Monday, September 28, 2009
My Needle Storage Solution
Every knitter knows one thing that multiplies almost as fast as the yarn-stash is the needle-collection. I’ve been knitting (and amassing needles) for almost forty years, and that whole time I’ve been trying to solve the dilemma of where to store the ever-growing cache. Every few years I’d stumble upon some case or organizer that I would swear would solve the problem for good - only to fail me when The Next Big Thing in needles came out.
Now that I found myself with an ever-burgeoning stash of Knit Picks interchangeables (to add to the circulars and double-pointeds - don’t worry, I got rid of the straights years ago!), I was thoroughly tired of keeping each category stored in its own dedicated case. I wanted one simple, flexible, portable unit that would keep every kind of needle organized and at-the-ready.
Then just a few months ago I stumbled onto a web-page detailing the DMC Stitchbow system. Now, I’d already learned of this storage system, designed for embroidery-floss storage, when I went through a rabid cross-stitch phase about ten years ago. I even invested in a few pieces; but I’d never gotten around to getting the full-blown travel organizer. Even if I had, I don’t know that I would have thought to repurpose it like this. I saw what this knitter had done with it and ran right out and got a “Needlework Travel Bag” of my own.
Above is a picture of the front. Exceptionally nondescript - which is good. No funky colors, no big honkin’ weird worm-binder patches for me! The web handles are adjustable; you can make them longer so they will swing over your shoulder neatly.
That outside slip-pocket is where I store my small Boye interchangeable case filled with a complete set of Knit Picks nickel-plated Options (more on that later).
The travel bag has dual zippers that run all the way around, so it can open like a book or portfolio:
... and here’s the front inside cover with all its pockets (on the left side): One long zippered pocket that holds needle-sizers, my cable-needles, and my cable-connectors; one smaller zippered pocket that contains the Knit Picks end-caps (which seem to multiply like bunnies!); and a nifty piece of attached felt with a clear flap, into which I skewer my KP cable-keys (it’s designed for embroidery needles - clever, huh?).
Along the spine is the three-ring binder - effortlessly flexible for moving or removing pages. And on the right side, you can see the stack of all the binder pages I have employed to house my entire - yes, I said MY ENTIRE - needle and hook collection. I have used the DMC Stitchbow Binder Pages (procured from my local Joanns), as well as pages I got from my local office-supply store designed for storing CDs and DVDs.
These are my interchangeable needle-tips (well, the ones that aren’t in use!) stored in a binder-page. You can see that it is made from a very sturdy, vinyl-type plastic, and how its flap folds out away from the binder-holes. There are slim pockets along both sides (8 on one side, 7 on the other). The pockets are brilliantly engineered - staggered, so the needles in the flap don’t lie on top of, but next to, the needles on the other side.
Here’s a shot of this page outside the binder and lying flat, the three-ring binder holes to the left:
Each pocket will hold several pairs of tips in the smaller sizes, like up to US#9s, and one pair of larger-sized tips. (And yes, those really long Harmonies are actually KnitPro interchangeable crochet-hooks! I use them for picking up stitches and I got them by request from ebay seller Knit & Dive.)
The next page is a CD page, holding my interchangeable cables:
... followed by another binder-page with the complete stash of DPNs (shown unfolded open):
... and a third binder-page of crochet hooks:
I’ve managed to get my full collection of fixed-circulars in three separate CD/DVD pages - one:
... two and three:
And here’s the inside back cover, a full-size zippered pocket in which I store yet-to-be-opened packages of fixed-circs and interchangeable cables (hey, they’ll be used some day):
So there’s my tour of my ever-flexible, customizable, portable as-all-get-out, ultimate needle storage system.
And as a bonus, here’s a photo of my Boye interchangeable case filled with a complete set of Knit Picks nickel-plated Options:
I love the way everything I could possibly need is right there - it’s great for traveling and swatching on-the-road (which is where I do most of my swatching, anyway!). Also, the way each item has its own little compartment or slot makes my poor lil OCD heart go pitter-pat.
