A set of 4 Clover DPNs in the size 11 I was looking for would set me back about 12$ before the discount. That’s a lot to spend on an experiment, I thought, especially since I don’t use DPNs for anything, having nice sets of Options nickel and acrylic Zephyr circular needles. they have a nice taper at both ends…. Wait a second.

And there I realized I have all the DPNs I need. Without a cable these neat knitpicks.com circular needles sets can double for DPNs for my i-cord needs. they are a bit short for real DPN projects, but again, I don’t need them for that. So use your Options! Whether nickel plated tips, the  Zephyr acrylics or the Harmony wood needles, make use of your resources!

Saved my coupon, saved my money. End of story.

You can easily knit past the threaded holes when they are playing left needle.

I got a sample of the new Knitpicks.com Zephyr acrylic Options circular needles and liked them a lot at first try, so I ordered a set. In the days before they arrived I played with them more and started to feel that I didn’t really like the glass-like clarity much. It made it harder to see what I was doing. I could see the yarn through the needles as well as in front of it and in placing the needle tip that made it a good bit less distinct than I preferred.

I don't like seeing the yarn through the needles like this.

In the mean time the box with my set arrived and I let it sit on the dining table until I could come up with a decision or solution. I looked on the internet for ways to stain the acrylic a less transparent color but found nothing. Then it occurred to me I could just make the tips frosted by going over them with steel wool.

The tape gives the frosting a nice, even edge.

So what I did was wrap some scotch tape around the needle one inch from the tip, nice and straight around the shaft. I tried some 000 steel wool but it didn’t give it enough of a frost, so I tried some #1 steel wool, which is courser. It does leave some faint lines in the surface but as it is more abrasive the overall effect was better frosting.

Twisting the tips evenly in the #1 grade steel wool.

You will want to experiment with how to do this; how hard to pinch and where. I wrapped the tip in a bit of the steel wool and twisted sideways, working my way to the tip and back, dusting it off and checking where I was missing. Then I went lengthwise toward the tip to give it a crosswise abrasion, then again did it twisting side to side. Dust off the tip on some cloth to see how it’s coming. Compare it to an untreated tip and see if it’s frosty enough. Remove the tape when you have the frost effect the way you want it.

The frostiness will be reduced by the angle of the lighting or oil from your hands. The one on the left has not been frosted yet.

I tested my first treated pair and find it is very satisfactory. The distracting transparency is much reduced. Additionally, the smoothness and slip of the needle tips is further reduced. Whereas the Zephyrs have a sort of faint creaky feeling or sound when new, the frosted ones feel and sound more like bamboo. This is fine with me as less slip is one of the reasons I got them.

If you try this you do it at your own risk. Be methodical. Also, be aware that steel wool sheds a lot, so do it over newspaper and be sure to dump the shed fibers in the trash. If they get on the rug and ever get wet they will rust and stain the carpet. You may want to vacuum when you are done for good measure. If you don’t like the frostiness you can reverse it SOME by using 0000 steel wool or maybe with clear nail polish.

So I decided to keep the Zephyrs. They do have the sharpness, friction and travel-worthiness I was looking for, and they do have a certain futuristic elegance.

My thought is to save you some trouble. From my own experience I can suggest what may be the most usable needle collection for your convenience in most knitting situations.

When you start out into knitting you will want to t start with a small selection of different kinds of needles, meaning what they are made of, until you learn to knit with some degree of comfort and ease – just the basic skills in early practice – to give yourself the chance to try a couple of kinds of yarn, including wool, acrylic, rayon, cotton and maybe others. If you go to a yarn store or know another avid knitter you might be able to try a few of these. This will give you a feel for the difference between metal, wood, plastic and acrylic needles, but also you can try different point sharpness to see how you like that aspect. Bamboo tends to be duller and metal or acrylic sharper.

Also, as you learn to knit and control your tension, you will see differences in the tightness of your knitting as well as develop a sense of how you like to work. Along with the thinness of the yarn, these factors and what you plan to knit will influence your needle sharpness and needle material.

As a beginner my knitting is some times a bit tight so I prefer sharper needles. A slight drawback to sharp tips is it seems easier to split your yarn, but I think with sharper tips it’s easier to keep the yarn on the tip as you pull it through your loops.

You have probably read that different materials have different slipperiness for your yarn. This is the main consideration for needle choice. Until you get more dexterous at handling your needles and yarn you might prefer less slick needles. I like the feel of my nickel plated Options but I’m finding with the smaller needles sizes and thus smaller gauge I have less room to move and I’m more prone to slip up and lose loops off my needles.

The bamboo is going back to China

I’ve tried bamboo also. As I mention elsewhere, I prefer it smoother than how they come stock and go over them with 0000 super fine steel wool first. That takes the clear coating off and buffs the surface so there’s less tack.

Bamboo can be had for straight and circular and dpns. You may be tempted to stock up on a few sets of bamboo needles in different sizes and different lengths of circulars, which you can get fairly cheap off amazon.com. this may seem economical, as you can get 15 sizes in a set. But what if you need other lengths of circulars? At 25$ per set that will add up fast. Do you really want to spend that much?

As you knit or do a swatch you may need to change needle size to adjust your gauge, so you may indeed want more needles on hand. A set would make sense so you don’t have to run to the yarn store where you can be tempted to buy other things as well.

At this point, for all I’ve observed and tried, which now includes the new Zephyr acrylic circular needles from Knitpicks.com, if I were to lose all my needles or be starting out, I would buy just the Zephyr set of circulars as they can be used for circulars or straight needles. You could get a Denise set alternately, but I like the sharper Zephyrs.

Along with my Zephyr set I ordered an extra 60 inch cable so I can use it for a sort of magic loop approach to knit smaller diameter rounds. Often you need a 16 inch circular for sweater collars or perhaps a sleeve, or may need dpns for something. I’ve decided there’s no point in getting the dpns if I can use the 60 circular magic loop-wise. I haven’t tried it yet, but it seems pretty obvious it should work. If you can use it for socks you can use it for collars and sleeves, hats and more, even where you need a larger needle size.

Max and the new Zephyr Options Acrylic Needles

What else do you need? If you are into socks and mittens you may need some smaller needles, either dpns or 40 inch circulars for magic loop. Options needles go down to size 4US and Denise only go down to 5US. I’m going to lean toward working with worsted weight even for socks, which is fine on size 4. I’m not crazy yet about tiny needles, tiny yarn and that many more tiny stitches.

I think with this proposal you could get away with spending about $55 usd for your Zephyrs or Denise set, then another $20 or so for a set of cheap bamboo dpns if you need cheap small needles for socks and such. You can get some metal circular needles for around $15 each at 40 inches. So if you want to go that route for socks get size 2 and 3 US. Unless you really like the slickness of metal the acrylic Zephyrs or Denise should do you fine for most needs. PLUS these sets are more welcome on airplanes. I’m not so sure the wood Options are, although I would think so. Maybe if you hide them among your colored pencils when you board?