Clover Yarn Guide (knitting tool)

I recently knitted my first Fair Isle project (a cardigan) that I posted about here.  It was fun and challenging at the same time. And one of the biggest challenges of all, was trying to keep all the yarns from tangling up, when working on the colorworks section of this sweater. Not that it was a complicated design but even with two strands of yarn on the go, they did tend to tangle as I worked across the rows.

I found out about the Clover Yarn Guide over at YouTube.

The guy (yes guy) in this video (and it's a hoot watching this, love his accent. He's quite the accomplished knitter too!) was showing how to use this yarn guide.
                                                                                                                    

But this product looked rather small and flimsy in the video especially in terms of the adjustable ring that is worn on the index finger. I have rather slim fingers so I thought to myself; if that was the only concern it shouldn't be an issue for me personally. So I went ahead and ordered one with my last yarn order.

Well the reality is, it IS small. Really small. I can put it on but it fits quite snugly. I think I will be able to use it. But I don't know why they would make this so small. A very cheap and poor design.  For a lot of woman and of course men who knit who have large fingers;they would not even be able to get this yarn guide on, let alone use it!

The top part of this gadget has a slot with little sections in it, to place each color of yarn you are using, when doing Fair Isle knitting. Again, rather flimsy and poorly designed. If you had anything thicker than a worsted weight yarn, I don't think it would slide through these grooves easily.

It was only a couple of bucks so I am going to keep it. I will try it when I make another Fair Isle project. But it could have been designed so much better, if the company who makes these had thought about all shapes and sizes of knitters and yarns there are LOL.

I would gladly have paid a couple of extra dollars for a well-designed (in all respects) Fair Isle yarn guide/gadget. I'm sure there are lots of other potential customers that would have too! 

Overall rating for this product: Unsatisfactory. 1 out of 5.