Knitting newbie - straight needles worth it?

[Harahune]

I just started knitting a couple months ago and am just about to finish my first project (a simple pair of fingerless mitts that I can't actually use until Winter, yay!). Trying to be cost effective, the first few needles I bought were one set of small DPNs and a few different sizes of interchangable circular needles. These have worked fine so far but I want to get a few more sets of needles, particularly in other materials to see if I like something else better (right now I'm using harmony wood needles). I like the looks of some of the straight needles I've found but I'm not sure there's much point to them if I already have circulars and a few DPNs. Are there any advantages to straight needles compared to circulars or long DPNs, where you can knit both straight and in the round, other than just looking pretty and possibly costing a dollar or two less?

[MerigoldinWA]

I have a few straight needles in short lengths (10 inches), but I could live without them very easily. Circulars are much more versatile. With flexible cabled, pretty long ones you can do small projects via magic loop and flat things of any length on the short end and as big a project as you can comfortably get stitches on the needle.

Some folks like long straight needles, but I'm not one of them. I have some, but they reside in the bottom of my needle satchel. I think that many people who use them knit by holding a needle under their arm or propping it somehow. If you don't do those things you probably don't need them.

There are some cute straights. I saw some with little elephants, frogs, etc. on the ends. Cute but not cost effective for me. Most of the straights I've picked up are from second hand store finds.

[Jan in CA]

Welcome to Knitting Help!

I don't care for straight needles, but I do own a few sets. You can do everything with circulars so they are fine.

[Harahune]

Thanks.

That's kind of what I thought. I might like to try them but since I like flat knitting on circulars I don't really see much of a reason to use straights. I do get a bit frustrated sometimes with my circulars though since the yarn likes to stick on the taper between the cable and the needle. That might be helped if I switch to metal circulars though since I use wood ones right now.

[Jan in CA]

Metal needles are more slippery for most yarns. It also depends on the size of needle and the join itself.