I love circular needles. Right now I am knitting a round baby blanket, which would be impossible to do without my 29" circulars. A great tool for anything done in the round, like hats, etc. They also come in very handy when you are knitting a wide afghan with more stitches than will fit on straight needles. I even like to use my short circulars when a straight needle would do. They are light, and I never have to worry about dropping a needle if I'm knitting during a meeting and don't want to disturb anyone. And, although most socks are done with double pointed needles, the tiny circulars are great for that job.

I love circulars, also. Anything that can be done on strait needles can be done on circulars. I don't drop needles that way, no more turning the chair upside down to look for needles that have fallen thru, no lost needle in the car while knitting socks. As Donna says, anything that is knitted in the round can/will use circulars. There are still a few things that I like strait needles for, but for the most part, I use circulars. And I switch between my beloved bamboo needles and turbos, depending on the yarn I am using and what the project is. For socks, I seem to have better luck with turbos. Right now I have a scarf on strait acrylic needles, size 13. I didn't like the way the bamboo worked with the yarn.

Tami

You can't lose just one needle and be unable to finish your project.

Thank you - I didn't think about these circulars being used for round things. I have not made anything round yet so that is why I have not seen these being required. Good to know you can use on other things too. I wanted to tackle a large throw for my couch and maybe that will be better to use.

While on the topic, what is the advantage to bamboo needles? Someone in the knitting class had them and the instructor referred to them as the cadilac of needle.

deb

Whether or not they are "Cadillac" of needles will vary person to person. I definitely love bamboos, but wouldn't want to use ONLY bamboos. I find steel needles too slippery for some yarns and go to my bamboos to keep the stitches from jumping off the needles. I love bamboo dpns as well. But there are some yarns that just drag on bamboo. I hear people say Addies are the best. I recently bought a circular pair, but have not had opportunity to use them yet. I don't particularly care for any plastic or acrylic needles, but that's just my opinion.

Circular needles are good for traveling on an airplane too because they don't stick out.

LOL, socks, that was BEFORE 911

Now you can not take knitting needles, darning needles on planes.

I like thecirculars a lot. I have several in each size, and in different length.

Moni

I knit as much as possible on circular needles. They are so convenient, pack down tight, and as others have said, hard to lose. I really favor the Addi circulars - very smooth and great with all kinds of yarns.

I have not had any trouble taking any kind of knitting needles on flights. I still would not try to take a darning needled or scissors on a flight - I just pack those in my checked luggage. I have a knitting friend who had her wooden circular needles broken by security in London, but that's the only unhappy knitting needle/airport story I have firsthand knowledge about.

No need for scissors on an airplane if you have a "thread cutting" pendant. It is a circular pendant with a blade permanently affixed inside. There are slots around for you to slide your yarn into, the blade inside cuts the yarn. No way to cut your fingers, no way to use it as a weapon. The only thing I have noticed is they always want to look closely at it because it looks very strange in the x-ray. And, since you can wear it around your neck, no digging through your knitting bag to find it when you need it.

Put a plastic yarn needle in your knitting bag, I doubt it will be confiscated. I have brought plastic and metal crochet needles, in my knitting bag, and have not had them taken from me. I haven't tried knitting needles per se, but I have seen scores of people knitting in airports. A few have been bamboo, but I have seen metal as well. Well, at least DTW, CLE, LGA, and ORD.

My only beef with the one circular knitting needle I have, is that the "cord" that connects the needles is narrower than the needle. I find my stitches hang up on it and it frustrates me. I think a higher quality round needle might not have that problem.