in the bag

I just found out that this week was Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. KCBW or something like that.

There was an official list of topics that you could cover each day, but I thought I'd pick just one now and go with it.

Knitting organization. This is a topic that I love to ask other people about, so I'd be really interested to hear how you manage your supplies.

My main knitting bag is this tote from the Liberty of London line at Target last year. To me, this bag just looked like it really wanted to be a knitting bag. I always keep one current project in there, along with most of my needles and tools. The rest of my yarn stash is stowed away in plastic bins to keep it clean and protected.

Here's what's in my bag. I compartmentalize with tons of small zippered bags, and it makes me feel more organized. (Even if I'm not.) I have always been in the habit of doing this with my messenger bag that I carry every day, and even with the diaper bag that I used to carry when Lo was a baby. I'd rather grab one of five small bags than rummage around through piles of who knows what to find my chapstick. Or my size 7 dpns.

Here's what each little bag contains. I have my main knitting needle roll (top right) that holds all of my straights. (I got it here if you're interested.) The bright floral pouch is for all of my double-pointed needles and I have another small bag for my interchangeable needle set. The robot bag is just for crochet hooks and the orange and white one holds my scissors, pens, tape measure, darning needles and gauge ruler. I always carry that little kraft molskine for notes and pattern ideas. And the smallest bags hold stitch markers and point protectors.

I find this works pretty well with knitting, because if I'm working on something specific, I can just take the tiny zippered bags that contain the things I need and leave the rest at home. And nothing gets lost. Usually.

I also try to keep other projects-in-progress in their own bags so everything stays together. Seeing projects this way also inspires me to pick them up and work on them; just knowing everything is in the bag and I won't have to hunt down one tiny thing makes me less likely to leave the project sitting there. This larger canvas bag (that I picked up from the Gap a few years back) is awesome for holding bigger projects. I'll show you what I'm working on with these rainbow-colored skeins next week.  :)