I heart Addi Turbo!

Ever since I bought some Addi circular needles, I can't stop singing praises about them! I used to think all knitting needles were the same and should be treated no differently from the next. But then the more I knitted, the more I built preferences for certain brands and material the needles were made from. I had highly favored bamboo over metal, until I knitted with KnitPicks' Harmony wood needles. Not only did the Harmony wood feel as light as air like the bamboo, but it allowed yarn to glide easily across the smooth needle, where sometimes the bamboo would have the tiniest nick that would cause the yarn to snag a little. The tips were pointy and the joints! The joints are so smooth that I didn't have to stop every 10 seconds to wrestle the yarn over onto the needle (I'm a tight knitter). Then there's the beautiful appearance of the needle itself. Absolutely gorgeous! Who wouldn't enjoy knitting more with those beautifully colored needles?? I thought I would never be able to knit with anything else ever again.

That is, until I knitted with Addi Turbo needles! Don't get me wrong, I still love the Harmony wood, but in my books Addi is right at the very top. Numero uno. I'm wondering why I haven't discovered Addi before! Just like the Harmony, Addi needles are very lightweight, have the smoothest joints ever, and the kicker - the cable is pliable the second it comes out of the package. I've always had issues with circulars for that very reason. I was always so disgruntled to knit with circulars longer than 16 inches, solely on the fact that longer cables were so stiff and stayed coiled up even after weeks of use. Not so with the Addis.

I'll also admit that I was skeptical about the "knit faster with the amazing Addi Turbo" written on the packaging. But I have to say, I really do knit faster with them! Granted that I stop over-analyzing the pattern, that I actually read the pattern, and that I don't make too many mistakes (cause of that magpie attention span that I seem to have!). I think this is cause the tips are so nice and pointy that they have no trouble whatsoever in picking up even the hardest stitches, (and trust me, I seem to always encounter those kind of stitches!) and they don't pierce through the yarn. And like the Harmony, I'm not spending my time coaxing the yarn across the joints. I don't think I ever had to think about that the entire time I've knitted with the Addis. Pure heaven! Oh! And an added bonus: the needle size and cable length are all printed on the cable itself! The majority of my circulars have no info on them, so whenever I knit with them I'm pretty OCD about making sure the packaging is in my project bag. It's no big deal really, but it's definitely a hassle when you have no idea what size the needle is.

Another knitting needle brand that I'm loving: HiyaHiya. I've never heard of this brand before, until I went to Three Bags Full in Vancouver. They're much cheaper than the Addi, a few dollars less than the Harmony, but much, much better in quality than the others. I really can't say anything bad about them. And what I thought made HiyaHiya needles stand out from the rest: each needle package came with a free pattern* for a hat and a locking stitch marker!! How cute is that??

So to sum it up, my top 3 favorite knitting needles are Addi Turbos in first, with KnitPicks Harmony wood and HiyaHiya tied for second. And please note, I'm not getting paid by Addi to say how wonderful their needles are. I also don't think they are the one and only needles knitters should knit with. This post is about my preferences and I understand that each knitter has their own opinions about stuff like this. This just happens to be mine. I just couldn't get over how great the Addi is in my current project that I had to write about them!

So, with that said, what is everyone knitting with and what's your favorite knitting needles?

*My needles came with a pattern in all 3 packages, so I can't say for sure if they do put a free pattern in each package.