Straight Knitting Needles Holder Tutorial

How horrible is it when you are about to start a project and you can only find one of the the right size needles?!?!?! This will never happen again if you make a knitting needle holder to keep your straights nice and organized.

1) Get the materials you need:
-2 yards of quilter's cotton
-1/2 yard fusible fleece interfacing (not necessary if you are using decorator's weight fabric instead).
-1 yd 1" thick ribbon
-coordinating thread

Note: sew with a 1/4" seam allowance

2) Cut the fabric:
- Lay the two yards on top of each other so you can cut them both at the same time - make sure the edges line up. Cut a rectangle 33 1/2" x 28" for the inside and outside of the holder. Make sure to cut this in the bottom right part of the fabric, right up against the bottom right edge, with the 33 1/2" part running horizontal.
-Cut another rectangle at the top right of the fabric (above the rectangle you just cut) that is 33 1/2" by 10 1/2" for the front of the pocket
-Cut 1 piece of interfacing 33 1/2" by 10 1/2"
-Cut the ribbon 33" long

Note: The holder has an extra long flap at the top to fold over so that your needles to not slide out the top:)

3) Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of one of the front pocket pieces.

4) Place the two pieces for the front of the pocket right sides together and sew the top (only the top) horizontal seam. Turn and press. Top-stitch.

5) Make markings for the different slots that will hold all the different sized needles onto the front of the pocket piece. You can take a look at the needles you have and decide what size slots you want. I made one at 2 1/2" for my really large needles and then few around 2" and 1 1/2" and then quite a few at 1". I made my largest slots at the far left and slowly made smaller and smaller slots going towards the right. You can also sew a horizontal seam across the smallest slots if you want to store double pointed needles in this holder as well so that they poke out of the slots properly.

6) After making the markings lay the pocket piece with the right side up on top of the inner holder piece (leave the outer holder piece to the side), lining up the bottom and side raw raw edges. Pin the pocket piece down and stitch vertically along each of the marking to create the slots. Roll it up as you sew so that it will fit in the machine.

7) Place the outer holder piece and the inner holder piece right sides together. Stitch all around the edges with a 1/4" seam allowance, leaving a gap for turning. Turn, press and top-stitch, thereby closing the gap.

8) Measure up 8 3/4" from the bottom of the holder and make a mark. Place the middle of the ribbon on this mark and sew a square with an "X" in it to secure the ribbon. Cut the raw edges of the ribbon on the diagonal so they won't fray.

9) Organize your needles and put them in their slots! Enjoy your holder:)

Circular Knitting Needle Holder Tutorial

Circular needles can get so tangled and messy! All different lengths and thicknesses in a jumble of wires in the bottom of your knitting basket - no good! Here is a tutorial to help you make a circular knitting needle holder that will keep them all neat as a pin!

1) Collect your materials:
-Fabric scraps at least 13" x 10"
-Fleece iron on interfacing if you are using quilter's cotton (if you are using decorator's weight fabric no need for interfacing.)
-1 yd ribbon
-washable fabric marker
-coordinating thread

2) Cut out your pieces as follows:
-Cut two pieces 13" x 8 1/2" for the outside and inside cover
-Cut two pieces 13" x 8 1/2" of interfacing
-Cut four pieces 11" x 5 3/4" for the outer pocket piece
-Cut four pieces 11" x 7 1/2" for the inner edge of the pockets or the "pages"
-Cut two pieces 11" x 7 1/2" of interfacing
-Cut two pieces of ribbon 10" long

Note: This pattern makes 8 pockets if you wish to make a holder with more you could add another page insert. Add 1" to the width of the cover piece to accommodate the extra page. Make 3 page inserts instead of two.

3) Iron on the larger piece of interfacing the wrong side of the inner cover piece. Iron the smaller pieces of interfacing to the wrong side of the two of the page pieces.

4) Finish the raw edge of the top of each outer pocket piece. Fold over by 1/2" and sew close to the raw edge.

5) Layer the page pieces as follows:
-Lay one page piece face up then lay one outer pocket piece with the wrong side facing the right side of the page piece. Lay the next outer pocket piece with its right side on top of the right side of the previous outer pocket piece. Lay the next page piece with its right side against the wrong side of the last outer pocket piece. Pin and sew all around, making sure to catch all layers. Leave a hole for turning.

6) Clip corners, turn, press and top-stitch.

7) Place the cover pieces wrong sides together and stitch all the way around, leaving a 2-3" gap for turning. Clip corners and turn. Press and top-stitch thereby closing gap. Put to the side.

8) Repeat for the next page.

Note: You may choose to make more than two page inserts in which case you will repeat these steps for each page insert you make.

9) Draw a line down the exact middle of each page insert.

10) Draw a line down the middle of the inner side of the cover and then draw a line 1/2" on either side of the middle line.

Note: If you are making 3 page inserts instead of 2 then you will need to draw a line 1" to the left of the center line and another line 1" to the right of the center line. You will sew a page insert on to each of these three lines.

11) Line up one page insert along the left more line on the inner cover, pin and stitch.

12) Line up the other page insert along the right most line on the inner cover, pin and stitch.

13) Make a mark 1/2" between the top and bottom of the front cover at the two outer edges. Fold one end of each ribbon over by 3/4" and pin each one to the center of each mark. Sew and square with an "X" to secure the ribbon. Cut a diagonal on the other end of each ribbon.

14) Put your circular needles in and you are done! Good work!

My first knitting project!

One of the things I wanted to do when I changed my business over to patterns was to find the time to take up knitting. I have tried a number of times during my life to start knitting and both Grandmother's spent more than one afternoon trying to teach me but it never stuck. Now I was determined! So I cracked open my Reader's Digest Knitting book and got to it!

With a few false starts and some ripping out of stitches I eventually got the hang of it:) I visited my LYS (Local yarn store!) and got some lovely cotton yarn and a super cute pattern for Shiloh. I'm proud to say I have finished the front and back (and even knitted them together!) and just need to complete the sleeves. Sadly the sleeves seem super complicated and I might dumb them down or I'm afraid I won't finish the top before the summer is over:)

Here is a pic in progress and a pic of the pattern. I decided not to do stripes given that it was my first knitting project. I'm pretty proud of myself!