Needle Review/Overview

Clover Takumi Interchangeable needle set:

Pro's:

• 16 inch circular needle cord
• Excellent smooth joins
• Cables are awesome
• Great case
• Good size range
• The divided pouch that the cables live in
• Easy to join together and they do not unscrew while you are knitting

Con's:

• I am not the biggest fan of wood needles, but I can live with them for the short interchangeable cable length
• I wish they had a couple that were smaller than 3.25 mm, but you cannot have everything
• No end caps for if you want to use the needles on a different cable for a different project. 
• No hole for a lifeline
• Fairly nubby points, not sharp, but I have sand papered the odd ones into a bit more of a point, and they have been great

All in all a great case for someone just starting out, you can do fine knits, to super bulky knits I like knitting my hats with these as I find with the brim often using a different needle size you can quickly switch to a larger needle.
Also with these, if I am knitting something in the round I usually have my left needle 1 or 2 needle sizes smaller than my right needle as the larger loop on a smaller needle is easier to grab with the larger needle on the opposing side. (Did that make sense?) This is one of my favourite things to do with these. It does not work if you are knitting flat.
To date I have only snapped one of these, but the project was huge and I was tugging a fair amount, so that is my own fault.

Boye Needle Set:
Pro's:

• I love the grippy black round thing for tightening the joins, I use this on my other sets to get a perfect join
• End caps for if you need to switch projects
• Cable joiner to make a super long cable
• Love the colourful needles
• Has holes to use for lifelines

Con's:

• I dislike these cables, they are so stiff, I have heard if you boil them they soften out but I do not have time for that 
• You cannot use the left side of the case with the 16 inch cable (the needles are too long which makes knitting impossible)
• The join is smooth, but the cables have plastic bits that snag on your yarn (just where cable meets metal) which does get annoying, could just be my set, or this could be fixed with some sand paper
• They have a tendency to unscrew while knitting

Again not a bad set if you are just getting started, great for blankets, but I would not knit socks, or a sweater or anything that needs exacting attention on them.


Knit Picks Caspian Wood Set:
Pro's:

• Fabulous colours
• Smooth joins
• Hole for life line
• End caps so you can use your needles elsewhere
• Good case, I like that they are clear so you can see very quickly what needles are not in use
• Good selection of sizes

Con's:

• I wish it came with the tags to identify what needle size needs to go back onto the cable if you take them off - they are sold separately but it would be nice if they came with the set
• No 16 inch cable, but the needles are too long for a short cable anyway
• They do now have a set of interchangeable for 16 inch circular needles, but then you have more needles
• I wish they did go smaller than 3.5, but that is only because recently I have started doing more tiny knitting
• I have had 2 needles come out of their metal castings
• I believe knit picks will replace them for you, but I have no gone down that road
• I just super glued them back in with much success, only 1 though did I super glue in and it was still attached to the cable so now the needle tip is glued to that cable and they are now a 3.75 fixed circular, 
• learn from my mistakes, do not glue them together while attached to the cables

Knit Picks Nickle Set:

Pro's:

• Smooth joins
• Hole for life line
• End caps so you can use your needles elsewhere
• Good case, I like that they are clear so you can see very quickly what needles are not in use
• Good selection of sizes

Con's:

• I wish it came with the tags to identify what needle size needs to go back onto the cable if you take them off - they are sold separately but it would be nice if they came with the set
• No 16 inch cable, but the needles are too long for a short cable anyway
• They do now have a set of interchangeable for 16 inch circular needles, but then you have 
• I wish they did go smaller than 3.5, but that is only because recently I have started doing more tiny knitting

I have to say that between these and the caspian wood I reach to them both equally for the same number of projects. I find wood much grippier so if I am working with a yarn that tends to fall off the needles mid stitch I will use wood, or if the pattern is something complex, if I want a project to go super fast and know that the stitches will stay on the needles then I will use metal needles.

KnitPro Nova Cubics Set:

Pro's:

• Smooth joins
• Gorgeous clear, polyester and silk case
• Nice cables

Con's:

• I do not have any yet...but I have only used them once

These were a little treat to myself, and the are SQUARE, what is not to love? My hands were starting to get fairly sore from all the knitting I was doing so I wondered if these would make a difference. So far I do not know I started a project on them, but frogged it as there was something not right with the yarn I was using. So far so good though, very happy with them,.

Hiya Hiya Sharps Interchangeable: 
Pro's:

• Love that they are a 2.75 mm set to a  6mm 
• The housing is stunning, red silk case, it is gorgeous, I like having them on display
• Joins are smooth (I have one join that is not too smooth, but I can live with it)
• Super sharp
• 16" cable length, I am a hat knitter this is perfect for me. 

Cons:

• Too sharp for some yarns, as I manage to just knit through the middle of the yarn, and then get to go back, I can get over this though
• The rubber tightening pads leave a strange coating on the needles, but again wipe it down start again

These babies are perfect for lace, made a few 2 at a time socks, and a few 2 at a time hand warmers, I am really enjoying them and I am hoping to get some 2.25 mm ones so I can do more magic loop 2 at a time socks in the future.