Interchangeable Circular Needles, Are They For You?

A set of interchangeable circular needles is an essential part of your knitting tool kit.!

Circular needles have become the needle of choice for most of our customers.  Some of the reasons are obvious. You can use them to knit back and forth or in the round and you will never lose your ‘other’ needle because it’s attached!    

If you think a little more deeply about it, you’ll realize that they are ergonomically better than straight needles.  They are easier on your hands, wrists, and forearms because the weight of your project rests on the cable in your lap rather than one one needle.  We want to avoid any undue stress that might cause a future knitting-related injury which would result in a loss of knitting time!

You may be building a collection of circulars one by one. You may even have bought several different kinds and know which is your favorite.  Have you ever thought of getting a set of interchangeable circular needles?

Interchangeable knitting needles are so very handy!  When you’re knitting along happily and the pattern calls for a change of needle size, all you have to do is change the tips!  How easy is that?

When you are knitting a swatch and want to try a different size, again, just change the tips!

Here’s something you may not have thought of:  since gauge is determined by the right hand needle in typical knitting, you can use a smaller tip on the left hand needle.  This makes it easier for the right hand needle to get into tight, twisted, or crossed stitches.

Interchangeable needles are more cost-effective than buying single circulars.  Usually the sets come with tips in a size range from US 4 to US 11 and cables in lengths to make 24”, 32” and 40” needles. Most sets come with stoppers that go on the end of the cables, making the tips available for another project if necessary.

The varied cable lengths suit almost any type of project.  You get to be the boss of your knitting and choose the cable length you like.  Do you like your stitches all scrunched together or spread out? The 40” length is useful if you like to use the Magic Loop method instead of DPNs.  

We have a number of different types of interchangeable needle sets to choose from!  Watch for blog posts about them in the next few weeks!