Yarn. What a beautiful, wonderful material. I have been enthralled with yarn, knitting, and crocheting for as long as I can remember. My Great Aunt Mary taught me to knit when I was in fifth or sixth grade. Shortly after that my [godmother] Mary (in brackets because I don't actually have godparents but if I did Don and Mary would surely be them) taught me how to crochet. Both skills have stayed with me to this day.
Here in Arkansas I haven't really found many friends who are too in to crafting. Most of the women that I find that knit are older than me. Don't get me wrong, I would love to sit in on some knitting sessions, but I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable when I am the baby in the room. However, I have been spending a lot of time in a wonderful shop up in the Heights called The Yarn Mart. It has always been so easy to just pick up cheap yarn from places like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and even Walmart. But then I discovered this little slice of heaven right here in Central Arkansas.
I could seriously spend, and in fact I have, hours and hours of my time just looking and feeling the luxurious yarns they have in their little shop. I am so grateful that I found them!!
One thing I love about the shop is their instruction. If you have any questions about a pattern or a stitch, they are more than welcome to help you in any way. They also have classes that you can attend, and these wonderful little get-togethers called Knit-a-long's. Well, the one beginning in January is a sweater knit-a-long and I knew I just had to participate. They take very few people, so I am SOO thankful that I got my name in quick! It was full within 36 hours!
So, while I was there gathering my supplies for my upcoming sweater project (don't worry, I'll blog ALL about it!), I was speaking with some of the ladies about how they organize their knitting needles. Believe me, when you start accumulating them, especially circular needles, they end up a huge ball of mess!! They told me the different ways that they organize them, and showed me a few items they had for sale in the shop. Here is a great solution that I ended up buying for double points.
Because I don't have a HUGE stash of needles, I decided to use it as well for my crochet hooks. One great thing about this is you can organize them by size. A lot of my double points don't have what size they are anywhere on the needle. Kind of frustrating when you are trying to find the size you need!! So here is the picture for now, with my dp's and some hooks mixed in as well. I wanted to use it for my straight needles too, but they are too long!! Oh well, I will find a solution eventually!
The brand that makes this organizer also has one for circular needles. Because I think that Tim wouldn't appreciate how much money it cost, I decided to only invest in the dp holder, and attempt a circular holder on my own. So, here is the down and dirty on my new holder!!
Take a fabric of your choosing. This is just cotton fabric that I had left over from my chair rehab project. Double the length of what you want the end to be because this will be folded over in half.
Put your right sides together.
I zig-zagged stitched all the way across the open seam.
Put your hand through the middle, and turn the whole piece inside out. At this point I would to press the piece.
At each end, I had unfinished seams that I didn't want showing. So, I tucked them in on themselves.
After getting them tucked in, I sewed a straight stitch right across the bottom. Voila. Finished edge.
After that was done, I folded the whole piece in half. Using the markings on my sewing machine, I lined up the piece and starting making straight stitches all the way across. I did a few rows at the one inch mark, and then gradually made the spaces bigger for the larger needles I have.
Here is the finished piece, all you do is slide the circular right through the opening and the needles will hang on either side!
One great thing about this set up is the hopefully won't get as tangled, and they won't get all kinky from being rolled up tightly!
Also, these ChiaoGoo needles are my new addiction for circulars. I never really liked the metal straight needles so I never tried these, but let me tell you I'm never going back. They are weighted so the wire in between the two needles never kinks up while I'm working!! Please, please try this brand out, it will change your circular knitting life! And thank you Yarn Mart for introducing me!!
Hope you go out and try this, it is a great way to organize your needles, and it is SO simple!!
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