Monday, January 28, 2019

Knitting Needle Organization

It took a while but now I feel my knitting needles are under control organization wise. How long you ask? Many years. A weekend getaway was the triggering event of the endeavor. In 2011, shortly after my son's September wedding, he and his wife wanted to thank me and my husband for our help and involvement with their wedding. They gifted us with a weekend trip to Cambria Pines Lodge, a homey, peaceful lodge in Cambria, CA nestled on a hillside among the pine trees. My husband and I used our thank you gift in November, 2011.


We stayed in this cabin. Did I bring along knitting? No.


A few steps from the main lodge and our cabin was a trail head of a path to the village.


The village at Cambria was filled with quaint buildings and one of them we visited was a yarn shop called Ball & Skein. Did I buy a lot of yarn or needles there? No.


The travelogue introduction to this post was brought about because I was remembered where I first learned of and bought my circular needle storage case, eight years ago. It was a specialty case from della Q designed to efficiently organize and hold circular knitting needles. It contains pockets labeled for each needle size.


Do not ask me why, because it is very illogical, but I hesitated to take the needles out of their original packaging. I populated the case only with random circular needles that did not have a package associated with them. This was very few.  "But how will I know what size it is if I take it out of the pocket?" I anxiously asked myself. "Well how did you know what size it was when it was out of the original packaging?" I debated back. It turns out the size is printed on the needle and, as a backup, I have this hand dandy needle sizer, even if the printing on the needle is missing, too small, or illegible.


So I removed each circular needle from its original packaging and stored it in that specialty case. Here is the mess I left behind. It is silly but I was hesitant to toss the circular and double pointed needles packaging. When the saver in me lost this battle, I dutifully separated out the plastic from the heavy paper inserts and trashed or recycled the packaging they had been sold in.


Here are those circular needles neatly stored away in that specialty case. Much better, right? There are several lengths in most of those pockets. Each pocket has a printed cloth tab, neatly labeling the pocket contents. This is a real knitter's case and collection (mine) and not an idealized picture as seen on the della Q website. Check out the site however; there are several very informative videos there. I just learned by watching one of them that I can optionally rotate those needles with the points facing in. Then I could tuck in the flap of each pocket for an even tidier appearance.


These were my mom's circular needles and I could not bear to part or alter them. They were passed down to me when she died in 1979 so they are at least 40 years old and still in the original packaging. Note the original prices too, $2.00 and $1.80. I just paid $18.00 for a 16" US size 8 circular needle with sleek "turbo charged" tips. I keep these for nostalgia.


Once that organizational bug bit, I just had to purchase online a case for my double pointed needles (DPNs). Here is my trifold case rolled up after I'd populated it with my collection of DPNs. 


The inside is very tidy and I can see at a glance if I do not have a size I need.


When I set out to reorganize there are always those odds and ends leftover that I do not know how to handle. Dare I throw out those three grey DPNs and three red DPNs and risk then finding the fourth? Those metal DPNs are so slippery, dropping stitches off the end or pulling out the needle inadvertently happens all too frequently. I am really not too fond of them so why do I keep them? 


 I never know when I might need to 
  • stuff an appendage or tiny doll or toy or 
  • fish something out of the crevice between the bed and the nightstand or
  • scratch on itch in a hard to reach place on my back or
  • scratch on itch inside a cast or 
  • hold a piece of plastic aloft over an iced cake so it does not get plastered down or
  • hold my place in a magazine or
  • include it in a folded piece of fabric so the fold remains soft and does not crease or
  • point to something in the newspaper as I am reading over my husband's shoulder or
  • use for some other critical purpose I have not yet even realized!
I am linking up with Main Crush Monday #145 at Cooking Up Quilts. For those interested in my fabric purchases during that Cambria weekend, check out my post dated November 20, 2011.  The comments by my daughter and daughter-in-law are particularly amusing. My daughter had been married in May 2011, just a few months before my son. Both new brides were not in kid mode at the time they commented. But then somewhere along the line their tunes changed because 2011 was five grandkids ago!

3 comments:

  1. The Inn where you and Frank stayed looks amazing. How lucky to have found a knitting shop in that town. I love your Della Q cases. It is wonderful to have everything so organized. I have a circular needle set I purhcased from KnitPicks. I got it years ago. At that time I purchased their case that looks like a DayTimer case. It keeps all the needles organized in litte clear plastic zip cases. I like yours better. My other circular needles at in slots in a holder that hangs in the closet rather like a shoe bag. My double points are in a vase repurposed as a double point holder. Let's not ever talk about my straignt needles which I hardly ever use any more since I use circulars to knit most everything. I am now involved in primtive rug hooking. I have a wool cutter that a friend gave me when her mother died. I am figuring out how to use it. I'm enjoying the rug hooking quite a lot.
    I enjoy reading your blog entries. I'll try to be better about commenting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely and elegant storage solution! I too initially try to keep things in their original packing - as though that might preserve their newness - but it's definitely a nice feeling to cast off all that "dead weight" when you've got a better organizing solution. And this looks like a great one. I'm a little confused by the timing of this post - is it just now that you've managed to work your way up to populating that travel case? 2011 was several grandchild-lifetimes ago, and your audience for handmade projects was quite different, so I can see why you didn;t bring your needles back then. But I'm curious as to all the places you HAVE taken them - or WILL be taking them - since.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes the timing of implementation is weird. I had haphazardly stuck the circular needles in, in their original packaging, which made things bulky and certainly not as functional as intended. I finally built up the nerve to do it right and throw out the extra packing bulk. I do not intend to take all those needles with me on travel no matter how organized they are stored. I would just take the needle for the project in use and leave this lovely storage solution at home, stored in my closet. When I start a new project I will see at a glance if I have the size I need or if I will need to buy a third or fourth set because I cannot locate the first two or three.

      Delete