Thursday, July 06, 2006

I have seen the future...

and it works. At least for knitting needles in this house (I wouldn't touch it on a computer :-)

Other bloggers occasionally provide glimpses of their needle storage. I envy those who use straights the simple elegance of their options. A chic, casual arrangement in a flower vase, a colourful array of felted needle cosies, or a full house tucked tidily in simple strips of elastic sewn into knitter's version of a jewellery bag. Those of us who use circs have to cope with an untidy, inelegant array of dangly bits. I've seen the circ equivalent of jewellery bags hanging from doorknobs, needles dancing in space to entice cats to leave yarn-catching toothmarks in the slick smooth surface of the needles or sever the cords entirely. (Aquila would then have
thoughtfully *eaten* the cords, with horrible results.) Until this morning I left all my needles in their bags, bound into an untidy stack with rubber bands. The postman kindly leaves a rubber band on our drive almost every morning; perhaps I should tell him that paperclips are the route to my heart? Yesterday I thought to check whether or not the needles fitted in the plastic wallets of a CD binder I was given ages ago and never, ever use. YES!


Can you see what I've done? The nice fat binder unzips to reveal... my needles. The Addi packets are wide enough to be punched for insertion. Inox packets are too small, so I've put them in the CD wallets. They're filed by size and length; I can flip to the size I want instantly. You might be able to see the huge Addi I'm going to use to knit fabric strips winking at you between the two sets of folders; that packet is large enough I've punched it for 3 of the 4 holes in the binder. I'm very happy. I generally have great trouble achieving 'tidy'. Spurred by that success I decided to clean out my needle stash. I seem to remember reading that there are people who like the old circs, the ones that had to be soaked in boiling water to straighten them. There may even be people who hoard knitting needles. If you're either of those, everything in the photo below is free to a good home. Some are priced in Can$, which makes them c. 30 years old.



Knitting? I'm not going to jinx anything at this point. I hope to have a FO soon, though. I don't precisely regret deciding to adjust the size of those cashmere socks and make them wear longer/better by knitting the entire foot on 2mm needles, but I will be so terribly glad when they're finished!



2 comments:

Alice said...

Sarah, that's a great idea! Mine are all stashed into a tall, black crystal jug, which I was given as a 40th present. I don't think my friend intended it to be used in this manner.

What are the fabric strips for, then? Someone mentioned an apron knitted in this way.....

BTW. I notice Crosby Stills Nash & Young are on your fave music list (and mine). I saw them in concert twice last year. They are the best - such talented people. And the harmonies and melodies..... Did you see them yourself? Like angels singing. I like the Allman Brothers as well (and Greg on his own).

Unknown said...

How clever. I've been looking for fly fishing storage that is very similar to what you have there. It was in a newsletter I get. Any of your double pointed needles 0's? I've got to do something though, I keep finding them tucked here and there!