KnitPro Symfonie Wood Interchangeable Needle Deluxe Set

I hummed and harred about buying these needles ever since I first saw them.Despite having quite a collection of circular needles I recently knitted a generously sized cot blanket diagonally - stripes in the colours of the rainbow but when I came to knit the surrounding edge I found myself knitting with three long circular needles with stitches on them and a fourth knitting the stitches rather like knitting a "ginormous sock" on a set of 4 sock needles. Two needles one size and two needles the next.Planning on knitting some more afghans I decided I needed to buy 2 each 4.50mm ad 5.00mm very long circular needles but instead considered getting two sets each of tips and very long 200cm cables.I was put off Knit Pro circular needles (though they are very well made - especially at the joins) when I bought a fixed 50cm needle which turned out to have the normal sized ends and I could only knit plain things on them as there was just not enough play ie. knitting space. between the points to allow for fairisle or cable patterns for instance.A house I was selling by auction very recently netted a lot more than I expected it to so I decided to plunge and buy the whole Symfonie DeLuxe set plus an extra pair of normal size pins in 4.5 and 5.00mm. plus some of the small size tips. Also cables to achieve 40cm, 50cm, 120cm, 150cm and 200cm.Quite an outlay but now they are home and I am using a set of 4.50mm normal tips plus the 100cm. cable I just don't know why I did not buy the set before.Another reason I put off buying them off was that I had bought some Boye circular needles which included a 50cm cable but after they arrived from the USA I again I found they too had the long pins to use with the 50cm cables and that meant they were just like the Knit Pro fixed needle and hard to use to do any pattern work. They are slightly different in size from metric needles in thickness so if tension is critical I do have those to try out.The small Knit Pro tips (which you have to buy separately) are all straight not curved - they are made to use with the 20cm cable so you can have a circular needle measuring 40cm. You need to know that the small tips also fit ALL the longer cables too.The normal length pins will fit on the 20cm cable so you can use it as a single straight just over 40cm flexible needle. I will be using the small Knit Pro pins on the cable that makes up to 50cm (it measures that when fitted with the long pins) also on the 60cm cable which when fitted with the short pins measures approx. 55cm (almost 22"). Just a handy side for toddler's sweaters or cardigans knitted all in one.I also bought some connectors as they are not listed as being included with this set. When the set arrived there was a circle on the packing (not a printed add-on label) which said there were connectors with the set with the words "Gratis". So I have plenty of connectors - this is a good thing really as they are so small you can drop one and then be stuck.The pack had the cables listed plus end caps and keys. I'd like to suggest to buyers of this set that they buy cables in other sizes and that way you will get two more end caps and also another key with each individual cable. The keys are so thin you could so easily lose one. The cables are very inexpensive. Remember you have fit a normal sized pair of tips to achieve the stated length on a cable. You can instead fit the small tips on any of the cables you will just find the combined length of cable and short pin will be 6cm less than with the long pins fitted instead.PLEASE DO USE THE KEY when you attach and unattach cables to pins or each other. The key does not lock the cable to a connector or pin. The key slides in a hole in a cable end so you can hold that end firmly and screw in the other end. Believe me this week I have been tugging and sliding and hauling the cot blanket around the 100cm of needle and the connection at either end have not even moved.I sent for the sample pack with a Symphonie, a metal Nova and an acrylic pair of normal size tips - this comes with cables, end caps and keys. I found the metal Nova tips are not as heavy as I expected. I was going to buy the thinner needles in Nova metal as I occasionally have broken bamboo or plastic needles (tight knitter sometimes) but decided to go the whole hog and buy the Nova set too but in stages.Now I will talk about knitting on the Symfonie needles - they are quite delightful to knit with. The points are very pointed.I don't know if aluminium needles are being made differently these days but a lot of straight needles bought over the last three years seem to cling to stitches, they don't seem to let the stitches slide along as you knit. I was having to move stitches along with my fingers and not on tight stitches either. The stitches of the acrylic yarn I have been knitting garter stitch on the Symfonie normal tips and 100cm cable and the stitches have whizzed along the needle and across