Tag: Storage

Doggie DPN Roll

Finally a place to store my double pointed knitting needles.

So, at some point in the distant past, I got hold of some DPNs, double pointed knitting needles. DPNs are needles that are used for knitting small things, or things in the round, or i-cord. I used them for the dragon, for example. As I am wont to do, this meant the start of a DPN collection. I never set about to find storage for them though, and that was a problem. They’ve been left in plastic bags, pen-things, stabbed into a cardboard box and I’ve found them in all kinds of places. But no more!

Detail of 2-3 mm needle pockets
close up of three dpn pockets
A poodle and a weiner dog on a fabric

I set out to create a storage for them that was similar to my interchangeable knitting needle storage. Found some fabric in the hoard that had cute dogs on it, some semi-coordinating fabric for the needle pockets and got to work. I first had to sort all the DPNs into size and length to figure out how many and how big the pockets would be. I ended up with 19 different needle size/shape/length combinations from <2.0 mm to 9.0 mm in diameter.

Full view of DPN holder with plastic covers, green dotted needle pockets and dogs in the background
Back of the needle holder with dogs

Since the doggy fabric was a specific width, the case would be a maximum of that wide. The height was determined by the longest DPNs I had, so it turned out around 37 cm. I cut out the front and back from the doggies and some batting for the middle. Then cut a long strip of coordinating dotty fabric to into the pockets. Sewed down one end and just started putting the DPNs in and sewed the pocket down so they fit somewhat snuggly.

Rolled up DPN holder
Rolled up DPN holder
Rolled up DPN holder

The interchangeable needle storage has a plastic flap over the top to stop the needles falling out. This works really well, so I decided to implement it in the Doggy case too. Since there is such variation in length, and I didn’t think to split first by length then by width, there are actually two plastic covers, one for the shortish needles and one for the longer ones. To combat the ones on the end falling out, so I made a tiny flap on the side too. I sewed down all the flaps, and bound the edges of the whole thing. Made some spaghetti straps from a coordinating fabric, wrote the sizes with a textile marker and called it a day.

I love this thing and it has already brought so much joy!

Clearing up

When it was holiday and all, I was trying to avoid doing my homework (I know this doesn’t work, since I have to do it at some point anyway, why not get it over and done with??). My room has seen a lot of clearing up and even my drawers have had a couple of attempts at them. I should now be able to find things in there. However, what I found wandering around those drawers were a lot of business cards that did not have a collection point. I decided with my new found box-making skills, for a present that you will hear about shortly, to make a box for them. The first time I failed because I didn’t take into account that the bottom should be as wide as the side (idiot me), but the second time went fine, and my box now has a proud place in my top drawer. It has quite a lot of space on all sides, to accommodate larger cards and more importantly: more cards, since I’m sure I’ll accumulate some more in the future.

Cards Cards

Useful

I’ve been having issues with plastic shopping bags littering my room. And this morning I created a solution. It’s a simple tube from some scrap fabric (the same as my coat) with two tunnels, top and bottom. Through the bottom one I threaded some elastic and through the top one some ribbon. I can hang the thing on by cupboard using the ribbon, and the elastic ensures that the bags don’t fall out by themselves but that I can easily pull them out. I’m quite happy with it.

So left is the finished version, and right is the ‘action shot’:

Plastic Bags Bag Plastic Bags Bag in Action!