An obsession that goes well with fiber arts is an obsession for great project bags. For me, it helps to keep organized if I have a different bag for each project I’m working on. That way, I can look at an array of bags lined up in my room (don’t judge me!) and know on site what is in each one, making grabbing one quickly on my way out the door much easier. And I’m always on the lookout for things that make a great knitting bag (size–portability or large enough to hold an afghan; pockets, closures–zippers, snaps, drawstrings; lightweight, etc), and things that do not (velcro is bad!). Let’s just say there are actually very few bags that don’t make a great knitting bag.

One of my favorite little knitting bags is a muslin drawstring with a handle and this cute little brown silkscreen. I was just telling a friend yesterday that it’s the perfect size for small-medium travel projects. It can fit one to two rather large skeins of yarn, and right now I have an in-progress Honey Cowl residing in this bag. The drawstrings make it great to keep contents from falling out, while at the same time making access easy and no risk of accidentally zipping up the yarn or project in the zipper (can you tell I’ve done that before?). The handle is great because I don’t have to worry about carrying it by the drawstrings (for some reason, I don’t like that).

As I mentioned, I have my in-progress Honey Cowl in this bag, a project that has me completely charmed, especially since I’m using my own handspun. This yarn was the second one I had spun on my wheel, and it was such an improvement from the first. I’m actually quite surprised at how evenly I plied this yarn, despite it being only the third time plying. Part of being a great spinner is knitting with your own yarn to see things you do well and things that need improvement, and some things you just can’t tell until you actually start to knit with it. 

The other thing that makes this project charming is the fact that I knit on it while in Disneyland last weekend. I’ve never actually knit while in Disneyland, and I decided to make it my goal to do that this trip. I’ve always thought it was a good idea while waiting in line or waiting for a meal or waiting for a parade (there is a surprising amount of waiting to do in Disneyland), but never actually done it before. This time, I picked this project specifically since a) it’s knit in the round, so I don’t have to turn my knitting around each row, b) the pattern is easily to memorize and remember between breaks, and c) it’s still small enough to fit in a smallish bag and not add too much extra weight. (And yes, there were plenty of eye-rolls from my family as they saw me knitting at various times throughout our trip.)

I’m hoping to have this finished up soon so I can wear it, and so I can use my favorite little bag for yet another project.