My dear friend Toni gave me the Options Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Knitting Needle Set.
Having so many pairs of Addi Turbo needles which I love, and of course many pairs of Clover and Crystal Palace I have never bothered with the sets of interchangeable needles from any company before. Also because I had worked in a yarn store I tended to buy what we had for sale in the store rather than look for products outside.
To say I am impressed is an understatement. The needles are so smooth and the yarn I am testing them with is sliding right along the cable, join and needle. These are the first circular needles that have come right out of the container with a cable that is completely flexible and straight on contact. They were easy to assemble and I used the little key to tighten them further and so far they have not come loose or snagged the yarn.
When I checked the needle size with my needle guage I found them slightly on the small size. The yarn I am using has a suggested 4 stitches to the inch on a #9 and I am definitely having to use a #10 to get the correct guage for the pattern I have chosen. It will be very interesting to see what happens when I use a finer yarn with these needles for the next project I want to knit.
Toni had worried that because the wood is made with such beautiful but dark stains that it would be difficult to work with dark coloured yarn. I deliberately chose chocolate brown wool to use and so far in daylight I am not having a problem. But it will be interesting to see how I feel in the evening working under my ott lamp and also when picking up stitches around the neck and armholes of the vest.
So far they have my vote of good quality and ease of use.