Here’s another recent project – a hanging circular knitting needle holder. This is modeled after one which is available commercially, but which cost more than I wanted to pay (the cheapest price I found was $16 plus shipping). In making my own version, my requirements were that it be cheap and fast to make (otherwise, I might as well just buy it). I considered a few options – I could use a canvas fabric, but then I’d have to hem the sides – cheap, but not fast. Another option was to use regular cotton fabric and fuse it onto some interfacing to stiffen it and avoid hemming – fast, but the interfacing isn’t cheap. I ended up in the upholstery department at JoAnn’s, and bought jute webbing – stiff, cheap, and about the right width (yoikes – that’s going to show up on someone’s search for things-that-definitely-aren’t-crafty!). Then I got some narrower cotton webbing and a marker for writing the needle sizes, and some rings to use for hanging it on the wall. Total materials cost: less than $5, if you don’t count the marker which can be used for other projects. I sewed the cotton webbing onto one half of the jute webbing, then folded the jute webbing in half. I then sewed across to make “tunnels” – one for each standard size of knitting needle, and an extra at the bottom. I wrote on the sizes – both American and millimeter (the 2.5 mm doesn’t have an American equivalent). Note that I have some more needles than you see – I’ve been doing a bunch of swatching this weekend, so some needles are in my living room, and I’m also in the middle of making a hat. It was interesting to see what sizes I don’t own – I don’t have any size 9 – though I think I’ve got multiple pairs of old aluminum size 9 straight needles. And for some reason I have size 4 double-pointed needles, but not circular – I think I did mittens with them in college. I think I’m going to have to get size 4 at some point, along with some more of the smaller sizes. The really huge needles are used for things which will be felted.
