Whit's Knits: Circular Needle Organizer

Few things are more unruly than a bunch of circular needles! I've come up with a simple way to keep them all organized, and my life hasn't been the same since!

Materials

 

The Basics: 

• A small binder (This one comes from a store in New York called Muji. This binder is 8 1/2 x 11 inches.)
  
• Clear plastic sheet protectors
• Separator sheets with tabs
• Sticky tabs
  

The Embellishments:

• A piece of fabric big enough to cover the front of the binder (This is P & B Textiles' Color Spectrum in Mint)
  
• Pinking shears
• Yarn to knit a decoration (I used Rowan 4 ply cotton in the color Cream #153)
  
• Knitting needles the right size for the yarn you're using
• A sewing needle and thread
  
• Matt medium (or fabric glue)
• An old or cheap paint brush for the glue
• A ruler and marker
  

To Assemble

First knit something that you think would be cute on the cover of the binder, like a doily, or a flower, or a stitch sample.
I knit the first 26 rounds of the "Plastic Doily" from this great book of classic lace knitting by Nancy Nehring, The Lacy Knitting of Mary Schiffmann. I made a picot edge by casting on 2 and binding off 4 all the way around.

 


Next cut a piece of fabric bigger than the front of the binder, and iron it. With a sewing needle and thread sew the knit piece to the approximate center of the fabric. Try to sew a bit under the edge of the knitting so it won't show.

Now center the knitting on the binder and trace the edge of the binder with a ruler and marker.   

Turn the fabric over. If the lines you just drew bled through the fabric enough to see them, use a pencil and ruler to measure and mark a smaller concentric rectangle inside the outer border. (If you can't see your lines, hold the fabric up to a window, mark the corners and redraw the outside border on the back side of the fabric.)

  

With pinking shears cut around the inside rectangle.

Now brush the matt medium all over the front of the binder cover, and carefully place the fabric in the center, smoothing down bubbles and ripples. Then brush a coat of matt medium all over the fabric and front cover, avoiding the knit piece. Let this dry.

To Organize

The best way to organize your needles may depend on your needle collection. I have needles in a wide variety of both lengths and sizes, so I decided to separate my binder by length because there are fewer lengths than there are sizes. It may make more sense for you to organize by size, especially if you tend to work with needles that fall into a narrow size range.

Label the separator page tabs however makes sense for you. My binder's tabs read "12 inches", "16 inches", "20 inches", etc.

Then within each section, affix sticky labels to the sheet protectors, and label them. Mine say the needle size: "#4", "#8", etc.

 

Then, the fun part, put your needles into their new homes.

Organization at last!

 

Comments

[knitlit kate]

super cute whit! i also love to organize my circs in a shoe organizer hung on the back of my knitting room door. the shoe compartments are clear so i can see what's inside. and i labeled each pocket with a sharpie so i can see the needle sizes at a glance. and you're right: the most fun part is putting the needles in their pockets : )

[Tricia]

Hey! I did this... only without the pretty pattern on the front... and it didn't work so well. The binder I chose (not so much thought or selection went into it, actually) had one of those softer plastic covers and any time it was less than 100% upright, out would come my needles. So: stiff cover next time!

[Haley]

what a simple, yet wonderful way to organize circular needles. i'm always looking for good organization solutions and this is a great one. cute, too! thanks for sharing.

[melissa]

aaahhh! genius! i was just shoving them all in a bag again yesterday, thinking...what the heck do i DO with these! AND it's pretty. so nice!

[Cathy]

What a great idea!!!

[Carolyn]

Awesome idea! I love the pic of them entwined. Looks so familiar to me.

[Vis Major]

Genius! I think could easily be expanded to having a binder for circs, another for dpns, and maybe even another for straights... maybe each binder as a different color... or maybe my OCD tendencies are kicking in. :)

Thanks for the lovely idea.

[Maria Mercado]

This is brilliant! I can't believe I've never thought of doing this...I wonder what else I can organize in folders this way.... :)

[aurora]

oh!what a great notion! ;-) I never thought to organize them in a notebook! thanks....

