Trimming Cables on Options?

#1

OK, Amy posted this in the stickied interchangeable poll above:

One day I’m going to do actually do this…
Shorten one of the Options cables to an 18" length, using heavy duty glue. I’ve heard some have done this. (Pull the cable out of the metal end, cut it, and glue it back in with 2-ton epoxy!)

I just got a set of Harmonies (which I LOVE) and I want to try this. I bought an extra set of the 24" cables and I want to trim them down to either 16" or 18". I have two questions which I can’t find answers to:

  1. Is this worth trying? I’ve heard there might be issues with shortening it to 16", so should I play it safe and go for 18"?

  2. (And this is my main question) Which glue should I use? E6000? Gorilla Glue? Super Glue? Other? What would work best and last longest?

Thanks in advance!

#2

I used Gorilla glue and it worked fine. I would caution you though. The needles are too long to make a 16" cable. I made a 20".

#3

Yeah, I haven’t done it, but the reason the shorter KnitPicks needles are fixed rather than interchangeable is that the tips on the interchangeables are too long to make a circle at the shorter cable lengths. That’s why the 16" ones are fixed–they have shorter tips.

But you can always experiment—they cables aren’t all that expensive if it doesn’t work and you need to replace them.

#4

Thanks for posting this! One of the main reasons I haven’t bought the Options is that I was concerned that there wasn’t a smaller cable length. Now I know I can buy a smaller fixed needle- why didn’t I think of this before???

#5

Thanks, guys! I might go for one 18" and one 20" to start (since I do have 2 cables in there), and see which I like better. Then I can always order more cables later on.

How did you apply the Gorilla glue without making a mess? Toothpick?

#6

I put a few drops of the glue on a piece of wax paper and then used a toothpick to apply it.

#7

Thanks! I’ll try that!