Knitting Patterns to Help Keep You Organized

I’ve been thinking a lot about organization this month and I wondered if we could knit things to keep our knitting lives in order. Because any excuse for a knitting project, right?

One of the most obvious things that knitters can knit for themselves to keep their knitting stuff organized is needle storage. You can make your own knit needle rolls like the Case in Point from Briney Deep Designs, which calls for sport-weight cotton. Reinforce the knitting with fabric (which keeps your needles from poking through as easily) with this pattern from DW Crochet Patterns, which uses three colors of DK weight yarn.

How about storing circular needles? You can try the Memories of Aloha knitting needle holder from Bellaricka, which is a cool wall hanging even without needles woven through it. This one uses cables and lace to make holes through which to drape your needles, and it uses DK weight yarn. You can even use a knitting needle to hang it!

Another option is this Circularity needle organizer from Lark & Lupine, which is a free download on Ravelry. It has stripes and cables to help you keep your needles organized, and you can embroider the sizes and cable lengths on the side of the wall hanging so you always know what goes where and can find what you need. This one uses aran/worsted weight yarn and would be a great stash buster.

Cast on Calamity has an idea fr making little sleeves for needles that include bobbles and eyelets to indicate the measurement in millimeters for the needles (example: a 5.5 mm needle sleeve would have 5 bobbles and 2 eyelets). My cat would probably steal these but it’s a cool idea.

Make a big felted wall hanging with pockets that can hold needles and other supplies with this free pattern from Berroco. Organiza uses bulky yarn and has six sleeves for needles and 14 pockets of various sizes that can hold needles, crochet hooks, scissors and other notions and supplies.

And if you like to keep all your supplies literally close at hand you can stitch up a Pandemic Wrister. This free pattern from Claudia Krisniski is on Ravelry and is worked in worsted weight yarn. It gives you space for stitch markers, yarn needles, cable needles and more right where you need them.

I don’t often share knitting patterns for pets, mostly because I don’t think of it. I don’t have a dog, and I’ve never knit for my cats except a knit couch and a little cat bed I made on a knitting machine, both of which were pretty much ignored.

I have shared some pet bed knitting patterns, and both hats and sweaters for dogs.

But I don’t think I’ve shared a pattern for a cat sweater, until now.

This one is the Bunny sweater by Sarah Zhou, so named because her cat is named Bunny, of course.

It’s a made to measure pattern because cats come in all shapes and sizes, and you can also use any yarn you like and whatever gauge you are getting with that yarn.

The design is knit from the bottom up, that is, from the tail side up toward the head. Pairs of decreases shape the body as you work toward the armholes, which are made by binding off a few stitches. Then the belly and the back are worked flat, then joined and worked in the round for the chest part.

There are some design options in the pattern, from the look of the photos they include using a contrasting color for the edging, working a scalloped edging, maybe a foldover collar? But of course you can add your own embellishments, stripes, make it in team colors or for a Halloween costume. I’m sure they’re quick to knit so you can make a bunch if you have a cat who is willing to submit to such torture.

Bunny looks like a very good and mostly tolerant girl; I don’t think either of my cats would be willing to wear a sweater. But if you make one (the pattern is available on Ravelry) and successfully get your cat to wear it I would love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sarah Zhou]

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