Sewing for Knitting (Christmas Crafting Reveal, Day 4)

I don't know if all knitters have this problem, but my knitting needles are like a cross between feral cats and socks.  Not only are they never with their mates, but they run off and get lost and get hit by cars and mangle songbirds when I'm not looking.  Invariably I'll start a project that calls for, say, size 4 double pointed needles, and will quickly locate *one* of them.  One.  Out of five.  That doesn't do me much good.  But that *one* needle confirms for me the existence of its siblings, so I can't bring myself to go buy another set.  Because they are somewhere in my house.  Perhaps in the freezer.  Maybe under the floorboards.  But somewhere.  I clearly need a system.

I just assume that my sister, who also knits, has this problem as well.  We are related, after all.  So for Christmas, I designed a simple storage case for her straight needles using a place mat and a napkin.

Initially, I thought this design would make the case *easier* to make, as I would only have to attach pockets to a nice sturdy piece of fabric ready to just be folded in half to close.  But, ahem.  I quickly realized that in order for the outside of the case to be pretty, I couldn't just use the sewing machine to sew the pockets on.  I had to backstitch them on by hand....through only the top layer of place mat fabric.  UGH!  I had no thimble so I improvised with a child safety electrical outlet plug  (I highly recommend them for this use).  I was cursing my design by the end, but it turned out cute, and hopefully they'll tame Meredith's needles.  Maybe it's time to learn how to read patterns.

Tomorrow: guest blogger T cheats at being crafty