Knitting bags and me

I cant even tell you when needing anything to keep my knitting needles and other goodies became an all out obsession to either locate one or figure out what to do sort of thing.

Like allot of knitters I tried everything you could think of. From traveling tooth brush holders for the double pointed needles.... to altoid tins for the stitch markers. And old cd cases for the circular needles.

But.... it always came down to nothing was in the same location ......all were in different areas.

Leaving me to hunt down what I was looking for anyway through either a larger knitting bag or my own room full of craft items.

I did hunt not only in every store I could walk into but on line. Most of the knitting cases were either to small or didn't offer enough storage for all the items I have .

Finally I had enough and decided to come up with my own thing.

Which had to fit certain ideas though.

Large enough to hold everything and yet be able to grow with my ever growing supply of items I have and still seem to obtain from time to time.

And when opened I must be able to view everything in side at a glance or find my way around.

I went to the office supply store here and got ring binders 3 inches in diameter.

A box of zip lock freezer bags because there thick and because they come with a label that you can write on this way I can enter what size the needle is and how long it is .

one paper punch fabric and fabric stabilizer and a zipper to fit around.

i began by measuring the zip lock bags that was going to determine the size front and back of the bag. then added in the tree inch binder rings all the way around cut that in 1/2 to be able to put in the zipper later on and sewed up a bag to fit didn't matter to me what the material was i picked out one that had enough to fit the project. that was left laying around here .

once i got the bag made i made sure i put in a strip along the spin where I could insert the rings sewed that in and left openings for the rings.

got the rings in and then it was time to sit and use a paper punch and small scissors to make holes in one end of each of the freezer bags. i found the paper punch didn't always cut through the plastic so i had to cut out the hole impressions at times. but it was worth it all in the end.

I spread out all my supplies and took the rest of the day to measure each circular needle both length of and size with a needle gauge and then write on the label of each zippy what it was and then organize them out according to size and length. so i began with the cuffing needles those are only 9 inches long and then went to the 16 inch needles and so on and so on until i was done.

after that i put in items like measuring tapes. stitch markers, cable needles and pom pom makers all in there own bags and placed where i want them. later on i went back and after locating all the double pointed needles i put each set in with the same size circulars.

at Christmas when i went out and bought more needles all i had to do was come home and take out a few more zippies and punch holes in those and add in what it is and length and place in where they should go.

i like it cause everything is in one place .

do i take the whole bag with when i leave home. nope only the small bag i keep what i am using in at the moment . or the basics is about it . that bag i can pack with all i need for each project and when done return all i don't need to the larger keep all bag.