Sleeve Progress and needles...

Here's how far I got over the Christmas break and yesterday night - I discovered a mistake in the swallowtail shawl, so I brought this along to a party instead. One panel and a bit done, 2 and a bit to go! I decided the sleeve would not be narrow at the wrists because I thought it looked a bit dorky on the last sweater I made. So it's straight up till the armhole decreases... I'll just have to wait and see how it looks, I guess.

Now, about the needles. I used my Denise interchangeables for the plane ride (no issues with airport security whatsoever). Note that one woman in the lounge area near the gate came up to me and said, "They let you through with that? How?". I told her that I read the airline's page of
banned items, and *all* knitting needles are allowed, however the airline has a preference for plastic and wooden needles (I guess bamboo counts as wood) and for circular needles with a short cable. She said "thanks", so I guess that she was a knitter who hadn't looked into the issue of knitting on airplanes. So out of fear that my brand spanking new Addi Turbos (which are quite a bit cheaper in Germany - duh!) would be confiscated, I used plastic Denise needles. Now I found that my knitting gets all jammed up at the join. All the time, even going up to a US 10.5 with an aran weight wool. I know I'm a tight knitter but this is ridiculous.
Now for the Addis, which I'm currently using. I think this is the smoothest join I have ever come across! But I find them a touch too slippery compared to cheapo aluminum needles. Will I ever be satisfied? Has anyone out there tried the Knitpicks Options needles? Please comment if you have tried them!

Ivanova