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How to Organize and Store Knitting Needles

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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!

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Knit a Pet Bed on a Knitting Machine

I feel like I haven’t shared many knitting machine patterns lately, probably because I haven’t been using my knitting machines much lately. (I finally made space for them to live on the bookshelf in my office, and now that they have a “place” it’s almost like I forgot they existed for a while.)

But I did recently make a little cat bed, that surely would work for a small dog, too. 

This one uses two different sizes of knitting machine: a larger one (it could be any in the 40-48 needle range) and a 22 pin. 

The larger machine is used in flat panel mode to make the bottom pillow like part of the bed, while the smaller machine makes a long tube that is used around the edges as the sort of walls of the cat bed. 

For stuffing I used a bit of leftover quilt batting for the pillow, and some cut up old T-shirts for the tube. 

You can use any worsted weight yarn you like (I used two colors of Big Twist Pound+, which comes in huge skeins that weigh more than a pound). Acrylic or cotton yarn is nice for washablity, but you’ll be cranking for a while so make sure you use a yarn your machine likes so it’s not too much of a struggle. 

You can grab the pattern for this cat bed over at Our Daily Craft. I’m sorry to report the pictured is as close as a cat has gotten to it so far, but maybe your cats like to be cozy more than mine do?

If you’re looking for more options for cute handmade places for your cats and little dogs to rest, check out this roundup of knit pet beds. I still want to knit one by hand but the machine version was definitely a faster option (especially good since my cats are ungrateful).