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Disclaimer:  the advice expressed here is solely that of Dr. Yarn.  Twinset neither denies or agrees with them.  Use at your own risk.

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Dear Readers,

This square needle thing has reared its ugly head again. Please look in Volume 5, Appendix C, footnote 6 of my Introduction to Knitting. You will see that I positively recommend a “Don’t Use.”

I know that with the emphasis on health some rogue knitter claims that if you use square needles your arthritis will go away, along with carpal tunnel syndrome and high blood pressure. Don’t believe it! Several of the manufacturers aren’t careful enough. The square corners are too sharp and you will cut your fingers and bleed on the yarn. This would be bad.

A popular myth is that square needles don’t change the yarn to “squareness.”  It does. The smooth flowing softness of a garment becomes a mess of square turns.

If you have kitties, their tiny claws will more easily hold on to the squared knit products. Hence, the kitties can unravel a sweater in less time than Victor Borge can play the minute waltz (which is 58 seconds, by the way).

Remember the difficulty we had getting even small quantities of square yarn during the Valdez oil spill in Alaska? Can you imagine what it will be like with the oil leak in the Gulf?! I’ll bet most of you true knitters would really be put out if you tried to use square yarn covered with oil. Probably your needles would slip right out of your hands.

No research has been done on using square needles with square yarn, so I’ m reserving judgment on that one
Dr. Yarn