Info-viz Everywhere

In the "why did nobody think of this sooner?" product development category comes the Knitter's Pride Dreamz from Webs, a large knitting supplies store. The needles, made of a laminate birch wood, are color-coded by size.

This may seem like a small thing to non-knitters, but if you've ever sorted through a set of similar sock needles, the sizes of which can vary by just a few millimeters in diameter, searching for a set of five that match, it's something of a Eureka! moment.

There's also an interesting product development story deducible from this launch. One of Webs' competitors, KnitPicks, also makes wooden needles out of a birch laminate, but theirs are multi-colored. Webs had market validation that knitters would buy brightly-colored needles made of this material, and likely no desire to step into the interesting legal thicket surrounding the KnitPicks design. Whether it was because they were consciously looking for a differentiator, or the opportunity for making knitters' lives easier just independently struck someone on their team, it's a super-smart choice, and deserves a spot on the top of any knitting designer's holiday wish list. (cough, cough)

(image from yarn.com)

Comments

[Hugh Samuel]

It's a great thing that they thought about this. This'll help all the knitters out there.

[Vivian Kendricks]

Multi- colored wooden needles! These are perfect. I don't know but I think, knitting will be more fun if these needles are used.

[Lance Morrisey]

That would surely sell in the market. They look interesting. (for knitters maybe)

[reinaelliston]

Using different colors according to sizes is a simple yet clever idea. It's a big help for us who are into knitting; we don't need now to check each piece to see if we got the right size.