Lykke Flight Interchangeable Knitting Needles Review

A full review of the Lykke Flight knitting needles. Better than ChiaoGoo?

There’s probably no other set I received more questions about in the past year than the Lykke Flight sets. So many knitters wanted to know if these stainless steel interchangeable knitting needles are worth their price or not!

The short answer: These needles are quite amazing! I already reviewed the Lykke Cypra with somewhat mixed results, but the Flight sets are just amazing. I bought my two sets on Amazon:

• Lykke Flight set
• Lykke Flight mini set

Note: I earn a small commission for purchases made through links in this article.

But let’s get into the knitty-gritty!

The Lykke Flight set: Overview

Lykke offers their Flight interchangeable knitting needles in various sets. Standard, mini, and bulk. They all come with similar accessories, and you can choose from a couple of different fabrics for the pouch.

The standard set comes with 9 pairs of interchangeable knitting needle tips (3.25, 3.50, 3.75, 4.00, 4.50, 5.00, 5.50, 6.00, and 6.50 mm). They also add four cables (60, 80, 101, and 120 cm), 4 cable stoppers, 4 cable keys, 2 cable connectors, and a small silicone pad to screw the needles tight.

The mini set comes with “only” 5 needles, but the size range is quite nice: 2mm, 2.25mm, 2.5mm, 2.75mm, and 3 mm. These sizes need a smaller cord (3 are included). I personally wish the divide was after 2.75 mm. 3 mm is a pretty standard needle size for most European knitters, and it’s a bit annoying that it’s not included.

The pouches themselves are quite sturdy and made from some sort of coated fabric (it almost feels like it was waxed). I’m personally not sure why you can prop the needles up via Velcro. Sure, it makes accessing the needle tips easier, but if you are having problems with that, I’d imagine you are having problems with inserting your fingertips into the small little gap between the two layers in the first place.

I feel they could have invested the same energy in embroidering the needle sizes on the different slots so it’s easier to find the correct size instead.

The little compartment for the accessories is a bit too bulky in my opinion as well. I like that the outer shell/layer of the pouch is reinforced. But because they used the same stiff fabric for the pocket on the inside, storing additional notions beyond what came with the set will be a challenge.

Setting that aside, I do feel you get a good bang for your buck, and the sets offer everything you need. In fact, you get more accessories (like 4 cable keys) than some other brands put into their sets.

The material

The Lykke Flight interchangeable knitting needles are worked in pure stainless steel from tip to cable. The surface is slightly polished and actually quite smooth. When you compare it to the ChiaoGoo Twist needles, the surface is quite a bit smoother and slicker.

I wouldn’t say that there is a dramatic difference in knitting speed. However, I will say that the Lykke Flight needles are much less noisy and don’t produce this irritating grinding noise whenever the two tips touch.

The needle size is engraved at the bottom of each needle stalk in comparatively bold letters, and I do feel that is another little detail that sets these needles apart from their competitors. Lots of knitters are in the last quarter of their lives, and there is absolutely no reason to use a faint grey font that requires a magnification lens.

All needles are hollow inside and feel very light in your hands. I could not notice any major deviation in that regard. A single 4 mm tip weighs ~ 3 grams. That’s the same weight as ChiaoGoo or KnitPro Mindful. Only the HiyaHiya sharps are lighter (~2 grams), but the difference is still so minor that I wouldn’t say most knitters would notice it.

They are also very surprisingly durable. I’ve been knitting a lace shawl using the 2.5 mm needles recently. And normally, a small needle size and complex stitches are typically a recipe for disaster. However, so far I have not ended up with a single crooked tip.

The Needle tips

The Lykke Flight interchangeable knitting needles offer well-balanced sharp tips. These tips could be perfect for complicated stitches and lace patterns. The taper has a pretty standard length – not overly long but not so short that knitting advanced decreases becomes a chore either.

When you compare the tips with the three other major brands for stainless steel needles on the market, you’ll quickly notice what I mean. Only the HiyaHiya tips are sharper. In fact, the Flight tips are a tiny bit sharper than the ChiaoGoo tips (especially the immediate point). However, all three other brands have slightly longer tapers.

This can be a pro and a con. For a nice stitch definition, you need to slide each stitch past the taper. So, the longer the taper is, the longer you need to slide each finished stitch down the right knitting needle. On the other side, a longer taper prevents stitches you go through from wearing out too much, especially when you go through multiple stitches at the same time that all need to be crowded at the tip of your needles.

Still, please be aware that this “short” taper is still quite a bit longer than many wooden or plastic needles offer. It’s a nice middle ground, if you ask me.

One thing that I would like to highlight here is that the tips are all manufactured very precisely. It’s one of my big pet peeves when brands write 5 mm on a knitting needle, but it’s actually 5.1 mm. This WILL change your gauge. Lykke seems to have excellent quality control, and in the two sets that I’ve bought, ALL needles were well within expectations with only minor deviations of 0.01 – 0.05 mms.

The joins

Each needle tip can be connected with a cable to form the circular needle length of your choice. You join the two parts via a screw using a cable key.

Both the connection between the needle tip and the cable connector and the connection between the metal bit and the cable are well done. I would say that brands like Seeknits and ChiaoGoo are a tiny bit ahead, but even when working with lace yarn, the tiny irregularities are nothing that threw me off.

I will note that the screws sometimes don’t glide into the socket quite effortlessly. With some needles/cables there’s a noticeable jarring. It’s not that bad that you need force, but there’s a noticeable resistance that makes you wonder if you set in the screw correctly.

At the same time, I have to note that during my tests, not a single needle came even slightly undone. And that is actually very rare for me. So perhaps, having too perfect sockets is not actually what knitters need.

