Knitting Friday - Review of Boye Needlemaster

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Knitting Friday - Review of Boye Needlemaster

Something a little different this week; a review on Friday. I wanted to review the Boye Needlemaster interchangeable circular needle kit for a few weeks. As you know, I got re-introduced to Boye when I used a very old kit (generous gift from a deceased knitter's family) last week. I had too many WIPs on US 10 needles so I grabbed the Boye 10 and after using a wacky extra connector between the cable and the tip (this has been eliminated in the newer kits), I started a summer top and although I do have a better/more expensive US 10 available now, I'm still happily knitting on the Boye (pictures, next week.)

But what really got me interested in posting a full review of Boye is the discussions of interchangeable needle sets on Ravelry. Almost to a reply, every such forum thread has a few die-hard Boye users but mostly there are comments like "when I couldn't afford better........", "a starter kit", "save your money and get better." Which got me thinking: The US economy is very lousy for a lot of people who have to save their money for some other very basic needs (health care, food, rent.) Why don't I review Boye as an equal alternative to more expensive needles (over $200) and not as a poor sister? 

 

But the push I needed was the fact that Amazon is selling the Boye kit for $30.44 with free shipping. So, here goes.

Boye Needlemaster

The picture at the left is a present day Boye kit. The case is passable plastic. The needles are arranged by size with the size printed above each needle. At the bottom of the case, you see the cables. The weave through plastic holders on the right, left and bottom. I would remove these cables from the bottom holders and just weave them through the side ones since the stress to the plastic as you remove them is definitely going to break that bottom holder. On the top of the case, you can see accessories in plastic cases under the needle tips. This is all a good storage idea but you have to remove about 2 or 3 sets of tips to get to them. My suggestions: Remove the accessories and place them in a small ziplock bag in the case. Overall opinion of the case: some good storage and labeling; bigger would be better since the tightness of the compartments will lead to breakage.

 

Case in bigger case

 The picture on the left shows the Boye case in a bigger zippered case I found laying around.  (Moral: Never throw anything out.) This bigger case has one big pocket and that's where I'm storing tips which are connected to cables. The Boye case measures 8" x 7" and the bigger case is 8.5" x 10".

Traveling Loop

On to the needle tips and the cables. A big complaint about cables is that they are not flexible. Guilty as charged. They are really stiff but the traveling loop piece on the right was done with a Boye #8 and the longest cable which made tip to tip equal 35+". My biggest problem with knitting this circle was not the stiff cable (you can see that in the picture) but remembering how to work a traveling loop. So, though I don't knit socks, I imagine this would work for them.

At first the metal of the tips feels sticky but use makes them slicker than bamboo but not the "slipping off the needle" slick of many metals.

So far, all the tip to cable connections have tightened without a hitch and seem smooth. However, one cable has a plastic burr by the connection. That really felt snagging troublesome but I remembered that a Raveler had suggested sandpaper for such burrs. Too lazy to go into the basement, I used an emery board and it worked. In fact, the traveling loop was done with this cable.

The smallest cable length is 20" and I used the US 2 tips to make the lace on the left.

Lace on US 2

I can't say I enjoyed knitting this (At first I thought it was the 20" cable length but I think it was the yarn, crochet cotton.) but the tips were pointy enough to work the *YO, K2tog* without dropping a stitch; a frequent problem with even sharper points. And speaking about points. I don't know if you can see in the first and second picture, but I think the needle tips are very adequate in the area of pointedness.

My usual pattern

 

 

 And finally, a picture of my typical knitting pattern on 24" cables and US 10. I had no problem knitting this. Two things you notice with the picture: boy, is that knitting askew and you could garrote someone with that stiff cable! 

 

Would I buy Boye? Obviously, that answer is yes. Would I "go to" Boye for my knitting or is it a last resort? I look at  the Boye set just the way I would a more expensive one: if I needed a certain size needle, I wouldn't hesitate to use Boye. Is the unscrewing a problem? Not for me but I'm used to interchangeables and I do think the way you knit and the type of pattern you're working may contribute more or less to this problem. Do I hate the stiffness of the cables? I do like ChiaGoo-type flexible cables but I don't run shrieking from the Boye cables.

 

Bottom line: When I price interchangeable sets, I don't say I got x number of tips for x dollars, I count the number of cables and divide that into the price since you really can only make 4 or 5 needle combinations at one time. So at $84, the 9 Knit Picks Harmony needles with 4 cables cost $21 each and the Boye Needlemaster at $30 with 13 tips and 4 cables cost $7.50 each. Adding the extra 5 tips in the Boye kit, you have a steep savings.  I'm not even doing the math for Dyakcraft, Addi, etc. which go for $160+. If you're in it for the knitting (form follows function) and not the beauty/exclusivity of the product (Dyakcraft), I would definitely recommend Boye Needlemaster.

 

And a really final bottom line: Purchasing Boye replacements is crazy. The first picture shows an included replacement form which is so old, you can only pay by mailing the form in with a check. Also, I know it's old because shipping at the Boye online site has jumped from $1.50 (on the form) to $3.25 so you could wind up paying $6+ for one 16" cable which is more than 20% of the cost of the entire set.

Next week: the first top I knitted on my new Boyes. Happy knitting.