Trenchwork

I realized recently that knitting needles are rather like socks. They aren’t put into the dryer, but inevitably one turns up missing somewhere along the way. If you tend to use circulars instead of DPNs, then they like to disappear two at a time.

The problem of the disappearing pointy sticks has, thankfully, not been a real dilemma for me, but not because of any brilliance on my part. Rather, I had some beautiful wooden crochet hooks and I wanted something more protective than a ziplock or the bottom of my crochet bag or yarn basket. I had seen JoAnn’s or a similar vendor selling small hook cases that rolled up like a jelly roll, and it dawned on me that I could just as easily make my own and tailor it to my own needs. I visited the local fabric store and grabbed the necessary fabrics, pinned, folded, and started sewing. This is what I came up with:

No more misplaced hooks and the wooden ones were now nicely cushioned in rolls of fabric. When I started gathering knitting needles, I had another epiphany and realized that I could do the same with them.

Both cases roll up neatly and fairly compactly so that I can take everything with me when I travel. More importantly, I have everything in a single place and pretty much at my fingertips.

Why am I saying this? Not to announce any particular brilliance, but rather to chuckle at my own luck. You see, if I hadn’t originally needed to find a way to protect the lovely wooden crochet hooks I bought from Bill at Turn of the Century, I’d be right there with everyone else hunting for that missing needle of which you only happen to have one in that size or length, which happens to be your favorite needle, and which you simply have to have now.

Every now and then, I just get lucky.