with all the needles I have bought in the past 2 years I wish I knew about the interchangeables because I would have saved a ton of money. I hate this Boye needle – i have to constantly stop and untwist it –
do the interchangeable sets get twisted like this??
KnitPicks Options NEVER do!
Not that I can tell. I have only used my Harmonys on a couple of items so far and I love how flexible the cable is. I finished a sweater I had on some horribly stiff circulars and cursing my way along and finally got fed up and ordered the Harmony set. I finished the sweater in no time. I’m now working on a shawl and loving the way the circular doesn’t get in the way of my work.
I started buying the Boyes in Hobby Lobby thinking that I would build up a set. They aggravated me because they twist sooooo much but I didn’t know better. I ordered a couple of non-interchangeable ones from Knitpicks and now I can’t go back to my old ones. I tried but couldn’t do it. The Knitpicks NEVER twist! And the cable is so much more flexible. The Boye ones feel so hard or something now. I’m gonna give them away and when I can afford it I’m going to get the Options set.
is knitpicks the only place that sells them or can i buy that at a lys??
Options and Harmony are Knitpicks’ brand, I think, but there are other good brands. The chick in the video that I used to learn to make socks swears by Addi Turbo needles. You might get them at your LYS.
A lot of people here also like the Denise interchangeable and those you can get at a lot of LYS. The Michaels near me carries those.
Are the cables good and limber?
I don’t think the Turbos come in an interchangeable set.
it seems from the posts that there are pros and cons to the denise interchangeables…i personally do not like the feel of plastic needles and i think that from what i read that the denise needles have that type of feel. am i right?
i have one addi turbo and i love it…wish that was interchangeable. maybe that’s why i hate this needle so much…its nothing like the addi turbo i used previously.
The Addis are very flexible? I don’t know about Denise, but Harmony is wood and Options steel. I don’t care for plastic, either, but I’m intrigued by casseine. I am getting spoiled by the couple of really nice needles that I have and now am having a hard time with my Boye straight ones. What a brat I’m becoming!
I have a set of Boye interchangable needles and love them. I use the size 8 needle so much that rather than keep taking my wip off them I bought a size 8 in turbo (lol, not hyperspeed) addi. I like my Boye but Addi’s aren’t bad either. The join for circular needles is nice and smooth.
The Knitpicks’ Options feel a lot like Addis but the cable is much more flexible and they are interchangeable while the Addis aren’t.
I think my Boye straights are fine for slippery yarn but not cotton. You have further convinced me that Knitpicks is the way to go.
I have the Boye set and find I have no problems as long as I use the little tool to
tighten the join. I warm the cable with my hair dryer and don’t have any problems with twisting. Just don’t get too close and melt it! I bought a set of Denise and HATED them. The cord would not allow the stitches to slide. I had a sweater on them and yanked and tugged until the cable finally came loose from the needle and I lost the entire row. It took me an hour to put the sweater back on the Boye needles. I got rid of them as fast as I could. eBay is a good place to find needle sets at lower prices. Sometimes someone who is changing needles or destashing will offer their set at a good price.
I’ve also read that the cables on the Denise set is thicker and so less flexible. That is what pushed me towards the KP’s sets. I was already fighting stiff cables with some of my fixed circs and it made my hands tire much faster.
I don’t have a problem knitting for hours with the Harmonys or dpns.
I have a few Addi turbos and I really like them. I’ve informed my husband that he’ll be giving me a set of KintPicks Options for my birthday thats coming up soon 
If I knew better, I would have bought the Options interchangeable set much earlier and saved a bunch of money. The Addi turbos are $16-$19 each at my lys, the entire set of Options with 9 pairs of tips costs $60.
And now they have separate cables really long for Magic Loop. How cool is that?
This conversation is interesting…
I am looking to buy a set of interchangable circulars and I was looking at the Options… I love pointy, sharp metal needles and I am not a fan of plastic at all. However at my knitting meeting, 4 of the ladies there LOVE their Denise needles. One of them also bought an Option set and had a bad experience with them. Now I believe that KP will replace defective parts, however it put a doubt in my mind.
Any of you tried both sets?
I only have a couple of non-interchangeable Options needles but the cable is a big issue for me. The texture of the needles is important but it comes down to the cable and how flexible it is. I don’t doubt that the others are great and I think that you get used to one and genuinely like it best but every thing I’ve read says that the KP ones are most flexible. I guess not everyone has the same priority, either. You have to be comfortable with your needles.