The Boye Needle Master Kit 7312 Needle System

[knitAbikini]

Hey Guys~
I was wondering if anyone owns or knows about the Boye NeedleMaster Interchangeable Needle Kit. I just bought one on eBay and an getting a bit nervous becuase I need cable sizes 12" 14" and 16" and it touts 20" 24" 29" and 36" but also states that you can create unlimited custome sizes. It looks like they made a couple different models of this so I don't know what exactly I'm getting...hmm. Thanks for your input!
here's the kit: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=009

[knittingrookie]

You can take a look here:
http://www.wrights.com/wrights/produ...mates_accs.htm

I think the package comes with cables to create 20", 24", 29", 36" circulars, but they do have something called Knitmates cables that you can purchase separately.

[suzeeq]

The needle tips are about 4" each, so that would add 8" to each cord. Hobby lobby sells the pieces separately and their cord lengths are 12", 16 and 21" length. The full set also has a 14" cord, and includes a joining piece to combine cords to make the longer needles.

[sinistral_needler]

Sue is correct about the length of the 3 cords. There are 2 joiners, so if you needed a really long cord, you can do it.

I have a needle master kit and I really like it. The joins on the cord are slightly bulky, especially if your tension is tight. Overall, I would reccomend it!!

[knitAbikini]

Okay, so it sounds like 20" circular is the smallest size I will be knitting on, with a 12" cord and 8" needles, is that correct?

[sinistral_needler]

That is correct, which is why the auction lists them as 20in, 24in, 29in, 36in lengths - the measurements include the cords and the needles.

[Jeremy]

If you don't have the cords you want you can buy more from the factory fairly inexpensively.

[suzeeq]

But they only have the same sizes available, nothing shorter than the 12" cord.

[knitAbikini]

That seems strange, though because isn't it best to knit a hat on 16" circular for a 20" head?....And especially for a baby you need something way smaller than even that....why don't they include smaller sizes in this kit? Or does this system really cover a wide range of projects, am I just spazzing out over nothing?

[Lisa R.]

I don't know about Boye, but Knitpicks options explains that the interchangeable tips don't work well at sizes smaller than than the 24 inch because the tips have to be so much smaller to make the circle (i.e., with 4 inch tips, that's 8 inches of needle, so a 12 inch circular would then only have a 4 inch cord, and couldn't bend into a circle. Knitpicks sells fixed circulars in smaller sizes than their interchangeables. I haven't checked, but perhaps Boye does the same thing.

I got a set of the Boye on sale a month or so ago, for my dd for Christmas. I hope they're decent needles. I love my knitpicks, but I'm not spending that much on a 10yo.!