A chat with a knitting friend (who is encyclopedic about knitting!) about square knitting needles and the rumored benefits of same got me experimenting with a chopstick. A very lonnnngggggg chopstick but nicely square so I cut it in half and sharpened the blunt end: an old pencil sharpener works well.
Well, I need to do more ‘research’ but the initial try was encouraging. The needles do feel nice in the hands; it may be they were just different and thus appealing in their newness; it may be the focus on the activity, making it an adventure. But I liked it! The resulting piece of knitting did not get frogged and the wool returned to the stash, the needles returned to the kitchen drawer and ready to take up a role as chopsticks (why I had – and kept! – one lonnngggg chopstick is a mystery). No, the chopsticks knitting needles and wool are now in the working basket of WIP’s and await more playing. More slow knitting.