Improving stainless steel knitting needles.
 

I have found that by abrading a band behind the points of my commercial SS
knitting needles I can vastly improve their usability and "friendliness."
With the improved needles, my problems with dropped stitches disappears and
my knitting speed significantly improves. In addition, tight stitches are
easier.

I use 1500 wet or dye emery paper, stretched over a curved surface to VERY
gently abrade the center one-third of the needle-point taper. The points
are left highly polished and the rest of the needle is left highly polished.
For example, on a pair of US #1 needles with a 0.4 inch long taper; the
abraded band around the needle is about 0.12 inches wide and located about
0.2 inches behind the point.

This abrasive is a special order at my hardware store. I believe that white
diamondtine applied with a hard felt wheel would achieve the same effect,
but have not tried it. The modification when tried with the widely available
1000 grit created enough roughness to be noticeable on fibers such as
alpaca, but was OK for common wools, and actually better for courser wools
and sock yarns. Synthetics and silks have not evaluated.

In most light, the band is barely visible as a darker area on the needle.
The abraded area is just rough enough to be detected by a change in friction
as you slide a finger across the area. This modification has not been tried
on plated brass needles.

Try it. I think you will like it.

Aaron