Hobbies: The Big Stitch

They look big enough to brain the butcher and turn their users into Lilliputians, but jumbo-sized needles, oil inch in diameter, are the biggest knitting news in years. Reason is that the big stitches they produce have cut the time it takes to knit a dress to six hours or less. "Anyone can use them," says their inventor, Jeanne Damon, 40, a onetime commercial artist, abstract painter and freelance knitwear designer. And if the resulting dresses are practically see-throughs, this is no drawback in the age of the body stocking.

Boston's Jeanne Damon happened on the idea a year ago,...