My Favorite Knitting Bags and List of Essential Knitting Tools
When I first stated knitting, I needed a good knitting bag, or rather many good knitting bags! I’m sure you could spend a lot of money on one, but I love using something I already have for another purpose and if I can get a knitting bag for free, so much the better.
free knitting bags
I’ve got many of those lightweight, reusable shopping bags around, the kind that different stores give you free, or you can purchase for 99 cents. I have to admit, when it comes to reusable shopping bags, I find my Chico bags are the easiest to carry around so I don’t end up using these others. These make terrific knitting bags! Since I have so many of them, I can put a different project into each one, plus I have one knitting bag with all my essential tools, like scissors, tape measure and various knitting needles.
I like these shopping bags as knitting bags because they stand upright, they are lightweight and they come in many sizes. They can also be easily folded with yarn inside to stick into my luggage when I travel.
The type of bag they make especially for wine bottles are handy too. You can put a different skein of yarn into each pocket where a wine bottle goes.
In each knitting bag with a project, I also keep the labels from the yarn I’m using so if I give it as a gift, I have the yarn care instructions handy.
Another easy and inexpensive knitting bag can be made from a canvas tote.You can purchase these on Amazon for under $5 or at a craft store like Joanns. Get a stencil and add “I Love Knitting” on the bag to personalize it.
So, what do I put into the knitting bag with my knitting essentials?
- Tape measure in a retractable holder
- Scissors for trimming ends or cutting yarn
- Various size knitting needles
- Various size crochet hooks for catching dropped stitches
- Large eyed needles for weaving in ends.
- Stitch place holders-these are essential if using circular needles to mark the beginning of each row. ( I keep mine in a small plastic tube so they don’t get lost)
- Row counter
Other miscellaneous things also make their way into my knitting bag. I have a booklet with stitch examples, for instance. If I misplace anything while knitting, it’s likely to be in this bag!
If you’d like a really handy reusable shopping bag, I’d suggest buying 3 or 4 Chico bags. They come on a key chain and each bag can be stuffed into a tiny bag that’s easy to carry around with you. If you use reusable shopping bags, be sure to wash frequently and have a separate one for meat. I’ve read that many people are contaminating their food by not washing the bags frequently.
When my stepdaughter (who is from Chico) got married, she gave these handy bags in her wedding welcome bags. Our whole family is using them now.
By using your imagination and taking stock of what you already have, or what you can purchase inexpensively, you’ll find lots of different ideas for the perfect knitting bag.
What’s in your knitting bag?
If you’d like a knitting bag pattern to make yourself, check out LionBrand Yarn.com and search patterns for bags or totes.
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This post has 2 comments
July 23rd, 2010
What great ideas! You seem very organized to even have the yarn labels in your bag! It keeps me going to manage to keep track of my tape measure and scissors!
July 23rd, 2010
Thanks for your nice comment, Louise. I think I read about the trick of saving labels in the Yarn Harlot’s book about knitting. If you knit items to give as gifts, it’s a big help because you can remember washing instructions to pass along. Of course, since I started this blog, I also like to have the labels so I can fully describe my projects for readers.