How to Organize and Store Knitting Needles

I feel like I have my yarn stash pretty well organized (I was going to say under control but we all know that’s a lie) but where I really struggle is keeping my knitting needles organized. It’s something I want to work on this year so let’s explore some options!

Currently I have a big mug (if you must know it’s a novelty beer stein with the names of everyone who graduated from my high school that year on it, because the 1990s were weird) that holds most of my straight needles, and my DPNs and circulars are a jumble along with crochet hooks in a couple of different bags.

Once I made some storage pouches that fit a little box I had to store needles of different sizes, but I made the first 3 in 2014 and never finished. I still think this is a solid plan and intend to finish them…sometime this year.

I like this idea because theoretically it’s easy to slip the needles back into the pouch for their size instead of just leaving them on my desk for six months. They also could hold both DPNs and circulars, which I need. If I had to go to two different places I’m not sure I’d keep up with it.

A needle roll is another popular option, which you can buy (for example this pretty linen one from Knitting Bag and Case) or make your own, say with a pattern from Pretty Patterns Design. I like this one because it has some big sections for circulars, but I have a much bigger needle collection that would fit in a single roll.

There are also storage solutions like these wooden organizers from Kainor Design and Embrcraft to name a couple, which have holes made to fit needles of different sizes. This looks pretty cluttered to me so I don’t know that I would enjoy it, but if you’d like to be able to see what you have all the time maybe it’s for you.

If you have pro-level numbers of knitting needles you might want to use a photo storage option like Nimble Needles shares in their post about needle organization options. I like that each section can be labeled and you can easily pull out all the needles of the same size and mix DPNs and circulars or keep them in individual cases.

Do you have a great method for keeping knitting needles organized? I need to hear it!

Next Pattern:

I don’t even know what to say about this amazing knitting pattern. The Bestiary Scarf from Monstra & Mirabilia is so full of details it’s a little intimidating to talk about.

It features, as the designer describes it, an “artistic encyclopaedia of Western mythical creatures.”

The pattern includes a dragon, harpy, Medusa, chimaera, centauress, phoneix, kraken, mermaid, sew serpent, cyclops, wyvern, Pegasus, amphiptere and amphibaena. (It’s a good thing there’s a photo of the proejct with everything labelled because I definitely didn’t know the names for everything.) It’s also designed like a landscape, with water and land creatures toward the bottom ends and sky creatures toward the top.

The dragon is at the center and is worked sideways so it will show as upright when you wear it.

The scarf is worked in double knitting, so the colorwork appears in the opposite colors on the other side.

It’s worked in light fingering weight yarn (on size 0 US or 2mm knitting needles) and the colorwork is shown in charts. The pattern also includes some video tutorials and written instructions to help you along. The designer says the pattern is for intermediate knitters, and “advanced beginners may succeed with patience and the help of the video tutorials.”

When I was an advanced beginner this kind of a pattern would have brought me to tears, but if you love a challenge, and a project that you’ll wear and get tons of astonished reactions every time, this is the project for you. And of course if you have a few double knitting projects under your belt and are comfortable reading charts, this project shouldn’t be hard, but that doesn’t mean it’s fast. But lots of great things take time, and that’s never stopped us before, right?

You can get a copy of this pattern from Monstra & Mirabilia on Ravelry.

[Photo: Monstra & Mirabilia ]

Next Pattern:

Comments

Have you read?