Knitter’s Pride Smart Stix Review

Hey everyone, it's Deja with knitandcrocheteverafter.com, and I am back. I know you've been waiting because I hinted at it in my last Knitter's Pride Needle review that I got a second set, and now I'm here to show you that set and to try it out. So the second one that I requested, because I was like, these are awesome and I have to try them, I have to see if they're as cool as they seem, are the Smart Stick Knitter's interchangeable needle set. So if you haven't heard of these yet, they're kind of new. They're new to me because I've never tried them, but they Are as you can see there's kind of colors in between the silver and that's because each segment is supposed to be like an inch long so that they are kind of measuring needles while also being normal needles so that's why it's called the smart stick and it's got kind of the ruler logo there because you're supposed to be able to measure with these and I was like that That is brilliant. Why hasn't anybody thought of that? So I want to see. How handy they actually are. Do they really help? Is it, can you use it in place of your gauge checker? Like could I just leave my stitches on here and like count how many stitches are there? Will that, like if I spread out my work, would that work? I don't know. I want to see what I can do with these. So let's dig in and see what comes with these. Okay so out of the package you You get the case, which is incredibly much bigger than the Symphony Cubics. I got these right here. You can see the size difference. This thing is so much more large. I'm trying to think of a better word. I need cinnamon. Cinnamon. Synonym. Thesaurus, help me. It's more substantial for sure, so I'm wondering what's coming in here to make it so much bigger. So there's a little kind of tag thing on it, and it's got what's in in here so... Let me get out my handy-dandy reading light because that's really small and y'all know I'm blind. So, let's see. Nine tips, I believe our symphony had seven, so I get a two extra tips US size four five six seven eight nine ten ten and a half and eleven and then metric So those are the two extra you get a three point five and a three point seven five compared to the symphony Cubics which started at four so you get three point five three point seven five four four and a half five five and a half six six and a half and eight and then Four chords. I really love the cubics with their color chords, and I'm wondering if these aren't all color coordinated, if I can switch, if I can interchange the cords, hopefully. There's a 24, two 32s and 140, and it says marked at one inch intervals. So maybe the cord is also marked. That would be so cool. But it's kind of a little, wheel of benefits. So we have reduce clutter, test weight, because you could wrap per inch, very smart. It says knit smarter, save time. Ooh, that one's hard to read. I think it says check cage. I have no clue that this one is like, no way I'm reading that. I got to get my mag light out as in my mag on my phone where I take a picture and spread it out so I can actually Let's actually see what those say. Those last two, I don't know what it says. I'm going to have to, when I get closer, I'll get my phone out for the magnifying. So I love the colors of these. These are awesome. They are so pretty. And let's see, I guess, yeah, that's how they're stored. And they're kind of, I want to, like, do they store anywhere else? Or are they just, because they're kind of in, like, like, um. I gotta get closer. This is not, to explain it, I just, I don't know if it seems like these will break over time. Maybe they're strong. I don't know. It kind of seems a little iffy they might break eventually, the things that hold them. But let me look at these cords real quick because I'm really interested to see about this one inch interval. Oh, it looks like there's some stoppers and cord keys. How do you open this? Where's the edge? So I can see dots, and they're color coordinated, so that's awesome. I love when it's got colors. Let's do the small one. Okay so there's like little dots on the cords. They don't go all the way around so they're not super visible but they I think it would be good enough to work you know to measure which I love because then it kind of makes stuff easy like especially if you're making a scarf and you're trying to figure out how wide it is like you can just spread it out on this that could be very cool. But I'm going to get a close-up of this and the needles and everything and work a project so that you can see it in action, but I also want to get out a measuring tape and check these dots and check the needles and make sure that they're an inch, because that's really important, you know? So let's go get a close-up and check these out a little bit more. Okay, here is the up close of the set. The packaging is a lot bigger than the Cubix that I've reviewed. It's much more bulky, but it's got kind of this on-display effect. They're so pretty with these colors that I could see they look like they're in a frame. Stick them up against