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Knitting Ninja Review

One streaming video, two knitting needles, two silks, a bunch o' yarn, $30 bucks and one Knitting Ninja Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Knitting Ninja Review: Effect

Just like the cartoons, you knit a silk or a sock seemingly out of thin air.

Knitting Ninja Review: Method

The method is a very standard concept that you've probably used tons of times in tons of different ways. It's a completely legitimate technique that just about anyone can do. It's virtually angle proof and super easy to do.

Knitting Ninja Review: Ad Copy Integrity

The ad copy is solid. It makes no bold or outrageous misleading claims. The video trailer shows you what it look likes. In fact, in the video trailer they leave out the most important part which is the fact that your hands are clearly shown empty before you begin, yet you still seem to knit a silk from nowhere. So if anything, they undersold the effect rather than oversold it.

Knitting Ninja Review: Product Quality

The training video is produced well. It's short (17 minutes), but it covers everything with a fair amount of detail. Plus the supplied props are good quality as well and should last you forever. Of course the yarn and/or the silks may wear out over time, but those can easily be replaced from a craft store and a magic supplier respectively.

You get everything you need except for one special something that you'll have to supply. However, you probably already have this, but if not, a couple of bucks at your favorite magic dealer, and problem solved. The reason this is not included is a legitimate reason that I can't go into without exposing the method, but the fact that it's not included is NOT a negative mark against the product.

Knitting Ninja Review - Magic Reviewed

Knitting Ninja Review: Final Thoughts

If you like the visuals and/or the idea of knitting something from thin air (just like the cartoons), then you'll love this, and $30 bucks is a reasonable price to pay for everything you get.

Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.

Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Murphy's Magic for details.

8 Comments

  • Sue says:

    This has one MAJOR flaw. He is not using knitting needles, this is not a knitting illusion. The needles shown in the video are crochet hooks for crocheting. Baby booties might be crocheted, ti is rare socks are crocheted, they re knit on real knitting needles (those sharp posting things, not with shook on the end).
    Could be a cause for taking the focus away from good illusion when people know the tools and skills are incorrect. would make it seems, a bit, well fake. Good reason why passing up on buying this item.

    • Jeff Stone says:

      @Sue – Thanks for the post. I appreciate the comment, however, I have to totally disagree with you. I use Mark Eldson’s Rubik Predicted effect all the time. It uses flash cards that are claimed to be Rubik’s Cube practice cards for Speed Cubing. Speaking as a speed cuber, there is no such thing as these cards. Anyone in an audience (and yes, I’ve had speed cubers in my audience) who is a speed cuber knows they don’t exists. It’s just part of the routine, and the trick is magical enough that it doesn’t matter.

      I honestly can’t imagine someone sitting in the audience saying, “well that silk sock that appeared out of nowhere was not magical looking because those are crochet needles.” I think, respectfully, that you’re thinking WAY TOO MUCH like a magician. Also, something like that can easily be justified with a script.

      “When I was a kid, I saw my mom knitting sweaters. She was so fast that it looked like real magic. I actually thought it was magic. I wanted to learn how to do that trick. So I got, what I thought were, knitting needles. Turns out that they’re crochet hooks. What did I know. I was a kid. I still learned the trick, and even though I got the wrong needles, I could still make whatever I want. Name any article of clothing . . .”

      My guess is that Chad Long called it “Knitting Ninja” for the alliteration . . . it sounds better than crocheting ninja.

      • Eric Eicher says:

        Wow, thanks for the great patter idea to cover the discrepancy, Jeff! I wouldn’t have known the difference, where the knitting needles/crochet hooks are concerned, but I’d still totally use your idea if I did this trick. Why not cover all the bases, especially when you’ve made it so easy?

  • Ed Wilde says:

    Yo, Jeffro,
    You and Eric are being too hard on Sue. I have never knitted or crocheted in my life and even I noticed that the guy was holding crochet hooks and claiming to be knitting. Not a major deal but it was a distraction and I noticed it too.

    Now it is time for me to be hard on your review.
    While watching this I had to keep looking at my calendar to be sure that this was not your April fools day edition of MagicReviewed.com? This appears to be a silk production from a TT and it is considered a “new” trick. What has this business/hobby come to when this passes as an effect worthy of issuing as new and different? This is so pale that it barely registers as a performance tip, much less a packaged and sold effect unto itself? Gimme’a break. Having watched the trailer I wonder if you even need a TT. My 5 year old could do the trick by just hiding the silk in his sleeve.

