So, people ask, so let’s talk a bit about long dpns. I haven’t yet found a perfect source for them (translation, I buy them where I can and hoard them like a greedy dragon).

My very favorite ones are some bamboo needles I found at Daiso in San Francisco about six years ago. I’ve looked for more every time I’ve been back, but without any luck. But if you live near one, by all means look.⁣

I’ve also got some wooden ones from a vendor I won’t name that I thought would be great, but they ended up being so wildly inconsistent in size (a needle would be labeled a size 3 but was really a 2…or a 4…or a 5) that they were not practical to use.

I’ve got a lovely set from Indian Lake Artisans that are fabulous for plied yarns but a little grabby on single ply yarns (this is fine, it doesn’t mean anything bad about the needles or the yarn, some yarns and needles just need a little more care in pairing).

Then there are the metal ones. I’ve found a few sellers on etsy that sell some very very inexpensive metal needles. You can find the same ones on sites like ali express. They’re shockingly cheap (think ten bucks for a set of six different sizes), but they take a good six weeks to arrive and you get what you pay for. I basically order two sets and expect half of them to be bent or have the finish chipped or have rough spots or be otherwise flawed in some way…oh and they tend to have some sort of weird oil on them you need to wash off before you use them. Plus also they don’t exactly win you any points on the shop local/buy from small vendors bingo card.  But man…when a set of those works out to three or four bucks and fancier one is more like thirty (if you can even find it)…it has a certain appeal.

I’ve seen several recommendations to check out places that sell knitting belts (because you often use long needles with those), and that sounds very promising. But these are the places I’ve tried and can speak to personally.

So yeah…no one perfect one size fits all solution. But the search is kind of fun (and it gives you an extra excuse to check out the tools in every yarn shop you see).