Dull Needles - Just when do you replace your needles for new ones?

When they break?

When they get bent?

Once a month?

When you start a new project?

How and when do you decide it is time to use new needles?

I don't often break needles so I tend to use needles long past the time when they probably should have been replaced with new needles, but I learned something today as I was working on making a zillion pods (oh, okay, not quite a zillion): Sometimes duller needles allow you to shape more evenly than do sharper needles. I was comparing needles in my 3 wide tools - one had a fresh set of needles with barbs that really grabbed the fiber and the other had a set of needles that I have literally been using for months. I did rather like the power of the newer needles to help start getting the fiber into the shapes I wanted, but the duller needles allowed me greater control when it came to refining those shapes.

Interesting!!