I am seething right now.
I started the second sweater in a series of 2- same pattern but done my way…
Feeling so good about myself because this time I was starting with white and going to red and then back to white for the bottom.
Knitting along nicely, I was… then, there was a little pop sound and my circular came apart…
I panicked… sorry, but it’s true, but thought, well, this has never happened before so I’ll just get those sts back on and keep going.
Did that, then the circular parted again, and again…
So here I am, seething in my own juices, a Christmas sweater now completely unravelled and will have to be started anew but me afraid to try it…
If it can break 3 times, it can break again…
So I tried an experiment… I put the circular back together and tried pulling on it… strong as all get out. I twisted it and turned it… nothing happened…
They are as strong as an ox… so the only thing that seems feasible is that, somehow, they were being twisted to the right (which will undo them)… but why has it never happened before?
I’m so glad it didn’t happen with the first Christmas sweater…
I certainly don’t want to start the 2nd one again and have this happen again…
Any advice?
TEMA:hair:
What brand of needles are giving you grief?
Hi GG… thanks for coming in…
The needles I’m using are Addi Clicks
Only one needle seems to be giving me trouble. Hubby had a look at them and said he thought that the spring in the one needle seemed weak.
It’s not a needle I use a lot since I usually use size 4mm and these are 3.50 mm - I started using this one on this sweater as I wanted the neckline tighter.
I guess I can try just not using the needle that has given me trouble and use one 3.50 mm on one side and a smaller needle on the other side of the circular.
What do you think?
Thanks,
TEMA :??
P.S. I think I’ve had these needles for about 5 years and I really love them but, now, of course, my confidence in them has taken a hit…
I wonder what their warranty is. Maybe it would be covered. I guess you’d have to have the receipt. WEBS and Knit Picks both have record of my purchases so on the one or two occasions I’ve needed to contact them I didn’t have any hassle.
ETA I forgot to add: I often use a smaller needle on the left just because it makes knitting faster and decreases easier.
Thanks for the tip about using the smaller needle on the left side. I think I will try that too.
TEMA
There’s only one thing I’ve been doing differently in my knitting.
I’ve been doing long tail cast on (which I love and it was called for in the sweater pattern I’m doing). I’d never done it before…
This morning I tried to do it again using my 4mm needles and guess what happened? They came apart too!
Good grief! I felt hexed… 
Then I decided that maybe the problem is that I’m knitting too tightly. I haven’t yet been able to do long tail c.o. loosely.
So I started over again.
This time I did the long tail c.o. on a straight needle, a little larger than what was called for. I put all 173 sts on it and then transferred them over to the circular with 4mm tips.
All went well so I kept on knitting and so far, so good… no needles breaking apart.
My hubby says the spring inside the needle is very small and its what’s holding the needle on, once you get it past the little bump out that keeps it there.
When I was casting on longtail, I had a lot of movement in my right hand and I was doing it tight. I think the little pop I heard was the spring giving way under the pressure… at least, I think so.
As I say, I’ve done about 12 rounds so far and nothing bad has happened.
Thanks for all the help with this problem. Honestly, I was tearing my hair out… but I’m calmer now… and back to knitting my heart out.
Thank goodness!
TEMA:woot: 
You, guys, are wonderful!
your exercise in frustration has been helpful… i’m a tight knitter in general, and long-tail cast-on is no exception. so now i have a heads-up when it comes to even the better quality interchangeable needles.
That’s great TEMA. Glad you’ve got it working.
It’s a little easier to loosen up on the cast on than it is to adjust tension when you’re off and knitting away.
Try not to snug up the sts so much in the long tail cast on. You want the sts next to each other but you don’t have to pull tightly on the strands of yarn.
Also, it is okay if the cast on it a bit uneven and sloppy – it will straighten out after you have done a few rows.
I am not a tight knitter, but I have to consciously keep my long tail cast on loose or it becomes to tight for me to do my first row of stitches. It is hard for me to do that, and all my cast on loops end up being a variety of sizes. They all look the same in the end though, thank goodness.
(I should say that is for me since I don’t knit tightly. It may be I knit just loosely enough that my uneven loops get spread out evenly, without bulging. It might be different for others.)
I’m glad you were able to work out your issue and fix it! 
I found this video helpful. I had finally gotten to the point that I can cast onto the needle I will use but I didn’t know what I was doing to make the difference. I can’t cast on the way she does. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHVr_kU5Dqg You might find it interesting, maybe even helpful.
I recently gouht myself a set of AddiClicks and they came with a lifetime guarantee so it is worth trying that out.
i’ve been reading on various personal blogs about people having the worst luck lately with certain high-end needles… addis, KP, etc… new sets with bad cables, or burred joins. connections failing after just a few uses, etc. for that much money for those sets, it does not inspire confidence. i wonder if it’s just the latest batches that are bad, or what the deal is. i won’t say operator error isn’t an option, because it is, but when it’s that many operators (about a dozen now, that i’ve read) i really start thinking it’s the product…