I'm so afraid I'll break wooden needles. I knit with a very tight tension, play with my needles a lot, stick them in random places, and have to steal them back from my SO who likes to play with them while watching TV. Plus I'm broke and cheap and aluminum ones are more affordable.

But I LOVE the knitpicks Harmony needles and want them soooo bad!!!

I like bamboo for straight single points, and metal for sock needle dpns because they go everywhere with me and don't break like bamboo does if they get sat on or something. I do like Addi turbos, too, for circulars. You can fly with Addis!

Aluminum crochet hooks are good, but I like the plastic ones by Susan Bates. I find that they don't slip from my hand, the way most aluminum hooks do. And I find the yarn just glides off the hook.

So, i lost out on the 7" ones, but i'm getting the same set in 8" lengths instead. Total cost: $15.50. Boyfriend's opinion: i'm spending too much money. 

I'm the same way!  My mom gave me all of her old aluminum needles when she switched to crocheting, and I was so excited to get started knitting...but I hated the needles.  They always felt too cold and hard, and they actually hurt my hands (a function of how I hold the needle--I hold pretty tightly).  My husband got me several different sizes of the Clover bamboo needles and I haven't put them down yet!  I also cast on pretty tight, but I haven't had any problems with the needles holding up to my tight stitches (right now I'm working a double stranded project with 2 types of fuzzy yarn on needles that are a couple sizes smaller than what's called for for the thicker yarn, and yet the needles are hanging in there!).

I'm finally feeling confident enough to try circular needles (all mine are straights, but I have too many patterns that call for circular that I want to try), and I'm considering KnitPick's Harmony interchangeable needles.  If anyone can give me a review of them, I'd love to hear what you think!

Jen