Am I too hard on my needles?

#1

So I was sitting there last night watching a movie knitting away on a harbor scarf (which looks really cool by the way) and SNAP!!! my plastic needle in my right hand broke. Of course I was lucky that the store was still open rushed out and bought a new pair. This is not the first time I have broken needles. The last time was totally my fault, bamboo needles with yarn too thick but this time I was just floored it happened because I didn’t think I was knitting that hard.

Should I just stick to metal needles (and let them bend hahaha) or am I just being too hard on my needles? Is there a cure for being too rough with them because when I go it doesn’t feel like it to me. Has anyone else had this happen?

I was using the susan bates plastic needles at that time. I have a bunch of metal susan bates and they don’t even bend’ I’m just at a loss of what to do about my ‘problem’ that could become eventually expensive.

#2

Do you not like metal needles? It really doesn’t matter if they bend.

Or you might want to consider a circular set. You can use them for anything, and you never hear about the tips breaking.

#3

Do you knit tight? Maybe that has something to do with it. I’ve never heard of metal needles having a problem so maybe that’s what you’ll have to do.

Try not to hold the needles so tightly either. You can use a light grip on them.

#4

I do use metal needles but it’s sometimes hard to find the 9 or 10 inch long ones for the size I need. I hate knitting with the 14 inchers when it’s just a scarf.

I had to buy bamboo ones to replace the plastic ones but I figure since they’re 9’s and not 4’s I should be okay.

#5

I knit incredibly tightly (as in, I don’t often knit with bamboo or wood needles because I physically cannot get the yarn off the needle) and have only ever broken one bamboo needle… and that was a dpn that I sat on (oops). I do wind up with a lot of bent metal needles in the smaller sizes, and I yanked the cable out of a circ once.
So what I’m saying is, unless you have a wierd way of holding the needle or have consistantly broken needles (the other break doesn’t sound like it was part of a trend), I would guess that this is just a fluke.

#6

I knit pretty tight…and I have not to date snapped a set of needles…is it possible the ones you were using could have been brittle?

I did once break the tip off of a knitlight…but those, IMHO were crap anyway…

#7

I broke some of the Susan Bate’s plastics. I liked them because I knit in the car and didn’t have to worry about stabbing someone or something in the event of an accident or sudden stop. I was knitting dishcloths and the cotton is so stiff with little give that it broke the tip right off. I wasn’t too disappointed since the needles were ultra cheap, but they were a set and I couldn’t just go replace that one size. Basically, the cheaper the needle, the easier to break! I use Denise all the time and have yet to break them but they are resin and have a little bend to them. Just be careful with the cheap plastic needles if you use them. I use bamboo DPNs that are super small and haven’t broken them yet either, but it’s fingering weight yarn that has some give to it too.

#8

You obviously don’t live in Texas… that is ALL you can find and have to order anything smaller online. Of course, the same goes for smaller size circs. I guess we do like everything bigger here in Texas.

My guess is that A) it’s winter and cold in quite a few places in the world and B) you may be knitting a bit tightly is your keep breaking plastics and bend metal.