    I am becoming used to magic vendors offering old ideas disguised as something spectacular and new and different. We all are. And that is why we turn to trusted reviewers like you. To sort the rubble from the gems. But five stars for this thing takes the cake. I understand how your rating system works, and I truly support it and support you. But somewhere there has to be a new category of judgment added to your critique. One that rates whether the product offered is truly new, and worthy of reissue. Or if, as I suspect is the case here, it should be an afterthought on a magic blog where someone suggests you take a silk and cut it into the shape of a sock (or shirt, or pants, or for adults a pair of panties or boxers ) and produce it for questionable comedic effect.

    Another Stone Status of “dirtclod” from me.

    Ed Wilde

    • Jeff Stone says:

      @Ed – Thanks for the comment. The reason this got such a high rating is because of several things. First, many people have given up on producing a silk from bare hands because so many lay people know about “the trick with the fake thumb.” Chad has breathed life back into an effect that many magicians have given up on. I had no idea that a TT was used until I watched the explanation. Maybe that just makes me stupid for “falling for it.” However, the point is that he has used a well known gimmick and made it deceptive again.

      Secondly, he has added a presentation that has the potential to make it more than merely “look . . . I have an empty hand . . . now I have a silk” kind of an effect.

      Third, the tips from a working pro add value as well.

      Fourth, if I were to rate things on them being “new” almost everything would get a dirtclod status (I still love that status. 🙂 ). Hardly anything is new. Take, for example, all of the Big Blind Media “projects” (Elmsley Count Project, Thick Card Project, etc.) Nothing, and I mean not one single thing is new on those DVDs. What makes them valuable, however, is that they are breathing life into something old and forgotten. Because of those DVDs, I’ve started using a Thick Card (something I’ve known about for decades) in my work.

      Chad has done a similar (albeit smaller scale) thing with this effect. It gives the viewer a new way to approach using an old gimmick (TT). This can potentially spark further ideas and ways to get people thinking creatively about this utility device.

      Fifth, on top of all that, it is exactly what it claims to be. Nowhere in the ad copy did he claim that this was brand new. The advertisement is honest. Considering everything included, the price is reasonable. The method is good (obviously . . . TT has been a proven method, and he’s made use of it in a more deceptive way). What it comes down to is the effect. Frankly, I would never do this effect. It’s not my style, and it sounds like you would not do it either. However, I’m not judging the effect. As you know, my opinion of the effect is irrelevant.

      From what I can tell, your beef is with the trick itself (the effect), and with the method. As stated, effect is irrelevant. Regarding method, how can I fault method? It’s a proven method that has stood the test of time, and works. Not to mention his finer points to make the method even more invisible.

      I can’t give a product a bad rating because it uses an old method. Does that many any card trick that uses a DL gets a bad rating? All coin tricks that use a shell get a bad rating because that’s an old method?

      As for my response to Sue, I truly wasn’t trying to be harsh. She said it had one major flaw. Because of this flaw, the trick is worthless. My point was that to say that this one thing (wrong needles) makes the trick pointless is a bit harsh and maybe even a bit dramatic. Further, this can simply be overcome by simple scripting. Just don’t call them knitting needles. Call them crochet hooks. There’s no rule that says we must refer to them as knitting needles.

      If people have an issue with crocheting something that looks like silk rather than yarn, then a) don’t do the trick, or b) do the trick and “fix” it with your patter. To me, it’s no more pointless or “point-full” than making a ball penetrate a cup over and over, and why is there fruit in a brass drinking cup? That makes no sense.

      Why do you keep linking and un-linking those metal rings?

      Why do you have to count the cards one at a time to show me that there are four cards? Why don’t you just spread them out so I can see them?

      Many, many, many methods require us to do things that are not the most logical thing in the world, but in the context of magic, we’re given a little bit of leeway.

      Anyway, whether I’ve convinced you to change your mind or not doesn’t matter. I’ve given you and all the rest of my viewers all the information you need to decide if it’s something you want to purchase. You’ve decided not to. That’s totally groovy with me. I have no vested interest in any product I review. Buy it or don’t. Love it or hate it.

      It all comes down to the viewer’s opinion, and for everyone who’s told me they hate this product, there is someone who has told me they love it.

      Jeffro

  • Ed says:

    Jeffro, Thanks for the detailed explanation, I appreciate it, and it makes perfect sense.
    Rock on!
    (or should that be “crochet on”.)

    Ed

    • Jeff Stone says:

      @Ed – Thanks for a) being so darn level-headed and b) for introducing the status of dirtclod. I will use it one of these days.

      I really do appreciate the comments, even when they disagree with me, so keep ’em coming. 😉

      J

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