I'm a huge fan of circular knitting needles and don't use anything else these days. In particular I love my Addi Turbo circular knitting needles. For me they live up to their name, the smooth metal needle tips and the ultra flexible cords really help the knitting to glide along.
The one downside of circular needles is that, depending on the size of project, you not only need different sizes of needle tip but also different lengths of cord. This can add up to an awful lot of circular needles and, if using Addi, a big dent in the bank balance.
Enter the interchangeable circular needle - a set of needle tips in different sizes interchangeable with a number of cords of differing lengths.
There are several sets on the market and Addi, bless 'em, brought out their own version last autumn, Addi Click, which uses Turbo needle tips. How could I refuse such temptation? Well, I did hold out for a while on account of already owning a set of Denise Interchangeable needles, but a few weeks back I finally succumbed and now, having used both sets I thought I'd share with you my view on the pros and cons of each.
The
Denise set retails in the UK for under £40 (I got mine from
Kangaroo Yarns) and contains 10 sets of needle tips, 6 cords and 2 connector pieces, allowing you to join cords to make even longer cords. It also contains 4 end pieces. These allow you to use needle tips and cords as 'straight' needles should you wish to do so or to use the cords as stitch holders, a feature that I find really useful. All this is very neatly packaged in a case 22 cm x 33.5 cm (7" x 8.5") making the set easily portable.
The
Addi Click set also contains 10 sets of needle tips (but
not the same range of sizes as the Denise set, see below), 3 cords and 1 connector. There are no end pieces but the set does contain a dinky little gold heart pin - to my mind a bit of an unnecessary gimmick. The set comes in a black box which is smart but rather bigger than it needs to be (sort of A4 size) and, at £89, it doesn't come cheap either.
With both sets of needles the connecting mechanism is fairly straightforward if a little fiddly at first.
So which do I prefer?
Without doubt the Denise set is well packaged, extremely versatile and offers good value for money. But (and this is a big 'but' for me) everything in the set is plastic including the cord and needle tips. Some people like knitting with plastic needles - indeed, some people even prefer plastic. I don't. Quite simply I find that plastic has a 'drag factor' which slows down the flow of knitting. Plus the cords are quite rigid and tend to retain the kinked shape out of the box.
On the other hand the Addi Click needles are just like Turbo needles - same smooth metal tips, same ultra flexible cords. A completely different knitting experience!
So by preference Addi will always be my first choice, but, as the Denise set gives you more options, I won't be putting it up for sale on eBay just yet!
Here are some 'knitty' gritty details for you.
The Denise set contains the following needle sizes: 3.75 mm, 4 mm, 4.5 mm, 5 mm, 5.5 mm, 6 mm, 6.5 mm, 8 mm, 9 mm and 10 mm. There are no 3.5 mm or 7 mm needle tips.
The Addi set contains: 3.5 mm, 4 mm, 4.5 mm, 5 mm, 5.5 mm, 6 mm, 7 mm, 8 mm, 9 mm and 10 mm. There are no 3.75 mm or 6.5 mm needle tips.
The cords in the Denise set are the following lengths: 6" (15 cm), 9" (23 cm), 12" (30 cm), 14" (35.5 cm), 16" (41 cm) and 19" (48 cm). The Denise needles are made in the US so all sizes are in inches. I've given the nearest metric equivalent.
The cords in the Addi set are as follows: 60 cm (24"), 80 cm (32") and 100 cm (40").
The Denise needle tips are 4.5" (11 cm) in length and the Addi needle tips 13 cm (5").
One final thought - the shorter needle tip of the Denise set allows for the use of a shorter cord. This means that you have the option of using a circular needle for working sleeves in the round, something not available with the Addi set where the shortest cord is 60 cm.