What's In Your Bag: Gadgets and Do-dads

Each trade has its tools. So it is for any hobby. The art of knitting is no different. Yes, one needs needles and yarn, but there's much more. And it doesn't help that I'm a sucker for crafty do-dads. Below is my knitting bag; its a makeup bag where I store my gadgets. There's always a pencil, a highlighter, a tape measure, a blunt needle, scissors and waste yarn--just in case. But there's more.
Needle Protectors:
I love those rubber tips! Noticed my sock knitting? Go take a look (sock link ). Those rubber tips stay on my needles ALL THE TIME. Go ahead: ask me why. 'Cuz I've actually lost needles in mid-knit. There's nothing more frustrating than picking up teeny-tiny live stitches that have unexpectedly lost their needle. The mere thought makes me cringe . . . :O

Crochet Hooks:
Handy for fixing mistakes and awesome for taming the dreaded curl of stockinette stitch. Right now I have two, but I'd like one more smaller size. Hard to believe I used to crochet. Mom and I made some lovely afghans and I still have the one lacy doily I made with crochet thread.

Safety Pins:
I've got regular safety pins and those plastic ones without the coils. They're handy for keeping track of increases and decreases. Regular pins are also useful for seaming.

Ring Markers & Split Markers:

Handy-dandy indeed! You can never have too many sizes or too many colours. I don't have any fancy ones, but still useful to mark off patterned section in your knitting.

By the way, notice the cute little plastic boxes where I store my pins & rings? They're from my husband who uses ear plugs. When he's done with the ear plugs, he gives me the little plastic box.

Row Counter:

Until I bought one, I never thought I needed one. I'd always used paper and pencil to mark the row I was on. But this gadget is very handy for counting rows as well as keeping track of pattern rows. I move the counter along so that I know I'm on row 4 of a 9-row pattern for instance. I switch back to row 1 when the repetition is complete.

What do I need now? How about a proper knitting gauge. I can't find one in town (should have purchased one when I was in a proper knitting shop). Perhaps I'll add one to my shopping cart next time I make an online purchase.

Happy knitting!

My Little Knitting Corner

In our home, I have a little space where I knit. Tucked along a wall of the living room is my knitting corner. Its right next to the computer room (aka the messy room, the place where all things become clutter and junk until I get the urge to purge). At my corner all my tools, needles, current projects and favorite CDs wait for me until I'm able to scrounge some time to knit blissfully and to tune out all the mayhem and troubles of the day.

No matter who might be sitting upon that corner of the couch, when I'm ready to knit that spot is quickly given over to yours truly. It commands a decent view of our main living space, as well as window watching or TV viewing. Most of all, it has decent light; there's a floor lamp right behind the end table (although there's a comfy chair in the room that I've taken a shine to, with even better light. Alas, any "move" to relocate my knit space would require too much work on my part, given all the knitting paraphernalia I leave lying about).

I haven't taken any pictures of the mess behind the end table. There are oodles of bags spilling out of a large basket, many filled with odds and ends from finished--and some unfinished projects-- waiting to be called upon for some future use. Its rather messy with no discernible organization. The rest of my "stash" can be found in even larger bags tucked behind some golf clubs in the computer room (perhaps I'll tackle that mess some day . . . right now I just need to give some semblance of order to my public image, however untrue that image might be).

And then I noticed something: the wonderful colours peaking out from my knitting bag. They looked so pretty! I moved my bag to the kitchen window to capture the image in natural light. Atop my bag lay my Orange Smoothie (from More Big Girl Knits), patiently awaiting the finishing touches: ends to be darned, a button or two to be attached and ribbon to be threaded through pretty lace. Next to it lay my lovely green reversible scarf, still waiting to be worked on (I promise to get back to it real soon).

I think the festive colours caught my eye. Its just so darn purtty. And everything matches just so . . .

Just lovely . . . .

:)