Knitting... the cardigan grows

Quick Sand by Heidi Kirrmaier

I've been off my sewing game lately - lots of wadders and use of my ripper. So I've retreated to the living room and have been reading and knitting instead. The Quick Sand Cardigan has really grown. I have only 12 more rows to do on the body, then I can move on to the sleeves. I get so impatient to start a new area! sometimes I cheat, slip stitches on a yarn scrap and move on to some other part. Then come back to finish the unfinished.

That's one of the nice things about knitting top-down.

I love my knitting basket! It was a touching gift from my daughter-in-law. It's a Vera Bradley beach bag, but has never seen the beach. It's perfect for holding a knitting project, yarn, instructions, and so on. And it looks so nice.

To go with, my knitting bag - where I keep all my tools of the trade. 

I designed and made it a couple years ago - literally stopped in the middle of a project and got it done. I'm kind of obsessive about storage and organization, and having my needles and little things in a drawer was driving me nuts.

When it's tied, the bag is about 9.5" x 13". The ties are secured to the bag, wrap around it, and keep it all nice and closed.

When opened, the front outside wall has 11 slots that hold all my double-point needles, a pair of embroidery scissors, and a pencil. And there's one empty slot - I used to keep my crochet needles in there, but they slip out really easily. So I keep them in a zippered pocket in the knitting basket now. I have size 4 through size 10 DPN's - that's enough! If I do socks, it will be on 2 circular needles. Knitting in the round on DPN's is not my favorite thing to do...pretty much limited to caps and the thumbs on mittens.

Behind the front wall, on the inside, are two 'hanging' pouches with 12" zippers, perfect for storing my circular needles (by size of course, 16" or less, and longer than 16"). The pouches are only attached to the side seams of the bag.

I have lots and lots of circular needles, because I don't knit on straight needles that are over 10" long. But circular needles can be so unruly! It's nice to contain and tame them.

My straight needles live in the bottom of the bag. There's lots of room in there, and 10" needles fit perfectly.

The back inside wall has a fixed 12" zippered pocket, home to all the small stuff that tends to disappear like socks in the dryer - markers, yarn needles, cable holders, needle point guards, etc.

And the front inside wall has an open pocket, where I keep a small memo pad for notes, my needle template, and a small measuring tape.

Closed and tied, the back view:

So - do you have a favorite way to tame your knitting!?

I'm keeping my update notes for the Quick Sand Cardigan in my Ravelry project files...

Ciao! Coco