Knitting needles can be slippery beasts. How often have you gone to start a knitting project only to find that one of your straight needles or DPNs has sloped off leaving no hint of its whereabouts? Or been ready to move from jumper hem to body only to realise, to your horror, that the circular needle you need next is kinked up beyond recognition? Or, my personal favourite, how often have you called a knitting needle amnesty, gathering up needles from the various corners of your house, only to learn that for inexplicable reasons, you’ve somehow collected six pairs of 6 mm (US 10) needles, despite the fact you rarely knit with anything heavier than a DK-weight yarn?