Sewing: double pointed needles case.

I've been wanting to have a better system for organizing my knitting needles. I mostly only use circulars (even for knitting flat) and DPNs now. I have a lot of vintage metal straight needles that I keep in a big jar, mostly for decoration because I rarely use those anymore. (Metal needles make my hands ache, so I stick with bamboo or just wooden ones.) I also keep my fixed circulars in a small, wide jar...they're mostly 16" ones for hats and such. My interchangeable circulars set is currently still in the plastic case it came in, but that's next on my sewing list. :)

And now, after a lot of figuring and measuring and planning (it's ironic how often you have to use math, which I've always hated, in knitting and sewing), my double pointed needles are neatly organized!

This is another of my "special fabrics." It's from Sarah Watson's Indian Summer line. I also own a bit of this coordinating print (which is probably one of my favorite fabrics ever), and I had planned on using them together. But I decided to save that one for something that will get used more often, like a smaller project bag or maybe a new notions bag. Anyway, I love the feathers and mushrooms on this fabric, and the colors are really nice, too. (Since I had several favorite fabrics that I wanted to use, I realized that my set of knitting accessories wasn't going to match. But it worked out that most of them coordinate together because they have the same colors: navy blue, turquoise, light coral, etc.)

For all the planning I did, I feel like this case took a lot of improvising. I was going to use some more of the teal linen (like this lining) for the inside, but I didn't have a piece that was big enough. I found some of this gray-blue broadcloth in my stash that nearly matched the gray in the outer fabric, and it ended up looking nicer than I expected. When I started to cut out the bottom piece for the pockets, I realized that what I had left over wasn't wide enough...so I had to stick in a little piece of that turquoise polka dots in the center. I started out topstitching everything with turquoise thread and then unexpectedly ran out, so the outside is topstitched with gray thread. Then I didn't have any good elastic for the closure, so I used part of a hair tie that was almost broken on one end.

I lined it with batting and a layer of fusible interfacing. I used the interfacing because I wanted it to be sturdier and more like a case than a needle roll, but it probably wasn't necessary. The whole thing is a little too bulky, and with how it's folded up the interfacing gets wrinkly.

Anyway, it's not perfect but I'm happy with it! It holds all of my bamboo DPNs from size 1 to 15, and it's nice to have them all in one place.

(In case you're wondering, this is the set of bamboo needles that I own, in the 7" length. They're not the best, but they're what I could afford. I bought them last year and I've used a lot of the sizes, and I've found that from about size 4 or 5 up, they hold up nicely. The points aren't super sharp, but they work for me, and none of mine have had rough edges. The sizes 1, 2, and 3 bend too easily. Before I bought the complete set, I already owned Clover bamboo needles in sizes 2 and 3, which I still always use for socks. After many pairs of socks, the Clover ones are only slightly warped, but the cheap ones have noticeably bent after just one project. So I recommend this set of needles, but just know that if you do a lot of sock knitting, you're going to also need to purchase nicer needles for that. For heavier socks, sweater sleeves, etc., these needles are a good deal.)