[Candice]

That's an awesome idea :)

[Marleen]

It looks great!

[Raven]

That's fantastic. Thanks for sharing with us.

I didn't know Muji had made it to North America yet. I saw them in Japan and I adore them. If I remember rightly, they were one of the more eco-friendly Japanese stationary shops I visited.

[Diana]

Hey! Only the idea of the cover is great, it can work for lots of other projects (i.e. journals to give as presents).
And yay for Muji in New York! I have to visit as soon as I go to the Big City (hopefully soon)...

[Lainie]

What a fantastic idea. Thank you so much for this post and all the great posts on this fabulous blog, and for all the generous tutorials. Just one small thing for us picky editors and wordsmiths: please look up the correct use of "it's" and "its." Your mistake is not uncommon but but this blog deserves better! Thank you again.

[Lily]

Great idea! Do you have an address for Muji, by any chance? I checked out their site but they don't seem to list US locations :(

[purl bee]

Dear Lily,
Muji in New York is on Broadway near Grand Street. They also sell some of their products at the Museum of Modern Art shops.

[Nano]

Ingenious! I'm going to get the supplies this weekend. I do love this blog :-)

[rachel]

Looks GREAT!!!
SO .... when does mine arrive in the mail?
And don't forget I moved so don't send it to my old address mmmkay?
Seriously.
How much do you want for it?

[Tif]

Cute idea!!!

[Emma]

How wonderfully organized of you! I personally feel that you can't be too organized. But I have to ask, does your family support your efforts? Because my husband does not seem to get the whole "a place for everything and everything in its place" thing.

[Cassie]

This is so great. I love any chance to see some Japanese stationary supplies in action. Can you tell me what kind of binder you got? I found the dividers on the Muji website, but I'm having a hard time finding the binder you used.

[purl bee]

Hi Cassie,
I looked on the Muji website too and I can't find the binder either. I wonder if they are temporarily out of stock? Perhaps give the New York Muji store a call to see if they can help you. I found their phone number: (212) 334-2002
--Joelle

[Sandi]

Awesome.....I am looking forward to making this.

[iHanna]

I don't have enought circular to do this yet, but I really like your style and the tab system. I love anything notebook acctually, don't you? Images like these just draw me in and makes me drool sometimes.

Just thought I'd pop by and tell you I've got a tiny link in todays post to your valentine tutorial. I think your cards are very cute, the fabrics you choose are way sweet! Just thought you'd wanna know. Take care!

[Susi]

This is an absolutely amazing idea. I always had problems to organise them, but this is awesome. And the tabs make it much comfortable.

[KC]

LOVE this idea. I've seen sewing patterns for circular needle holders that hang on the door, but I've always thought they look kind of messy with the needles hanging out. And a notebook is a lot more user-friendly. THANK YOU!

[Rikke]

yes :-) this is the way to do it, mine has lived like this for years :-) - but after size insted of length

[Uneeknitter]

WOW...I got one of those cloth needle cases and HATE it because the needles are always falling out. You have reinspired me to figure something else out. I believe I have a small sized scrapbook that would work for this. THANKS!!!

[Carrie]

What a great idea!

[Pam]

Several years ago I found a 1-1/2" 3-ring binder for 8.5 x 5.5 paper--they seem to be making a comeback at chain stationery stores. I used 1-quart plastic food storage bags and punched holes in them to fit into the binders. A Sharpie pen labeled the bags and the ink has held up over the years and the bags are holding up, too. I have 3 notebooks now--2 for my circular needles and one for my double pointed needles. I use a bag for each length of circular needles in each size.

I've thought about making cute covers for the binders, but I'd rather knit! This fall I noticed that Staples has come colorful small binders that are certainly prettier than my black binders and were tempting.

[Erica]

You are a genious! I have been looking for a solution to store my needles for so long!

[Lisa Sittniewski - Alterity]

Are you kidding?! How incredibly clever!!!! Love this :)

[Nataliya]

What a great idea. This is exactly what I was looking for!!! Thank you so much!!!