And how do you use said bag? Do you have One Master Bag that holds your immediate project(s) at hand and it is the one that moves from room to room, to the car, to the knit together with you? Or do you have one per project (this could get scary very quickly), or one per location (ie the car bag, the living room bag, the bedroom bag, the movie knitting bag etc?) or some combination?
Well, here's what I have in my sock 'bag' (Yes, I have one bag just for my sock. This is because I had a small epiphany. I always have a sock on the go. At least one. So -- a sock bag!):
- Darning Needle (I try to bury ends as I go)
- Yarn cutter. I don't put scissors in because I don't want to stop and wonder -- do they allow scissors here? I can grab and go and not worry. Also, if I visit a friend with little ones I don't need to be paranoid about punctures.
- Pattern Photocopy. The original is at home. Ideally, in a page protector in a binder but I've not been too terribly careful about that for the last, uh, decade. :)
- Stitch markers. For socks I keep 7 normal ones and one double loop marker I made from a photo in Crazy Toes and Heels by Queen Kahuna (www.queenkahuna-creations.com/). I learned SO much from this book! The double loop tells me if I'm on a increase row or a plain knit row. Brilliant.
- Rubberbands. This is for the heel turn from the book mentioned above.
- Tiny gold safety pin with something bright and dangley attached so I remember to turn the socks one way and then the other (no tangles!)
- Yarn. WITH the yarn bands. Yeah, we all know we'll remember what we're using. Then we don't.
- Needles.
- Crochet hook. For my fingering weight this is a B, and for my worsted weight this is a D-G (depending on what I grabbed at the time) The hook is larger than my usual needles so I can cast off with it very, very loosely.
- Tape Measure
- New Addition: Notebook.
Now let me elaborate on this Notebook. It's one of the small Mead Memo spiral bound jobs. I nearly got the unspiral bound one because I visualized massive tangles, but decided to go with it anyway so I can lay the book down with the one page I'm interested in staying up and open.
I have a fair bit in here. I may type more of it up so I can print out more when I fill this one up. I have my, my fathers and my husband's foot measurements in there (socks!). I have my condensed notes for the sock pattern. I have various other tips and tricks and techniques jotted down. And I have my notes for the project at hand. The yarn I choose.-- the color name and number and brand. (I try to add ideas about the yarn itself, but this usually doesn't happen. ) My spi and rpi gauge. Needle size. The number of stitches for the sock. The toe type I used. Notes on type of heel or anything funky I tried (or noticed failed miserably).
I picked the small notebook because I needed something I could tuck in my Medium Yarntainer -- which is my sock knitting bag. I like to put it on floors when I'm out and about. I've been in too many icky movie theaters to use something with a cloth bottom. I digress.
I decided against an all powerful master notebook because I know myself. I'd end up with a 2-1/2" binder, with section dividers, color coded pages, cool pictures downloaded and printed off to decorate said dividers and the cover and back and spine. I'd have spent hours picking just the right font to do all the different things in. Then I wouldn't have touched it because it was too heavy and awkward. Then I'd feel guilt for not using it.
In my Living Room I also have cuticle nippers and a nail file. If I find the smallest ragged bit of nail or skin I'll tear it off without thinking so I need tools there to prevent blood shed. Honest. I bleed easily. And I hate getting yarn snagged on a rough nail. Doesn't do the yarn any good either. I also keep a comb in there because I generally have a sudden urge to either get my hair out of my way or find that the bun it was in is in exactly the wrong place to rest my head against the futon. A spare dpn holds my bun up if it goes up here. Sometimes the dpn makes it back home. Usually not.
One dear friend and customer here has a cool tin with her scissors and stitch markers inside a great rolling tote which holds her projects currently in working progress and patterns. I just LOVE the tin. It's too bulky for my knitting 'bag' but I love it nonetheless. I am thinking of getting a rolling tote for my livingroom. It can roll safely into a closet to hide from my cats and out again for me to work.
Do you have ideas for bags' contents or notebook?
~Briony (the afghan is still around, and not yet done. I hope for the end of the week. I like to have lots of hope in hopeless situations)
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