Sterlizing my knitting needles....

[Secksiebrat]

Ok so after a long week, my weekend is getting worse. I have pink eye in both my eyes and I have to try and remember all the things I've touched or played with this week and sterlize them.

I have the boye's interchangeable set and then some sets of bamboo that I know I've touched as I've been looking over my stock as it is growing and dreaming of all the wonderful things I could do with them. Since Lane has been sick all week (he's finally better today) I haven't gotten to knit.

So how would I sterlize these needles? I don't think I can boil the bamboo? Would rubbing them down with rubbing alcohol work?

And to put the icing on the cake, our AC wont be fixed until sometime next week b/c it's going to take 4-5 hours to fix and 800 dollars.

*sighs*

Thanks ladies.. off to go nap while hubby has taken lane for a couple hours!

~danielle~

[AidanM]

Anything you do that might dry out your bamboo needles, including the rubbing alcohol, I suggest rubbing some wood oil or SOMETHING back into them when you're done to prevent them from becoming too dry and brittle.

[XbelovedXoneX]

rubbing alcohol will disinfect, but not sterilize. I'm not sure how contagious/hardy those pink eye germs are so I'm not sure if it would be good enough. You could also try spraying them down with Lysol. Does anyone know how bamboo would hold up in the oven? You may not be able to boil them, but i think it might be possible to kill the germs with the oven's heat. I'm no expert tho!

[samm]

What would happen to them in the microwave, I wonder!? I also wonder if putting them in the freezer, sealed in a zippy bag would sterilize them? samm who hasn't ever thought about this! :D

[Sara]

If you spray your Denise's with Lysol, wipe them off immdeiately. Wood tends to have its own antibacterial properties, but I'm not sure about bamboo. I wouldn't heat or microwave them. That's a headscratcher.
Maybe call the Clover company on Monday and get their advice.

[AidanM]

I know that the freezer will kill lice. But I don't know if it would just make germs dormant or kill them - I guess it depends how long they were in there. But I do think that freezing them would, again, leech some of the moisture out of them which is not a problem as long as you treat them properly.

[Shandeh]

Here is a note of encouragement. I had pink eye myself a few months ago, and just sprayed everything with Lysol. It worked just fine.

My pink eye went away, and hasn't come back.

Another thing you can do is to put your project out in the sun for a while. The sun will disinfect it for you.

[Amber]

How about just antibacterial hand soap?

[IrishBaby]

You could use a bit of the antibacterial hand gel. Then be sure to rub a candle lightly over your bamboo needles to seal them up again.

[Ingrid]

Odds are, though, that any bacteria on your needles is dead already. I think they persist in mascara and such because there's moisture. I never would have thought about sterilizing anything after pink eye except for eye makeup.