Needles are, obviously, an essential knitting tool and every knitter has his or her own needle preference. (That “his” was a shout out to you, Keith. Enjoy it.) I prefer circular needles for everything but socks; indeed, I don’t own more than a very few straight needles. The reasons why I prefer circular needles are:
1. They are more versatile. I can do circular knitting (obviously) and back-and-forth knitting with lots of stitches.
2. They work better in smaller spaces (such as cars and airplanes). I don’t get them caught on the side of a chair or feel that I’m invading someone else’s space.
3. I can’t drop and lose one.
4. The weight of the knitting stays centered on the cord, instead of being transferred from one hand to the other (which means my hands don’t get as tired).
When it comes to circular needles, my needle of choice has been Skacel Addi Turbos. They are metal — nickel plated brass, with a fairly flexible cord and a reliably smooth join. I prefer them to bamboo or wooden circular needles because they are smooth and slippery (too slippery for some yarns and some knitters, especially beginners). I’ve never had trouble using them on an airplane except on flights within Great Britain, where no knitting was allowed. The downside is cost. They’re expensive, and they’ve become increasingly expensive — especially over the last year or two. They typically cost at least $15 at your local yarn shop, although you can sometimes buy them online for under $13. I have a small fortune invested in circular needles, and I still never seem to have enough, especially since I keep so many projects on the needle at the same time.
One solution for some knitters has been the interchangeable needle sets. The most well-known of these is the Denise set. These work by giving you separate cords of varying length and needle tips that you screw together to form the needle you want. They’re great for travel and for swatching. I don’t own a set, but Susan does and I used hers to swatch and play around while we were driving to Omaha. But I wouldn’t want to knit an entire project on Denise needles. They’re just not nice enough. The cord is too stiff and the join is not smooth enough.
Well, there’s a new needle set on the market being offered by knitpicks. I just bought a set and I’m pretty impressed. Here is my quick review of their new Options needles. (Knitter’s review also did an in-depth review of these needles recently, which is how I heard of them.)
Like Addi Turbos, these needles are nickel plated brass. I bought their basic needle set, which includes one set of tips for needle sizes 4 through 11 (for completeness, you get: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10 1/2, and 11), four cords (2 24-inch and 2 32-inch), 8 end caps, 2 cable keys (for tightening the join), and a handy needle case with six removable zip lock needle pockets. The cost is $59.99. For comparison, a set of 9 24-inch Addi Turbos in similar sizes from Patternworks sells for $144.99. (These are 9 “complete” needles with cords, which is part of the price difference, but even so it’s obviously quite a difference.) In addition to the basic needle set, I purchased 2 extra tips for size 4 and 5 needles because I use them frequently ($3.99 a pair); 4 sets of double pointed needles (sizes 0 to 3), which are made from the same hollow nickel over brass material ($3.99 a set); one size 3 32-inch circular needle ($4.99) (Knitpicks is not offering needles smaller than size 4 in their kit at this time); and extra cables — 40-inch, 47-inch, and 60-inch (you get two cables in a set for $3.99). Whew. Altogether, I spent just over $100 but I have about 18 needles for that price. Here’s a photograph of everything I got:
The first thing I noticed is that the tips of the Knitpicks needles are slightly “pointier” than those of the Addi Turbo. Here’s a side-by-side comparison. The Addi Turbo needle is above, the Knitpicks needle is below:
Finally, here is an assembled needle. I am using the 47-inch cord because my first test has been to switch to the Knitpicks needle for my feather and fan shawl.
So, what were my impressions?
1. As I was transferring the shawl to the new needle (and therefore had the old needle in my left hand and the new one in my right), the new needle felt just slightly heavier than the old ones. Now that I am knitting just with the new needle, that perception has disappeared. In other words, I don’t feel “weighted down.”
2. The new needle felt slightly stiffer. I mean the tip, not the cord. I may be hallucinating because I can’t imagine why it would feel stiffer — at first I thought perhaps the tips were slightly longer, but they’re not.
3. The needles are smooth as glass. No rough spots or burrs. I was concerned that the pointier tip might be bothersome because the way I knit, I tend to push the tip down with my index finger. It hasn’t, however, bothered me at all.
4. I had a bit of an initial scare with the join. As I was transferring stitches, I felt that the join in my right hand was perfectly smooth. But once I was using the new needle in my left hand, I couldn’t push the stitches up on that side. My heart sank. Then I realized that I had not fully screwed the tip onto the join. I had inadvertently left a gap, and the yarn was getting stuck there. Once I tightened that join, it worked like a charm. There is no catching. The yarn is gliding from cord to needle without a problem.
5. I can’t tell yet if the cord is more flexible than the cord on the Addis (which would be a plus). It is certainly no less flexible. I may not get a good feel for that until I am trying to do something trickier, such as Magic Loop knitting.
I’d definitely knit a full project with these needles unless something happens to change my mind. (And if it does, I’ll let you know.) In fact, I may never need to go out and buy needles again. I haven’t tried the size 3 “complete” needles yet, nor have I knit with the double points. My sock needles of choice are the Inox aluminum coated needles in size 0. Again, once I have a chance to use these I’ll let you all know what I think.
Bottom line: This kit is definitely worth buying if you like Addi Turbos.
