Addi FlexiFlips

The Addi FlexiFlips are unique knitting needles for knitting in the round. They are like a hybrid needle between double pointed needles and circular needles, and have quickly become my favorite way to knit in the round. They come as a set of 3 and look like very short circular needles. In fact, the cord is only about 1.5” long. They do come in 8 or 10 inch lengths depending on the needles size you choose, which can be anywhere between US 0 (2mm) and US 11 (8mm). My favorite feature is that they are sharper on one end and rounded on the other, so you can use your preferred side, or switch depending on your yarn and stitch.

You knit with them by dividing your stitches between two needles, and using the empty needle to knit with. The flexible cord in the center allows your work to bend to a round shape so that you can knit comfortably, and it also helps to keep your stitches towards the center of the needle so they don’t slip off while you’re on-the-go.

Pros

I find these needles make knitting in the round faster and easier. The metal is very smooth so my stitches slide very easily across them, and the pointed needle tip allows me to knit fast while catching the stitch every time.

If you are a fan of double pointed needles for your projects in the round, I find the Addi FlexiFlips to be a lot easier. Since you are knitting with 3 needles instead of 4 or 5, there are a lot less needles to navigate your hands around while working on tighter areas of the project. As well, I find that I can hold the tension tighter between needles, so I am no longer getting gaps between stitches between needles.

If you prefer knitting on circular or magic loop, you will find the Addi FlexiFlips to have a very similar feeling to those methods. The big difference between circular and the FlexiFlips, is that you can more easily work shaping on the FlexiFlips. The short cord in the center of the needle gives enough flexibility so that you can work with very few stitches. I like to use these needles for socks, and the short rows at the heel flap and toe are easy to manipulate with these needles. I prefer these to magic loop as you don’t have as much cord in the way of your knitting, and the needle tips are very short compared to longer circular knitting needles.

Cons

When I first cast on a project with these needles, it took about 1 sock until I had gotten the hang of knitting with them. They do have a bit of a learning curve because you need to hold your hands differently that you would with double pointed needles or circulars. Now that I have gotten the hang of it, they feel like second nature, but I do recall powering through a fumbly sock in the beginning.

The design of the product is overall very useful, however, I find the cord to be a bit stiff. It is a very short cord, so you are losing the flexibility that comes with the length on circulars, but the plastic material is thick and stiff. If these were more flexible, I could see my experience improving a lot as it would be easier to bend the needles around smaller stitch counts.

Overall, I absolutely love the Addi FlexiFlips! I have made the switch from traditional double pointed needles to these for all of my small in-the-round projects. Once I got the muscle memory of how to use them, I am knitting very efficiently with these needles, and plan to use them for more complicated round projects in the future.