I am needing to buy some DPNs for a pattern I want to knit and I have never bought them before. Would you recommend metal or wood? I normally prefer to knit with metal needles, but understand that knitting with DPNs might be easier with wood due to it not being so slippery – any advice?? TIA!!
DPNs -- wood or metal?
People who knit more loosely typically prefer wood. But if you normally knit with metal, you may not have any problems with them slipping out. Some people who knit with metal may knit a knit on the looser side, so the dpns may slip out. But I’m a tight knitter, and with the dozens of projects I’ve used metal dpns for, I’ve had the needle slip out maybe twice ever. And that was always just in the first couple stitches on a new needle, which could have easily been avoided had I been paying attention enough to knit a few extra stitches before letting go. lol But I knit tightly.
If you’re really worried about it, I think the safest bet would be wood. The worst problem is you’d get irritated that you can’t knit as quickly as with metal (that’s the problem I have). However, that’d be better than your needles dropping out all over the place.
My ultimate suggestion is to get both and try them out for yourself! Buy wooden ones first if you want the safest best, but the next time, try some metal.
Good luck! 
I would say get what you’re used to - in this case metal. However, since you have never used DPN’s I would try wood first. Stitches do tend to slide around more on DPN’s and more so on metal. Play it safe and get wood. You will know very quickly if you don’t like them and may even be able to return them. (Try getting them at a big box store - they have better return policies on needles.)
After using both metal and wooden dpns I have found that my hands respond better to the flexibility of wooden needles. Whenever I use metal needles my hands seem to get cramped after only knitting a short time. I wonder if anyone else experiences this too…:think:
Cost of wooden dpns seems to be higher than metal, at least in my area, so that may also be a factor in your choice as well.
wood, wood, wood, wood, wood…
My first project, using dpns, was a flop, because i used metal dpns, and the stitches were constantly dropping off, or threatening to.
Wood, babeee!
It depends on the yarn too. I like wood with mohair and silk, the stitches don’t fall off the needles so easily, but when I knit with rougher yarn, I definitely prefer metal. You will probably end up with lots and lots of dpns, so if you can, buy both, try them out and see which you like better.
i would use bamboo. try and find that. its traction is very good. :woohoo: