31 Days to Get Organized: Tool Kit Essentials
Friday, January 25th, 2013
The best part of being organized is having everything you need in one place. When you have a well stocked knitting or crochet tool kit, you’re prepared for any curve ball your pattern may throw at you. Luckily, my co-workers here at WEBS are a lot more organized and prepared than I am! They’ve shared with us their tool kit essentials.
Dena keeps two tool kits. One larger, main tool kit with all the essentials, and a mini kit with the bare necessities when she wants to travel light. On the right, Dena’s mini tool kit includes: Clover Locking Stitch Markers, small ring markers, a tape measure, a crochet hook, two sizes of Clover Bent Tip Tapestry Needles, small scissors, and dental floss. She uses the dental floss as waste yarn and lifelines for lace knitting. So clever!
On the left (her main kit), Dena has her full set Addi crochet hooks, scissors, Clover Soft Stitch Ring Stitch Markers, locking stitch markers, Clover U Cable Stitch Holder, a tape measure, highlighter tape, tapestry needles, Nancy’s Knit Knacks Needle & Hook Gauge and Knit Kards. Highlighter tape is perfect for keeping track of your place in a pattern. You place the tape over the row you’re on so you can easily see your place. Then, you just peel off the tape and move it to your next row!
Greta’s tool kit is in the center. She keeps everything tucked away in her Spud & Chloë case. The case has since been discontinued, but the Namaste Lola Case is a similar size. Her essentials include a crochet hook, stitch markers, a yarn needle for weaving in ends, a needle gauge, a cable needle, and pin cushion for sewing needles.
1: Kristin’s tool kit is an adorable vintage chocolate tin. She keeps a row counter, a tape measure, locking stitch markers, darning needles and a yarn cutter pendant. They snip your yarn neatly and don’t have any pointy tips that can poke you.
2 and 3: Sara is so organized, she has two tool kits. She puts my organizational skills to shame! Her tool kit has a small magnet in the lid that all her needles stick to (out of the way so she don’t get stabbed!) She has a tiny pair of scissors, a tape measure, stitch markers and a few random buttons in the top compartment. In the bottom she keep extra darning needles, her business cards and a larger cable stitch holder.
4 and 8: Tina is another organizational pro. She carries most of the regular essentials in her knitting kit: crochet hooks for picking up dropped stitches, a row counter, sticky notes, scissors, a gauge ruler, a tape measure and she prefers straight wooden cable needles. She likes to keep her kit in a clear bag. Our tools are small! So, when trying to find something like a tapestry needle, she likes to be able to visually locate it before diving into the bag. Another thing she finds important is having at least one stitch marker that is a completely different color than the others. If she’s working on a project in the round, with lots of markers, she needs the one that denotes the beginning of the round to stand out from all of the others. That way she doesn’t confuse the beginning of the round with a decrease, for example. (See, I told you she was an organizational pro!)
5: Mary sticks to the bare necessities. She keeps stitch markers and a yarn needle with her.
6: Stephanie likes to be prepared, and keeps practically all her notions with her at all times! She has locking stitch markers, stitch holders, two kinds of tape measures, a pencil, sewing needles, yarn needles, row counters, scissors, a crochet hook, a needle gauge a sewing needle threader and pins. Stephanie and Tina are the only ones here with a pencil in their kit, and it seems like an essential that’s commonly overlooked!
7: Greta keeps her kit in her Lantern Moon cases. We don’t have these specific ones anymore, but these Lantern Moon cases are a similar size. She keeps yarn needles, a tape measure, a stitch holder, a cable needle, locking stitch markers, soft stitch markers and a crochet hook. My favorite part of her tool kit is the Lantern moon cable needle set. It’s beautiful!
What’s in your tool kit? Do you like to be prepared for anything, or just stick to the basics?
This week the staff at WEBS is buzzing about…
