK). The dpns on the far right are size 7.5 mm, which once again is not on the US chart. (those are a UK size 1). And to be really confusing, the middle set of dpns are US 2.5 (3 mm). Is that a standard size?

What is with US sizes? There is a big jump between US 10 and US 11 (which explains why there are always US 10.5 needles out there.) Wouldn't just going by millimeters easier?

It reminds me of my sixth grade science class when the teacher asked us why America stuck with it's measurement system while the rest of the world went metric. People talked about how hard it is to convert. The teacher kept saying it was the same for the rest of the world, and they converted. The point is, there is no good answer. Which probably explains are knitting needles.

The cashier said I could use the needles for European patterns. Of course, my gauge is so screwy, They'll probably come n handy on American patterns. Besides, for 97 cents, it's worth it as a conversation piece.

Another update: I checked Ravelry. There are 1,721 people ahead of me know. Apparently, the folks at Ravelry are having a long night.