your wall or on a shelf or something and display them because they're So really pretty. I love that each needle is a different color. You'll see one missing because I've been working on a project with them so that I can give you a full review of what I think rather than just doing a couple stitches. But the colors are all different for each size. These are kind of close. I wish they would have, like, done this blue maybe over here and put this pink here just so that it's not so close in color. But, you know, it's not too bad. I like that they have these size... Printed on the needle. Only problem is it's only on one needle. So let me grab a couple of these so we can look at them a little closer. One thing I'm concerned about, but I'm sure it's not a problem because I figure they wouldn't make the holders cheap with this, you know, much effort put into the packaging or, you know, to the whole into the sleeve. I can't think of a good word of what this is called. But these clear holders, they kind of give me like a plastic hangtag vibe. They're not super stretchy. I just hope that they, like I'm afraid if I pull too hard, pulling out a needle, I might pop, but I would think that they made those very sturdy so that this lasts a long time. With that said, here are the needles. So the one needle is completely blank. There's nothing on it. The other needle will have the size, which I like. It feels like it's, yeah, it's etched. So that's good. So you can feel it. So that way it's not going to rub off over time. And then on the other side, you have your 1 inch, your 2 inch, 3 inch, and 4 inch. The 2 and 4 are obviously a little bit more visible than the 1 and 2, but you know. Looking at it from where I'm at I can see it very clearly, so it's giving you if you got the quick measurement I don't know if it's needed, but it's cute. You know because you know it's supposed to be by the inch Let's see how accurate that is. Let's pull out our gauge checker here Line that up. And it is right on the money, so it is matching what they say So that's good. We don't want off measurements. So that is what the needle looks like. The metal is very smooth and slick. You'll hear more about that when I pull out the project I've been working on. But let me show you what else comes in here. In this little pocket that's over here that I've already emptied out so that I can show you what's in it. I'm going to close this up just to get it out of the way here. We have our cords, we have end caps, and we have the keys to attach the needles and grab it. So the cords also have markings on them so that you can count the inch markings. So each little dot is one inch. Let's make sure these are nice and accurate as well. Two, three, yep, those are right on the money as well, so that is awesome. You have end caps. So if you've never seen these, these are cool. These screw on to your cord so that if you're working a project and you need to take a break and you don't want to lose your stitches, you can take off your needles, put those end caps on, and it will hold your stitches on the cord. So that's awesome. Then we have our keys to attach the needles. And it's just a little kind of piece of metal. Let me grab a needle to show you how they work. It is a little difficult getting those needles out and I'm being super careful because I don't want those little clear things to break. So you'll take your needle, you will screw it on to the end. It's got a good screw length so that even if you didn't tighten it all the way down, it would probably hold on pretty well. But you can, you know, if it's starting to move around when you're knitting, get your key out, stick it in the little hole on the cord. Get it in there. And then you're going to use that for leverage to tighten it down. Same thing for removing it. You'll use it as leverage to get it off of the cord. So those are just handy little things. They give you four of those. They give you eight end caps, so one for each cord and a pair for each cord that come with it. I love that each cord is a different color. There's two 32 inches. That's why there are two green ones. There's a blue and then my 40 inch that's on a project is pink so once you get to know the colors you can easily grab that size that you need from the bag and you're good to go but who cares if they don't work well so let's go grab my project and we'll talk about how well they work okay so i've been using these three and a halfs with my 40 inch cord on this baby blanket this will be a paid pattern in my stores so keep an eye out for that The actual cords and needles are awesome. I have been enjoying working with these. They are super slick. The cords do not twist up on me. They don't... cause problems. And I just want, before I start knitting, let me show you real quick, because you can stretch out your project on the cord and it will help you with your measurements. With these dots you can see, so if you're guesstimating a size, if you don't want to make it to gauge but you want to make sure it's at least this much wide or that much wide, you