Last December, my husband demanded that I write him out a list of things I wanted for Christmas. After much hesitation and repeatedly saying “just get me whatever, I’m sure I’ll like it”, I gave in and sat down to write out my “here’s a huge list of crap you should know I like because we’ve been together long enough” list. I’m almost positive that he instantly felt regret over this demand the moment I handed him an entire college-ruled page full of anything I could possibly think of that I would like to get as a gift. I told him he could just use the same list for the next 20 years of birthdays, anniversaries, and any other gift-giving holiday or just because occasions. However, this IS my husband we are talking about and it took him all of a week before he lost the mega list and had to text me asking to name some things I could remember from the list. I’m also quite subtle, as evidenced in exhibit A (this was before we were actually even engaged):
Of course, I am not your typical girly-girl. I’m not big into purses. I suck at doing my hair or makeup. I’d ask for a new wallet, except for the small fact that I never have any cash to put in it and it would only fill up with receipts from the gas station while I dig through the five pounds of change that sit at the bottom of my purse to buy a drink at said gas station because my dumb ass has left my bank card and driver’s license at home in the pocket of the pants I wore the day before. So, what AM I into? Knitting. I have a bigger stash than your grandma, I absolutely love to knit/crochet. It is seriously my most relaxing distraction; it keeps me busy and has even helped me to successfully quit smoking. So on my list, I had asked for a set of Addi Click Lace Long-Tip interchangeable circular knitting needles and told him right where to go to order them. Of course, my husband is a very last-minute kind of guy and doesn’t pay attention to the fact that I said they had to be special ordered. He strolls into Gosh Yarn It! A little yarn boutique located in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Luckily, the two ladies that own the boutique are very sweet, helpful souls. Long story short—he couldn’t remember exactly which needle set I wanted, freaked out over the price, and walked away with a $100 gift card to put in my stocking so I can order the damn needles myself. So I did, and I am in love.
This set includes eight different sized tips (US sizes 4-11), three pliable “lifeline” cords that make 24”, 32”, and 40” needles. It also comes with a connector, a gold heart pin, and a needle gauge. The tips on the Addi Click Lace sets are pointier than most knitting needles. These are also made of a nickel-plated metal. This set comes in a pink pleather case that folds over and snaps closed, with a zipper pocket on the back side that holds your cords and needle gauge.
Now, while I did say I was in love with them, there are a few areas where I feel these fell a bit short. My main issue is that I have a hard time reading the sizes on the tips. The tips are nickel-plated, so they are very shiny to start with and light reflects off them like crazy when you’re trying to read them, and the sizes are printed on the tips in sort of a gunmetal gray color. I do have the short-tip set which has the same style printing, and I have found that after extended use that it seems to wear off and gets a bit harder to see. It’s not exactly the end of the world, really. I mean, they do include a needle gauge with the set so you can always find out the size that way. I’m honestly not sure that there would be any other logical way to avoid this, since if they actually went and engraved or raised the print it would take away from the smoothness of the surface- which would then completely defeat their claims of a faster needle since the yarn would just snag on that area. No biggie. I’ll deal with it.
Another issue I find that I personally have with the click system, in general, is that I sometimes have a difficult time actually getting them to “click”. The ends of the cords have small grooves that you have to line up with an indented dot on the tip itself. Once you insert the cord into the tip, you’ll feel a spring inside the tip that you have to push in a little bit and then turn to lock or “click” the cord into place. Yeah, sometimes that crap just doesn’t click for me no matter how many times I try. I’ve even thought maybe one of my tips were defective, and since they have a lifetime warranty I brought them back to Gosh Yarn It, only for the lady to get them to lock into place on her first try and make me look like a complete imbecile.
Another downside is that with the long tips, they aren’t functional with the shorter cords. So if you wanted to make a sock or a hat, you’re kind of out of luck– unless you have an extra needle in that size to use two needles to knit in the round, or are comfortable with using the longest cord and going the magic-loop route.
Aside from those issues that are more than likely just operator defects rather than actual issues, I am truly in love with this set. I like the long-tip set much more than the short-tip set (the two sets are pretty much identical, except the long-tip set obviously has a little bit longer tips).
For me personally, with the way I hold my needles with the short tips (again, total operator dysfunction haha) my palms end up bending the cords down where it connects to the tip and I feel like I’m going to just bend and break the cord. It hasn’t happened and the cords have definitely proved more than sturdy—but in my mind, I just fear I will break them so I feel much more comfortable with the long tips.
Another one of my favorite features with the cords themselves is that they have what they call the “Addi lifeline”. It is basically a small slit at each end of the cord that you thread a thinner string/thread through to use as a “lifeline” as you’re knitting to hold a row of stitches for you.
By the way, lifelines are amazing to use if you’re like me and you have a tendency to not pay attention to what the hell you’re doing and then mess up and rage quit because you have to start the project that you’ve been working on for-freaking-ever from the very beginning because you have no clue how to only go back far enough to fix your mistakes without destroying everything else you’ve done.
Anyway, this feature makes it so much easier to have a lifeline as once you thread the line through the cord, you just continue knitting, or you can simply slide your stitches over the lifeline and then remove the lifeline from the slit in the cord. You no longer need to grab a yarn needle and manually go through each stitch. I’m not going to lie, though, I do sometimes have a bit of difficulty getting the slit to open and getting a thread through. It’s one of those things that just take a little practice and patience. I don’t recommend wine during this part.
My main selling point for these was the tips themselves. I am a self-taught knitter. I have not been knitting since I was 4 sitting on Nana’s lap so I really wasn’t fluent until I got these. The tips are pointier than regular knitting needles—but not sharp. This helps you to be able to get into the stitch a little bit faster, and since the tips are nickel-plated metal, the yarn glides so nicely over them. This combination in itself has helped me tremendously to pick up some speed with my knitting… not that I’ll ever get these 30 projects done before Christmas or anything, but nonetheless I am considerably faster when I use these needles. I also really like the nickel-plating on the tips because I feel like the metal ones from the craft stores get this weird funky aluminum smell to them after they’ve warmed up in your hands for a bit, where as with the nickel-plated needles I’ve used haven’t had that issue.
So yes, my husband absolutely did have a tantrum when he found out that this set costs $180 USD, which Google converts to roughly $233 CAD. However, when taking into consideration you get 8 tips and 3 cords which gives you 24 different size/length combinations, and the fact that each size tip alone can cost anywhere from $12-17 not including the cord which is an additional $5-10 per cord—you really are saving quite a bit of money on the set rather than buying them individually or buying regular circular needles in different lengths that can also become costly. I am really glad that I made the investment in the set because I feel they really are an amazing quality and I love the case as well as the quality of the case. I would definitely recommend these to the avid knitter. If you find you don’t love them– I know a great place for people to send their unloved knitting and crochet supplies (insert awkwardly exaggerated wink here).
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