I’ve always used wood for crochet, but chose metal ChiaoGoos when I bought my first set of interchangeable knitting needles a year or so ago. While I’ve enjoyed using them, I’ve been thinking for a while that I wanted to try wood and/or bamboo.
I began by ordering a 100cm fixed circular KnitPro Symfonie 4mm and a pair of bamboo Hiya Hiya 4mm tips with an 80cm cable. I would have preferred a tip/cable combo for the KnitPro so it was a more comparable contest, but didn’t want to splash out on the starter kit.
I’d already swatched for and cast on my mystery rainbow Pogona, and was part-way through the increases when the new needles arrived. I decided to try the Hiya Hiyas first. I loved them from the very first stitch! They are of course grippier than my metal needles, but nowhere near as grippy as I was expecting from things I’d read about bamboo previously. The grippiness allows me to work much more in the tips of my needles than I ever have with metal, and although there can’t be much difference in terms of weight, they are light enough to feel like I have no ‘equipment’ between my fingers, and the fabric is simply being made by my hands. They are great for a slippery yarn like the mystery rainbow. I’m really enjoying working with a thinner, more flexible cable than on my ChiaoGoos, and I think I’ll be much happier working magic loop with them. The cable also has the ability to swivel, so I no longer find myself twiddling the needle round to the correct angle at the start of each row.
I was so impressed with them that I was very tempted not to try the KnitPros at all, well, at least not until I started a different project. But in the interests of fairness (and setting out what I originally intended to do – to road-test different needles on the same pattern/wool), I switched to them about a third of the way through the Pogona. They lasted only a few rows before swapping back! Although the wood was smoother, it felt waxier than the bamboo and ironically grippier. I was not impressed by the join, even though it was a fixed rather than an interchangeable tip, and there was a slight burr on one tip (something I have also experienced with their crochet hooks).
I’ve already ordered a set of the Hiya Hiyas; for me they won hands down!