straightening out the circulars

Dear readers. How do you all store your knitting tools? Are you super organised, or a needleslattern like me?!?

I'm not a messy person really, but my knitting areas can get a bit chaotic. Little scrag ends of yarn, too small to rehome but too big to throw away, adorn every surface. Pattern printouts flap forlornly out of bookshelves. Needles often end up down the side of the sofa, and I seem to have one less pin after each blocking, making walking around the house barefoot something of an adventure.

I think there are a few reasons for this. Knitting is my relaxation time, and I don't want to spend it doing boring stuff like tidying. Also my principal knitting time is late in the evening, whilst flaked out on the sofa. I'm generally in a fairly low energy state, gawping at the telly/internet, with parts of my brain already shutting down in disgust that I haven't made it to bed yet.

I bought my Knitpicks Options interchangeable circular needles, like, years ago. I can't remember when. You can tell it's been a while because they've been renamed to Knitpro in the UK for a few years anyway. I love these needles, and there is always at least one piece of knitting attached to them. For the reasons of laziness outlined above, during this long period of mindbogglingly heavy use, they'd been kept in the original packaging. This is a piece of flimsy cardboard threaded with a piece of elastic. Inevitably, a couple of weeks ago, the elastic snapped.


The needles were basically now all just mixed up in a heap at the bottom of my knitting bag. I was driving mr. rubbishknitter up the wall, pausing the tv every 5 seconds while I wandered round the house looking for needle sizers. Trying to find two matching tips and a suitable length of cable was seriously eating into my precious knitting time. This was not good. I did what everyone does in a crisis. I went to Etsy.

And after a bit of rummaging around, I found this whole section devoted to interchangeable needle organisers. *Cue choir of angelic voices*

And in less than a week, despite shipping all the way from the US, I have got my organiser and I bloody love it.

It is beautifully and thoughtfully made by a nice friendly lady. There is plenty of room for all my interchangeables and cables, a little pouch for notions, and some wider pockets for cables.

It even fits nicely in the side pocket of my knitting bag. I went crazy and tidied that too, shovelling out the detritus of a billion battered ball bands at the bottom. Look how much room for knitting there is in there now! Two whole skeins of lovely Wild Fire Fibres handspun and a couple of balls of Shetland Spindrift... nice. Now if you'll excuse me, i have an appointment with the sofa...