For my later reference...

[me_as_mom]

The Denise needle set: 
Basic set: $50
6 extra cords: $12.50
That will give me every circular needle length I could possibly want between gauges 5 and 15
Total: 62.50

To get the same thing from knitpicks...
Knitpicks Harmony:
Basic set: $70 (sizes 4-11, cords 24'' & 32")
Extra needles, needle tips and cords I'd have to buy to get the same sizes in Denise

Comments

[ksera05]

honestly, I haven't needed the extra cords for the Denise yet - but I haven't knitted anything for myself yet either ;) it comes with extenders that you can use to attach cords to each other so if I got desperate I could do that.

You also can always upgrade in the future. It's not like you are committed to the Denise set for life - yk?

[me_as_mom]

That crossed my mind...I thought I might want some smaller cords because I will probably be making baby and kid's stuff, and since they are so cheap I figured it couldn't hurt to have them in the bag. And part of my decision making process involved flipping through my knitting book and knitty.com and looking at projects I might actually make, and the needle sizes they take. It seems like my tastes lean towards smaller needles or bigger needles, and the shorter cords. (And a lot of the ones that looked interesting took double-pointed needles, but I'm going to wait a bit to cross that bridge - and my friend said, if I understood her correctly, that there's a way to use two circular needles instead...but for that you would need two circulars the same size, so you may as well get a set of dpn, I guess