the join with no extra help from me but not to the effect of sliding loosely out of control. I have been knitting with double knitting yarn doubled and have been most surprised how few times I lost one loop of a stitch while I worked.I was knitting stripes in two colours (one variated and one plain) and changing the plain colour every 20 rows so each time I came to start a new colour for the next 20 rows I have been checking out the previous 20 rows for any dropped loops. As a whole stitch dropping would be easily noticed when working on 4.50mm needles I really expected to find more single dropped loops that were unseen while knitting than I actually did find.Working with a variated yarn constantly and different solid colours as I went along I have to admit that the patterned Symphonie needles would have been problem for stitches of certain colours on the needles even though the patterns go along the length of the needle and not around - another reason why I decided to also buy the Nova set of needles with their being shiny with no colour at all.Another good thing about the Knit Pro interchangeable needles is that you don't need to buy the whole set like I did with the Boye set.. If you only knit very fine yarn or only knit the thicker yarns you can just buy the needles you plan to use.I did find that some of the Symfonie and Nova needles were very tight in my gauge so I won't be getting rid of my old circular needles till I work out which are absolutely identical in thickness.In case someone is wondering, the Boye Interchangeable circular needle tips DO NOT FIT the Knit Pro cables or vice versa. The thread on the screw threaded part of the Boye needles, cables and connectors is sized smaller than the Knit Pro and though the Boye keys look very like the Knit Pro keys they are not the same thickness and whichever key was thickest would not fit in the holes on the other set.By the way I bought one Knit Pro 50cm cable coloured black with gold coloured ends to see if it was different in some way from the purple cables with their silver coloured ends but no they both fit perfectly on the short and normal pins. You might like to buy a specific size in black so it stands out from the others.Well I hope this helps you. I found out a lot of things I had been wondering about and no other review had mentioned.I LOVE THEM.

I took up knitting in January and really struggled to get the hang of holding knitting needles. Initially, i tried what's often called English knitting (it was the only sort I was aware of as that's the type my mother used to do) but i couldn't get on with it and discovered, via youtube, continental knitting. It took a while to get used to holding and controlling the yarn in my left hand (i'm right handed) but after a couple of weeks practice i was much better at that than i had been with English knitting. However, i was still struggling with the needles. I had been using my mothers old metal needles which were about 28 - 30cm long. I saw on youtube and various discussion groups that some people used extra long needles and tucked one of them under their arm. I tried it - long needles made my knitting even worse.I then tried a pair of KnitPro Symfonie fixed circular needles - they were much better but the cord was only just long enough to get the two points together and after about 10 - 15 minutes I had to stop using them because my thumbs were tired. However, 3 weeks ago I decided to splash out on this set of interchangeable needles. I've been using them every day since they arrived.They have transformed my knitting experience. I've used at least 4 of the different sizes and 2 different length cords. The wood is so much more comfortable to hold than metal, they're short enough they don't get caught on sleeves, the arms of chairs or anything else. Being light weight, if you drop one needle, it doesn't cause you to lose any stitches which might be on it. I will never use the traditional long knitting needles again.Unlike some others I have no problems with any of the items in the kit - everything is super smooth, no snagging any where at all. Everything seems to be extremely well made and finished. The case it all comes in is useful but not particularly large. I can see that sometime soon, I will be getting the KnitPro Symfonie Chunky set of needles to accompany these.The size is printed on each needle. Yes, it does rub off, quite quickly actually, but I'd already bought a cheap needle gauge because a) most of mum's needles were the old UK sizing and b) quite a few of them had lost their numbers!So far I've only done flat knitting, swapping the needles round when i've finished a row and I've found it easier to use a slightly longer cord than you would if you were knitting in the round.I would recommend this kit to anyone who is learning to knit and struggling with traditional single point needles. Actually, I'd recommend them to anyone who knits regardless of whether they have difficulties with the old style needles.