I have an ancient curling iron that long ago lost its on button. I am not a fan of the old gray plastic department-store-type knitting needles, so it gave me a way to put an unloved dpn to good use–
The TSA inspectors must have dropped it out of the suitcase and the flying public is now safe from my deadly weapon. I had to go looking for one of its mates in the Unloved Needles case. And found–my old casein needles!
I’ve always thought these were pretty. I wonder, though, who ever thought that milk protein, of all things, would be good for knitting with. There are urban legends of them melting horribly into one’s knitting in hot cars, but I don’t know.
I picked them up just now, curious. The 9″ set I bought way back when turned out to be too long for comfortably knitting socks, so they’ve never really been used. I pressed into them and then raised my thumbs and they came up partway before detaching from my skin and falling back down. Hmm. Might be good for when you need the needles to hold onto a silky, slippery yarn. Dunno.
I wonder what the strangest needles and uses for needles others have encountered are.
I don’t wonder what the strangest knitting material I’ve ever heard of is: that would be the salmon skins knitted into a jacket that won a prize at a World’s Fair in the early 1900’s. Hmm, thought I read about that in “No Idle Hands,” but it’s not in the index. Googling for a reference led me to these. (No, those are not leather. Not in the traditional sense, anyway.)
Should I ever buy one, I’ll keep my casein needles out of it. Just in case.