Roll Up! Roll Up!

I keep my knitting needles in this bag. It originally belonged to my mother-in-law, so it has lots of good memories. She taught me some useful tips. Liz has just become an enthusiastic knitter and asked for a ‘knitting needle roll’ for her birthday. So I made her one, to hold needles of all shapes and sizes. Here’s how

You need 5 pieces

A outer piece 45 x 65cm, B [contrast] lining 45 x 30cm, C pocket 45 x 25 cm, D tiny pocket 10 x 22cm and E piece of Aida or felt 7cm square

First, turn under 1cm on the short edges of A,C, and D. Press and stitch down [I used a pretty contrast stitch. Then fold piece D in half longways and sew across the other end. Turn right side out and press. This gives you the flap for the tiny pocket. Fold up the hemmed edge and sew side seams. Turn inside out to make pocket.Add a button on the flap and make a button loop. Zigzag the pocket in place onto the bottom of piece A. NOTE the top of the pocket should be towards the hemmed edge, 4cm in from side, 4cm down from hem.

Place the square of Aida in the centre at the bottom of piece A and zigzag in place. Pin piece C on top of B, 25cm from the top, with hemmed edge on the overlap.

Your two parts should look like the picture above. Now concentrate carefully! Turn over your pinned pieces B & C and pin them to the top of piece A [so right sides are together] There will be a piece of A showing at the bottom, with tiny pocket and Aida square. Seam round the three sides [left, top, right] of the B&C piece, clip corners, and turn to right side. Press [including pressing in seam allowance on the flap of A.

 

Now mark your channels – I used pins at top and pen on the inside of the flap – ten at 3cm wide, five at 2cm wide. Begin by stitching a guideline just above the top of the pocket.[below left]

Now you need to stitch the channels. Start at the top, stitch down to the mark, then turn and stitch back up over the line just stitched. Then stitch along your horizontal guideline, to the next mark. Go down & up again to the end.Now fold up your bottom flap to make the lower pocket. Zigzag down the sides to hold it in place. You are going to sew some channels on this pocket too – over the top of previous lines.

BUT you cannot sew along the top this time, or you will close of the other pockets. So this time sew your guideline close to the bottom edge.Using the first lot of channels as a guide, stitch a 3cm channel between the little pocket and the Aida, and six or seven 2cm channels on the right hand side. You will find that the stitching from the first lot of channels will give you a guide.

Take two 50cm lengths of tape or ribbon. Fold each in half, and stitch the centre of each on the outside of the roll at the edge of the two pockets.

Now load up with your stuff –

• regular needles go in the long pockets,
• circular needles in the large short pockets [left and centre]
• short needles, cable needles, dpns, scissors,stitch holders, crochet hook in the narrow short pockets
• row counter, tape measure etc in the tiny pocket
• pins and needles fix into the Aida[make sure they are vertical NOT horizontal, with points downwards]

Fold down the top flap, to stop needles slipping out in transit, roll up, tie up, and you are ready to go!

This was not an easy project. I had to keep stopping and checking things were the right way up, and that I was not stitching across channels by mistake. Many of the online tutorials only have one tie – but I found that two made the roll neater, and that long ties enabled me to double wrap before tying the bows, for extra security. I have to tell you that those are all my needles in the finished picture. I’m afraid that I removed most of them before posting the case off to Liz. She knows I have plenty of spares, and will always let her have a particular size if she needs them.

The pretty blue needlecord came from the Great Stash – back in 1988 when my parents had their Ruby Wedding Anniversary Celebration Party,  I got a large piece of this fabric for a song from the Laura Ashley Sale at the shop in Bromley, and made 3 matching pinafore dresses- for Liz, Steph, and myself. We must have looked like the Von Trapp Family [sorry, girls!] This is the remaining piece. It is good to be able to use it for another family project. Liz only started knitting again in January – in 5 months she has really progressed, joined Ravelry, and already produced lots of small bits and pieces for friends and family [baby stuff etc] Happy Knitting, Liz!