My birthday’s coming up in a couple of months, and I’m considering getting myself a new set of interchangeable knitting needles. Problem is, I’m not sure a perfect set is out there.
What I currently have is a set of Denise needles, which are made of resin and range from US sizes 5 to 15. They came with a wide range of cable sizes, two cable connectors, and four cable endcaps (so you can safely store your knitting and it won’t come off the needle). I like them a lot; they’re my go-to needle for everything in that size range. I also have a few extra cables I’ve picked up along the way, and extra needle tips in size 8 since I use that size a lot. In addition, I have lots of fixed circular needles in sizes 0-3 for socks, mostly Addi Turbo but also a couple each of Addi lace and Knitpicks’ pretty wooden Harmony needles. I love all of these, though at least once I’ve avoided the Harmony needles because a particular color of yarn would have been hard to see against the needle colors. I also have a few Addi Turbos and Clover bamboo needles in larger sizes, plus Knitpicks Options (interchangeable nickel-plated) cables and tips in sizes 4 and 11.
So I don’t really *need* another needle set. I want one, largely, I admit, for the glamor factor – Denise really set the bar, but now other makers have come along with cool! new! stuff. Also, I’d like some needles that are more rigid and more slippery than the Denise needles – the resin is slippery enough, but some yarns can get hung up on the joins. And the Denise needles click on to plastic tabs on the cables, and after years’ use I think some of those are wearing down. I’ve had to retire one cable that kept coming off the needles. The problem is, with all those gorgeous new needle sets out there, I don’t think any of them are perfect. In price order:
Knitpicks has not one but three sets available, plus extra tips and cables. You can get sets in nickel-plated metal, Harmony wood (with gorgeous rings of brown, green, and purple) or cler acrylic. The sets cost $45-$65 and come with US size 4-11 needle tips, four cables (two each, 24″ and 32″), four end caps, two tightening tools, and a case. Additional tips are available in US sizes 13, 15, and 17. I’m not getting these. I like both the nickel-plated and wooden tips; they feel good and they’re pointy enough. But I hate the joins; you can’t get them tight enough without using the easy-to-lose tightening tool and even with it, I’ve had connections that keep coming undone – not coming apart completely, but loosening so that the yarn gets caught in the gap between cable and needle. Also, it’s not a deal-breaker, but the case that comes with these is kind of cheesy compared to others.
The Hiya Hiya needles look great – smooth metal and gradual joins that are reported to stay tight. (It’s also a screw-on system, but I think the cables can swivel, so knitting doesn’t tend to untwist the join.) For $67 you get tips in sizes from US 2-8, plus four cables to make 16, 24, 32 and 40 inch needles. The case is also gorgeous, brocade with pockets for each tip, for the cables, and some extras. These would be my favories – I like the look of the needles and that they go all the way down to size 2, smaller than any other set and into sock-knitting territory (though I use size 1 most for socks). There are just two problems; for one, if I want needles bigger than 8 (5.0 mm) I need to buy the large kit, with tips from size 9 to 15, also for $67. This isn’t a deal-breaker; money’s not a big factor in my decision at the moment, and if it were, there’s also the abiilty to buy bigger tips as I need them. Hiya Hiya is also about to come out with 5″ needle tips – the ones in the current set are 4″. The other problem, though, doesn’t seem to have a workaround. There are no connectors to make longer cables or make it easy to move knitting from one cable to another, and no end caps. I really like the option to keep my knitting directly on the cable; it’s kind of a pain to thread extra stitches on to a piece of yarn, and even more so to get them back on the needles when you’re ready to knit that part. I don’t see connectors or end caps available separately, either.
Webs’ interchangeable set is my other favorite. For $109, the kit comes with needle tips in US sizes 4-11 and you can buy additional tips in sizes 3, 13, and 15. So they do go almost as small as the Hiya Hiyas. Further, this is the best set for coming with all the extras: twelve cables (six each to fit smaller and larger needle sizes, in lengths of 16â€, 24â€, and 32â€), connectors, end caps, and a pretty silk case that looks fairly well-designed. A needle gauge / knitting gauge tool is also included. The connection sounds good too – a screw-on reinforced by the cable tube slipping over the end of the needle. My only compunction here is that the needles are bamboo, and I’m not sure they’ll be slippery enough for me. Also, they’re not very pointy, though a review in Knitty says they work well even for lace knitting.
At the pricy end is the Addi Clicks – the most obvious problem with these is that the set costs $169. I’m not price-limited, but I also don’t particularly want to pay way more than I have to. I do my like my Addis, and the joins on these sound great, but there are another couple of issues; the set comes with US size 4-15 needles and only three cables. Additional tips and cables are available separately, but no tips below a size 4. The set includes a cable connector, but no end caps (nor do I see them listed separately). And finally and most shallowly, the case looks effective, but it isn’t pretty like the Webs or Hiya Hiya cases.
There are a few other kits on the market, but the ones I know of are either much lower quality (like the ancient Boyes sets) or much more expensive (Colonial Needle’s rosewood set).
Writing it out like this, the answer seems obvious. Well, the smartest answer was ALWAYS obvious: don’t buy anything, because I don’t really need it. However, assuming I don’t have that much self-disclipline, the second smartest answer seems to be to try out the Webs needles – buy one pair of tips (probably the size 3, since if I got the set I’d buy those anyway) and one cable and see if they’re sharp enough and slippery enough for me.
ETA: Knitpicks now has cord connectors available separately. On the other hand, carri points out in a comment that with a connector you can join the ends of a single cord to make a secure stitch holder – so not having end caps is not much of an issue, unless you want to also be able to make flexible straight needles. (I don’t!)
I know doodly squat about knitting, but for my own craft use tools (including cooking- my ‘canvas’ on a nightly basis) I always try to go with the ones similar to favorites I already use heavily instead of trying something wildly different for the novelty of it. I know how I cook and crochet and draw, and respect my preferences enough to know something too far from what I like already will most likely sit in the drawer unused after a couple tries. So I tend to just find larger/smaller versions of tools I like already. You seem to know what irks and what works too, so get the ones you can already ‘feel’ in your hands. ~LA
FYI the cable connector for the Addi’s allows you to not only connect cables together to make longer cables but to also connect the ends of your WIP together to keep from losing stitches if you need the needle tips for something else.
Oh, duh, I should have realized that – thank you for pointing it out! So if I see a kit that has a connector but no end caps, that would be fine for me. (The other possible use of end caps is to make flexible straight needles, but I never use anything but a circ.)
I wouldn’t consider the Boye set lower quality. Especially given the numerous complaint regarding exactly that with the Knit picks. They are simply different, and work extremely well for me and others