can stretch it out and kind of pre-measure it while you're working, which is super handy. I actually kind of did that with this project. I was kind of like, I want it less than 40 inches, but I'm not sure what size I want it yet. So I used my multiple and the cord and went with it. So that helped a lot. The needles themselves, I love how pointy the tips are, it gives me addy lace vibes, which I like. I like lace tips because you can work just any project with them, they go into the stitches nice and easy, so I love how pointy these tips are. Another thing I like is actually how long these are. I like that they are four inches. I feel like they're a lot longer than a lot of my interchangeables or my fixed circulars, and I like the feeling. They feel different. They feel more comfortable. It actually like kind of rests all the way over my palm, so it's it feels very secure. Like the stitches, I'm all twisted up here, so it's giving me pain to knit here. It's not the needles or the cable, just me not moving my stitches around here. So it feels very comfortable to knit with. You can see my cord's not rolling up on me, it's staying out of the way. And it disperses the stitches really well so it holds them for a while so you're not, like, sometimes when you're knitting and you have short tips, like everything's kind of on the cables and so it's just dragging. With this, you can see I'm barely off of the needle. If I push them, they'll still be on there. And it just kind of, it helps, I think, kind of with the weight distribution. At least for me it is. Like it's been very comfortable to knit this blanket with these needles and I think the four inches has a lot to do with that. You can see that the needles are very slick. I'm not having any problem working these stitches. I'm not getting stuck. The joins at the cables are super smooth. Very easy to work with. The actual needle itself for each of the The color, or the, the. Inch change places are there's a slight Feeling it's super slight like it like it's barely registrable if that's a word But I wanted to point it out just so that you're like, oh this thing's raised or it's depressed I'm not sure which one it is, but it doesn't make a difference. It's not hindering my knitting. It's not catching It's not doing anything. It might just be like from maybe they're painted or it's two different pieces of metal put together together. We're not sure, but The markings are etched in so I don't think I can't see this coating wearing off it should the color should stay the same if unless you know this is a different piece of metal like the metal was made this color you know what I mean you know what I mean so it's it totally works. So as you can see, very easy to use, very comfortable for me. I love the way these feel, and I'm going to be using these like all the time. So the important part, the most important part, is these things have measurements on them. That's the whole point. That's why I wanted to try these. That's why I was excited about these. They can easily tell you Four inches. You can measure anything. You can measure the brim of your beanie, the height of your beanie, the gauges. What I love, especially on big projects like this, because if you don't know already, every day you knit, your gauge will change. Unless you have the same mood every day, it's going to change slightly, sometimes by a lot. If you're happy one day and stressed the next, you might be nice and loose on gauge or really tight on gauge. When you're working a big project that's important, like a sweater or something, you need to know what gauge you're at. So as you're working, work a couple rows that day, stop, pull your needle out, lay it on there, and quickly check your gauge. So you know right away, am I making it, or should I stop and frog this out, wait until another day, change my needle size, whatever it may be. Heirloom projects, you're not going to want to have wonky gauges all the time, so this is totally going to help you out if you're using these while making that. Overall, I am super happy with these. They are exceeding my expectations for the needle, the cable. What I can use these for, they've already come in super handy for me while working this project and I have no complaints with them. I have worked this entire blanket with these needles and they were awesome. The Knitter's Pride, come or the Knitter's Pride SmartSticks which is what these are called they come in the interchangeables they come in fixed circulars and they come in DPNs so you can Pick, you know, what your favorite type of needle is and get these in that style. I have a link in my description so you can go check these out if you want to learn more about them. If you've used them, let me know. Let everybody know how you like them. What do you use the measurements for? What have you found useful about them? Let us know in the comments below. If you want to see more reviews, pattern reveals. Free patterns, be sure to like and subscribe and follow, and I'm Deja with Knit and Crochet Ever After, and thank you for watching.