I can't comment on the ordinary knitting needles etc as my Mother-in-law was the one to demo to my daughter. All I wanted to say was that the plastic bodkin for the French knitting broke after a few minutes - it was simply not strong enough for all the tugging you need (a beginner tends) to do with French Knitting. I had to go and buy Galt's Wooden French Knitting Bodkin to replace it. The instructions for that were incomprehensible (just pictures, no text) so I had to return to this kit for comprehensible written instructions so at least it wasn't a total waste.