Review: Interchangeable circular needles from KnitPicks

I've been wanting to buy interchangeable circular needles for a long time now, but had no idea which ones to choose. As most of the needle sets are quite expensive, I wanted to test which needle tips are going to be the best for me. KnitPicks came with a nice and reasonable priced TRY IT needle kit of their best-selling needle tips - one pair from the wooden Harmony, the acrylic Zephyr and the metal Nickel Plated collection plus two cables, key and 4 stoppers.

I am so happy I got this set as now I know how it feels to work with each type of the needles. I've tested each pair of tips on both acrylic & wool yarn, lace and worsted weights and the Harmony wooden tips  definitely win. The tips are very sharp and smooth, perfect for precise lace knitting and great for heavier yarn as well. The Nickel Plated tips are great as well, perfect for heavy yarn but a bit too slippery for lace yarn. The Zepyr tips get a huge NO from me as I was not able to knit more than 10 stitches on them due to the terrible feel of acrylic/wool blend yarn on acrylic needles. 

I've read about many people having problems with the connection between cables and needle tips. In my case, I had no problems at all. I just made sure that the connection is nice and tight (use of the small key is advised). What I like about the cables is that they are very flexible, great for knitting socks or mittens using the magic loop method.

My opinion? I'm definitely a huge fan of the Harmony wooden needle tips, they are not only beautiful but also great to work with any type of yarn. 

The only bad thing about KnitPicks is that I am not able to order from their site as they don't ship outside USA. I have to use one of the European resellers instead (and pay more). A bit annoying if you ask me....