My knitting needles came in from the kind folks at
DyakCraft. Each set of needles are handcrafted using DYMONDWOOD®. They handcraft fixed circular knitting needles a well as double pointed needles and interchangeable needles. They come with four cables and four matching stops. They also make crochet hooks, and have won 2011 Flamie award for the best crochet hooks by an individual. Right now, they have three styles of crochet hooks, and future plans for interchangeable crochet hooks. But their crochet hook line is temporarily out of production to focus on their interchangeable knitting needles. Other handmade items on their website include looms, spindles, shawl pins (also temporarily out of production).
Often a pattern will suggest a size that's not in my needle inventory, or after working a gauge swatch, another size is indicated. Fortunately, these interchangeable needles come in size 4 to size 9 or 10.5, so the proper size is handy. While their individual needle sets come start at $19.99, the sets are $109 and $140 respectively (including shipping). So, the sets are definitely the better buy.
Each interchangeable needle has a tiny screw on the end, that attaches to a tiny nut on the end of the cable. The needles start out slightly sticky, but get smoother as you knit due to the lanolin in the yarn. The points are sharper than most knitting needles I've used.
I've been using nothing but
Addi Turbo Knitting Needles
for years in fact, I have a lot of the
40" Addi Turbo Lace Circular Knitting Needles
for sock knitting because I work the magic loop technique.
I've noticed fewer yarn splits with the DyakCraft interchangeable as compared to my Addi Turbo needles, and that's a huge advantage for me. Nothing is more frustrating than noticing a split stitch ten rows back and having to unravel those rows to fix it! Even just loosing a few stitches down to the split stitch is annoying, because I can never duplicate the original tension. Also the sharper points make it easier for me to "pick up and knit" than the blunter Addi Turbo needles.
I like the joins on my Addi Turbo fixed circular needles, and the join on my DyakCraft is comparable. Too many times, I've found yarn catching on the joins of inferior circular needles, or the cables too stiff and jumping out at me.
Addi Click Interchangeable Needle Set
come with a press in and twist connector that I found a little harder to figure out. And aggravated my arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. They're also a little more expensive than DyakCraft but exclude the size 10.5, but include sizes 11, 13 & 15. But for me, once I'd gotten the Addi Clicks connected, they stayed put. My DyakCrafts have a habit of unscrewing with my style of knitting. No problem, because my 5" needles are long enough to grasp the point with one hand, and the 5/8" join in the other and simply twist the needle a few times every couple rows. I find DyakCrafts cables seem to become part of the project, and almost disappear from notice when in use, rather than having the stiff cables bounce up at weird times like other circular needles have done in the past.
Dyakcraft needs more payment processors than just Paypal. I'd suggest finding a payment processor that charges the purchaser's credit cards upon entering shipping information.
Each interchangeable set comes with a handmade case that is numbered and signed by artisan.
