June 6, 2006
Emergency Provisions
While I was at MS&W, I got the chance to meet Cassie, a NY blogger who knits, spins and quilts. I think one of the best things about fiber festivals is getting the chance to meet people who are doing interesting and clever things in different areas of the fiber arts. One of her current quilting/sewing endeavors involves making her lovely "Emergency Sock Kits", which are cleverly constructed fabric containers meant to hold all those handy things you want to have at your finger tips when you're a sock knitter on the go. I didn't order mine until after the festival, and it arrived in the mail tonight, just in time for an early evening photo shoot.
I need to find some safety pins so that I can keep a couple of stitchmarkers and a big darning needle in the kit (I'll attatch these to the flap over the needles), and I'll have to search a craft store for a 6" clear plastic ruler that can go into the wide left hand side pocket (why have I never thought of having one of those before?), but otherwise I'm almost completely set to take on the sock knitting world on Chicago Public Transportation. This lovely little case easily holds several sets of DPs, a pair of scissors and a crochet hook in addition to the things I need to find. And it's so well put together. I can only dream of being able to use a sewing machine so well!
And it looks just as lovely closed as it does open. It's held closed with a co-ordinated color snap. Every time I pick it up I find some interesting little detail. More proof for me that a sewing machine can be a good thing. Perhaps it's time for me to think about bonding with Romeo again....
I put a 6" aluminum stitch holder in one of the pockets and it holds all the things like safety pins, stitch markers, a needle on a loop of yarn, a row counter, etc. I just couldn't bring myself to poke a safety pin through Cassie's beautiful fabric, even though it is designed for that.
Other items include a mechanical pencil and a pen, a crochet hook, size 2's and size 1's, and a length of sock yarn to use for provisional casting on or basting at a fitting or ...
It used to take me fifteen minutes to round up what I needed and toss it in my purse; now I grab my ESK and I'm ready. You will LOVE yours!
Worra Brill idea. I may look hard at your pic & see what I can do.
I have one too! I love it to death. I have a crochet hook and some waste yarn in mine. I still need a ruler of some sort. It's saved me a couple of times already! congrats, and cassie's work is fantastic, isn't it? :)
I love it! It's so clever and great - I could definitely use something like it, as I often knit on the train and need something easy I can just throw in my bag for the morning commute!
- Carla
Look for the clear plastic ruler in the quilting section (Olfa, Omni-grid, etc. They come in lots of lengths, widths and shapes- rectangles, squares, triangles- if you decide to add quilting to your fiber arts). I also have an opaque plastic ruler (6" but only marked on the middle 5"?!) that also had a needle gauge down the middle (hmm.. is that dpn a US 1 or 2?).
What a pretty one! Even if it is blue....
Another great ruler is this one:
http://www.joann.com/catalog.jhtml?CATID=113057&PRODID=12131&source=search
It's not as wide tradional rulers and has a little sliding notch that is helpful with measuring.
Lion Brand makes a 5" plastic ruler that is also a needle gauge. I find that comes in real handy!
The fabric is lovely.