Everything you need to know about interchangeable needle sets

Figuring out all the different options for interchangeable needle sets can be daunting. You might be reading reviews, but not really understanding what kind of kit is best suited to your particular needs. If you're curious about which interchangeable needle set to choose, keep reading!

So what exactly are they? 

Interchangeable needles are circular needles, and like circular needles you can knit flat on them (indeed, sometimes circular needles are essential for knitting back and forth, as they provide the length necessary to accommodate many more stitches than straight needles). The key difference is that they needles come apart - the tip (the hard part you knit with) and the cable (the cord that runs between the two tips) are separate pieces that can be joined in various configurations.

There are two ways to look at what this offers you, the knitter.

The Needle Size View: You are knitting a sweater, from the bottom up. The ribbing is knit on 3.5 mm needles. Then the pattern says "change to larger needles." You can simply detach your 3.5 mm tips, replace them with 4 mm, and keep knitting. Without the kit, you'd need to have both a 3.5 mm 32" circular and a 4 mm 32" circular. Your kit has just saved you the money and the trouble of needing both those needles.

The Cable Length View: You are knitting a shawl, which starts with just a few stitches, but quickly grows with multiple increases every other row. Soon, you are squishing your stitches to fit on your 24" circular needle and worry you will lose stitches if you put it down. You unscrew the working needle tip from the short cable and replace it with an end stopper. You screw that tip onto a longer cable (and if you are really smart, add an end stopper to the other end) and start knitting your next row onto the longer cable. When finished, unscrew the other needle tip and move it to the longer cable. Without the kit, you'd need to have a 24" length and a 32" length (and maybe even a 60") all in the same needle size to work comfortably on your shawl. Your kit has saved you the money and trouble of needing one or maybe two extra sets of needles.

As you can see, interchangeable needle kits offer dozens (honestly, hundreds!) of knitting needle options. Having one of these kits means never* falling in love with a pattern and digging around in your tools to find you have the right size needle, but not the right length. Or you have one of the required needle sizes, but not the other. Or the pattern asks for a 3.5mm but you have a 4mm and you're pretty sure you can make it work. Or... or... or.... we reckon it's time to check out interchangeable needle sets. 

* Never is a long time. For sure, at some point, no matter what kit you buy, it will not have what you need in it. Which is why there are add-ons!

So which one is right for you? 

There are many (many!) interchangeable options out there - practically every needle brand has its own offering. We stock a range of sets from the needle suppliers we carry, and we stock a wide variety of extra tips and cables too so you can expand your kit as you need. 

One thing to note is that most needle brands are not compatible with each other. Whichever set you go for, you'll end up sticking with this brand. For this reason, it's a good idea to confirm with your LYS that they plan to keep stocking this brand in the future (we can tell you as of 2022, we're committed to the needle brands we currently stock!) and to try one or two fixed circular needles from the brand you're thinking about investing in, to make sure you know you like them before you invest. 

So without further ado, we present you our comparison table for our interchangeable needle kit range!