but you only have four…is it okay to distribute the stitches in order to use only four, or do you have to get more dpns?
Is using a slightly larger dpn from another set okay, or will it skew the gauge too much?
Thanks in advance for your help–Sorry for my newbie ignorance regarding such matters 
Im gonna say YES on the four DPNs, but you will have to count more carefully as many patterns refer to “needle 1, 2, 3”, etc…
But, Im gonna say NO on the larger DPN for the reason you cited.
Ooh, can’t I just use a stitch marker and “pretend” I’m moving to a new needle?
If you can keep track, then go for the 4 needles. Also, if you want, and this is backed by EZ and Amy, you can use a fifth needle of a one-size difference for the fifth. Those stitches will be scattered throughout the pattern, so you wouldn’t have one strip of larger/smaller knitting.
I’m using 3.5s, so using a 4 wouldn’t really be that big a difference, anyway, right?
I think I might try the four dpns and see how well I can keep track before getting the 4s. I’ve already made a sock–well, let’s just say something that has “sockness”–and keeping up with needles 1, 2, & 3 wasn’t hard at all. My problems were elsewhere… 
I think it depends on where the decreases are. I tried making a mitten (I know not the same but that’s all I got) with 4 instead of 5 but the decreases made a triangle shape with five and wouldn’t work with four.
Zimmerman says that you can always use a larger/smaller DPN to make up your set of 5. (oops, Ingrid already said that!)
*plus, here’s my shameless plug…I have a TON of single dpns through my site though they’re not uploaded, just pm or email me… )[size=2][/size]
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Nothing wrong with a bit of self-promotion! Besides, so many folks here have side ventures, I forget who does what, so I don’t mind at all 