Knitting Needles

How many knitting needles can one knitter need?


I started off with only one pair of 4mm needles.
Then Great Grandma passed on her bag of needles as she no longer knits due to failing eyesight. In this bage were several sets of double pointed needles and a lot of plastic needles in smaller sizes, 2.25mm and 3 mm mainly. I held onto this bag for years with the majority of the needles sitting there unused. This was until I discovered beanies. Miss B wanted a purple beanie and the pattern suggested 3.25mm and 4mm double pointed needles. I went to Great Grandmas knitting bag and both sizes were there.
WOW!!! I finally understood what those crazy needles with no ends were for. But damn they were soooooo awkward. Knitting that beanie drove me crazy. I then discovered the joy of the circular needle. The next beanie was so much quicker to knit simply because I wasn't constantly worried about dropping a needle in the middle of a round. Then came the socks, I needed smaller dpns for them , and then the market bag, a large circular, then the fuzzy feet....large dpn's ect.......
Basically the needle collection has just grown and grown due to project and tension needs as I'm sure most knitters has. But then I have another issue known here as Miss B.
Miss B likes to "borrow" needles for her own lil projects, but somehow they conveniently end up lost or one needle ends up broken....... she likes to sleep with her knitting.....don't ask.
To counteract this problem I constantly raid second hand shops for cheap needles that I am prepared to let Miss B run off with. This has caused a problem in itself as having done this I find I am quite often prefering to use needles that have been previously owned by other knitters than needles I have bought new. So now the second hand shop raiding is for me aswell. I am loving the variety of needles I am finding. I love using great grandma's needles as it makes me feel closer to her , but I'm really not sure why I love the other needles. Is it strange that I love the pre loved needles???