I’m knitting with my brand new Options (hooray!) and my needle tip keeps unscrewing and coming loose from the cable. How exactly does that key work so that it tightens? I don’t really get it…I stick it in and it doesn’t seem to have a purpose…hmmmm
KP Options Technical Question
basically you are using for leverage in order to get it really tight. whenever i have not used the little key thing my needles have come undone. use the key and no undo-ey. (it is too a word! :tap:)
I’m so disappointed! :pout:
I think there’s a broken thread either on the tip or the cable…cuz I just tried to tighten the tip that keeps coming undone and it keeps going round and round and never tightens. You can feel it start to catch on something, but then it goes around again. Poo…I’ll have to give customer service a call on Monday.
Other than that, I LOVE these! 
well that stinks but the good news is that everything i have seen indicates that their CS is excellent!
I swear I’m not trying to hijack this topic, but I gotta say I’m getting a bit concerned when I hear how great the customer service at KP is because they stand by their products so well. My concern is that it seems like more than a few people have had problems with their needles. That makes me nervous about the actual quality of their product. While I applaud great customer service because it seems so rare these days, I’d be equally impressed with better quality control.
I have one KP tip that I’m thinking is a little wonky. Nothing that has failed yet, but it doesn’t seem to “catch” the threads of the cable quite as well as the other tips in the set.
I hear you Joe and agree completely…even if customer service is awesome, it’s pretty darn annoying to have to be calling them all the time because stuff breaks, or isn’t true to color, etc etc. And frankly, I’m a little annoyed that they can’t be arsed to stamp the needle size in their tips. :-x
But…still seems, overall, that it’s the best deal in town. I’m happy with the needles aside from the one wonky tip and the size thing. I’ve got an order coming my way with a couple small size circs and some yarn…we’ll see how I feel about the yarn when it arrives.
I had the same problem with my size 13 tips. They replaced them pretty quickly. And I agree, that they have some problems, but I think the needles are well worth it and I think they’ll get it all worked out eventually. 
Since someone suggested it, I tried every cable and every needle tip within a week of getting them. I found one wonky needle tip (size 10) and one wonky cable end (size 24"). They consistently wouldn’t screw in easily. I checked everything over and over and they were the only bad ones. The rest easily screwed in and seem very sturdy. KP is shipping the replacements. I am loving them! I have had the cables screw off a couple of times until I realized I really did need to use the key, no peoblems since, but I probably should peek at the ends every now and then.
Well I tested all the other tips and the 6 is the only one that gave me trouble. I just called customer service and, true to form, they were incredibly nice and shipped out a new set of 6 tips–no questions asked. As much as I would prefer there not be problems (though everything has kinks) great customer service is such a wonderful–and all too rare–thing. A lot of places would have given me the run around since I didn’t have the order number–as they were a gift–or tried to otherwise back out of their responsibility.
Not with KP! Kudos to them. :cheering:
The minor issues I’ve experienced and read about don’t bother me because this is an extremely new product. They are still in the “shakedown” period, and still working out the kinks.
The positive experience I’ve had using this product has certainly outweighed any problems. The thing that bothered me the most was the excruciatingly long shipping time to get them in the first place! :teehee:
I think they are doing a great job! 
I bought some a while (maybe 4 months) ago and just recently found out a couple of mine are bad - do you think they would still give me new ones?
I figured that was just how it was…
Of course they will! Give them a call.
To tighten your Options really well, use a small piece of rubber (or other non slip material) as a grip on the needle point while using the tool to tighen. I have a few pieces cut and I keep a few in my Options case and my knitting bag.
You know…I still don’t get the key thing.
Are you supposed to stick it all the way through and then use the curved part to hold onto the cable while you screw in the needle?
Sorry for a dumb question. After this topic came up, I pulled mine out (which are still very new) but didn’t really understand still.
I think you understand. What I do is screw the tips onto the cable, then stick the key through the hole, using it as a lever, make a little extra twist. It may not even move any more, but it will be more firmly in place and usually will not unscrew while you are knitting.
LoAnnie
Hope this helps you visualize how to use the tightening key thingy…
In the first pic, I’m using the key thingy as a lever to turn the cable as I hold the needle tip stationary. Think of the letter “T”. If you grip the horizontal bar as handles, you can turn the vertical bar very easily. But if you try to hold a “l” and turn it, your hands will slip and you won’t get a very good grip. The tightening key acts like the horizontal bar on a “T”. Get it?
The second picture shows the non-slip piece I use to get a better grip on the needle tip.
I use both the grip and the key together. One hand holding the needle tip with the grip, the other hand turning the key… although I couldn’t take a picture of me using both because, unfortunately, I only have two hands. Using this method, I get a very tight connection and haven’t had a tip come loose yet. I even have to use the same method to unscrew the tips when I’m done!
HTH!!
Ok. I finally get it. Boy, do I feel dense sometimes!!! I’ll blame the political science class I’m taking for making my mind mush these days!! :oops:
Thanks for the pictures! Very clear with easy-to-understand instructions!
You’re the best!
Give the key just a little torque. It doesn’t take too much torque to be effective. And then, un-screwing the tip is not a major thing. Go lightly, lightly.
