Knitter's Pride Needle Review

Knitter's Pride Nova Cubics Interchangeable Set

I’ve owned a whole lot of knitting needles over the years, and I’ve definitely had an evolution in my needle preferences.  From my initial love of straight wooden needles, I’ve progressed so that now I almost exclusively use metal needles, and most of the time those are from one of my interchangeable needles sets.  I’ve used Addi Clicks, both the standard and the short lace tips, as well as Knit Picks and Hiya Hiya’s.  I’m always interested to try new tools, so I was excited for the opportunity to knit with and review a variety of metal Knitter’s Pride Nova needles.  Full disclosure - the needles in this review were sent to me free of charge.  Since I really only use circular needles, I’ll be reviewing a 16” circular fixed needle with square tips, an interchangeable set with square tips, and a few interchangeable needles with standard round tips.  I made swatches or small projects with each of these needles, though I’ve only had them for a couple of months, so my experience is based on an initial reaction rather than long-term use.

There’s a lot to like about all of these needles.  First are the needle points.  They have a wonderful taper and are sharper than my Addi Clicks, but not quite as sharp as Addi Lace or Hiya Hiya tips, making them great for most projects.  I always love pointy tips, so if you like wooden needles or other blunter tips, these might be pointier than you like.  I also appreciated the smooth finish.  My stitches glided along without me really noticing, which tells me that the finish isn’t too slippery or too sticky.  Adding to that smoothness was the catch-free join between the needles and the tips.  

My only real complaint has to do with the joining mechanism for the interchangeables.  They connect using a long screw and are tightened with a small tool - you may have seen this method on Knit Picks needles too.  Even after using the tightening tool quite aggressively, both the square and round-tipped interchangeables always seemed to come un-screwed.  The thread is quite long, so they didn’t seem in any danger of actually coming apart, but it was irritating to constantly be trying to screw the needles back together.  I noticed the problem a lot more using the round tips than the square ones.

UPDATE: I got a response from Knitter's Pride that the needles should not come unscrewed and that I may have gotten some defective tips.  I tried a few other tips, and sure enough, with most of the tips, both the round and square ones stayed in place with magic loop, back-and-forth knitting, and standard circular knitting.  While it was a bummer that several of the ones I tried were problematic, it's nice to know they have a good replacement policy: If you happen to get tips that won't stay in, Knitter's Pride will replace them free.

Overall, these needles are a great addition to a knitter’s tool chest.  I think I’d recommend the square rather than the round tips for simply because they seem to stay together a bit better, and I recommend the fixed circulars without reservation.

Here are my notes for each needle type:

16” FIXED CIRCULAR SQUARE TIPS, Size US #2/2.75 mm

Pros

Lovely, sharp tips
Smooth, comfortable finish
Smooth join between needle and cord

Cons 

None

Notes

I think I’ll get a lot of use out of these for hats and cowls.  I didn’t particularly notice the square tips feeling different than what I’m used to, but I also didn’t notice any hand cramping, which I often get when using the shorter tips that are necessary for 16” needles.

Bottom Line

I would recommend these to any knitter.

ROUND INTERCHANGEABLE NEEDLES

For the review I used the US #4/3.5 mm tip with a 32” cord and tried both my favorite small-circumference knitting method - magic loop -  and regular circular knitting.

Pros

Lovely, sharp tips
Smooth, comfortable finish
Smooth join between needle and cord
While it seemed a little stiff to me before I started working, the cord actually worked perfectly well for magic loop.  

Cons

Even after tightening with the included tool, the tips seemed to come slightly unscrewed every round.  It didn’t mess up my work, but it did slow me down.

Notes

The unscrewing issue won’t stop me from using these, but it may have me reaching for the square tips first.

Bottom Line

I wouldn’t recommend these since the square ones seem to stay attached better.
UPDATE: I can go ahead and recommend these since they have a good policy on replacing problematic needles.

SQUARE INTERCHANGEABLE NEEDLES

For the review I used US #8/5 mm tip with a 32” cord.  I tried both magic loop and regular circular knitting with this cord.

Pros

Lovely, sharp tips
Smooth, comfortable finish
Smooth join between needle and cord
Cord was flexible enough for magic loop method
The square tips seemed to come unscrewed much less frequently.

Cons

Every now and again, I did notice the tips starting to come undone.

Notes

I was curious how the larger square tips would feel, and while it’s definitely more noticeable than with the US #2/2.75 mm one, it didn’t seem like a vastly different knitting experience.  They felt slightly more substantial and easier to grip than my usual round tips.

Bottom Line

I would recommend these with the caveat that the tips did occasionally start to come unscrewed.

Have you ever used Knitter's Pride needles?  What are your favorite needle brands and styles?