The cables of the Lykke Flight

All Lykke Flight sets come with coated wire cables. The coating is see-through so you can easily see the twisted wire underneath. Unlike plastic cables, these will never curl right into your face, and a lot of knitters came to enjoy this fact.

As I said, the mini sets use a different cable size than the standard set. And I do feel this is only fair. After all, you don’t want 6 mm stitches sitting on such a whimsically thin cable (that could change your stitch definition).

Still, in this context I have to highlight that you only need one cable size if you buy the standard set. That’s the bit that I like the least when we are talking about brands like ChiaoGoo or Signature Needle Arts. Need multiple cable sizes for needles in the same set kind of defeats the whole purpose of an interchangeable set in my opinion.

Now, I also need to highlight that the Lykke cables might look almost exactly like the famous ChiaoGoo Twist red lace cables, but there are actually noticeable differences. The Lykke Flight cables are slightly thicker (1.6 mm vs 1.5 mm). But more importantly, they are also less flexible.

This can be a pro or a con. If you are constantly knitting socks two at a time, you might welcome the extra stiffness, while for using the traveling magic loop technique it might actually frustrate you.

Less ambiguous is my verdict when it comes to the swivel mechanism. All cables are swivel cables and can rotate freely in their socket. While this adds additional freedom whenever you need to turn your work, it also introduces another weakness (think of the disaster the ChiaoGoo Swiv360 cables were).

The Lykke Swivel cables work like a charm. Even when working with very thin lace yarn, nothing snags. Sure, if you’d combine 6.5mm needles and a cobweb yarn, there probably will come a point where the stitches do get caught. But in all other circumstances, the slight resistance this extra transition creates did not outweigh the benefits you gain. I really like them.

The Accessories

I personally really like it when a brand doesn’t add cheap trinkets to their sets. When I buy knitting needles, I don’t need scissors, a tape measure, or stitch markers. I already have some, and even if I didn’t, I’d rather rely on quality tools from specialized manufacturers.

So, in each of the Lykke Flight sets you get all the accessories you need but nothing more. There are plenty of cable keys and a little rubber patch to facilitate connecting the various bits.

I really like that you get such a wide range of cable lengths (60 – 120 cm). Nothing annoys me more than buying a set only to realize the longest cable is 80 cm and you are forced to buy a spare cable so you can knit your shawl or blanket.

Ideally speaking, there should also be one shorter length (like 40 cm) that will enable you to knit hats or so in one continuous round, but I guess manufacturers need to draw the line somewhere to keep the price competitive.

I’m less convinced of the cable connectors. Sure, you can use them to create a super long cable, but the little metal bit is so long that you’ll create a 7 cm long stiff bit in the middle of your row. In my experience, it’s rather difficult to work around that – even more so with swivel cables.

I’m also not quite as ecstatic when it comes to the cable stoppers. I will say that I kinda like that they added a little ridge/handle on one side to make it easier to screw and unscrew things. However, the socket is pure plastic, and it’s rather difficult to actually screw things tight. They also tend to wear out very quickly, and I wish they had a metal socket (like HiyaHIya or ChiaoGoo)

Summary of my Lykke Flight review

All in all, I would say that Lykke Flight interchangeable knitting needle sets are a well-balanced product that are well worth their price. You get exactly what it says on the packaging, and I don’t think these sets have any drastic weaknesses.

The tips are sharp, the stainless steel is smooth and feels pleasant in your hands, the swivel joins work like a charm, and the durability is well within expectations.

Now, do these needles bring anything new to the market? No! If you already own a stainless steel set, I’d be very hard-pressed to give you any reason to make a switch. When seen from a couple of feet afar, the differences compared to the other big brands on the market (ChiaoGoo, HiyaHiya, KnitPro) are so minor I don’t think they warrant a switch.

I think the possibly biggest factor that speaks for these needles is the fact that they are indeed interchangeable with every single Lykke and every single KnitPro product. So, you can easily use the Flight tips and connect them with the Lykke Cypro or Driftwood cables. You can use the Flight cables and connect them with the KnitPro Karbonz tips, or you could use the KnitPro Nova cables and use them with the Flight tips.

So, if you already own some of these products and want some sharp stainless steel tips to spice up the mix, then they could be a very good choice.

At the same time, I do need to highlight that they are currently somewhat expensive. While I said that I like the fact that you only need one cable size for the standard set, it has to be noted that it “only” comes with 9 tips. Compare that to the standard sets of ChiaoGoo or KnitPro Mindful, which come with 13 or 12 tips.

This means you’d actually have to buy both the standard and the mini set for an equal comparison. And then you’d arrive at a slightly higher overall price and end up with 2 cable sizes just as well. At the same time, if you only need a certain needle size range (e.g., I barely knit with sizes above 5 mm), you’d end up paying less regardless.

Setting such “soft” differences aside, the taper of the Lykke Flight tips is slightly shorter than all of the direct competitors, making it easier on your hands for simpler patterns. Plus, the metal surface is actually quite a bit smoother. So, I’d definitely say there are very hard facts that could speak for (or against) buying these needles regardless.

If you want a lacey tip that is not as stiletto sharp as the HiyaHiya tips, and one that doesn’t have as much texture as the ChiaoGoo tips, then the Flights will be a very good choice.

If the decision is between KnitPro Mindful and Lykke Flight, then I’d personally lean towards the set that speaks more to you. The taper of the Mindful is decidedly longer, and the transition towards the end of the needles is a bit more pronounced, but that’s about it.

Here are some direct shopping links to the same products I bought.

• Lykke Flight set
• Lykke Flight mini set

Anyway, that was my Lykke Flight review. Comment below with your questions!