Custom Organizers: Make Your Own Knitting Needle Roll-Up

While it is easy to purchase a pre-made roll-up for your knitting needles and crochet hooks, many of us find that they either won't easily hold all of the tools we would like to carry with us, or we don't like the fabric or layout of the roll-up. However, many people think it would be too difficult or time-consuming to create their own needle roll-up, and others still haven't even considered it.

It does take a touch of creativity to make your own custom needle roll-up. You need to understand both the tools you'll want to carry with you and how you like to access them, and the potential pitfalls you can come across when creating your own roll-up. The former comes with practice. The latter can be done quickly if you do some research into how other roll-ups are used and use some common sense. For example, it's not a good idea to put shallow pockets facing toward the outer edges of your knitting roll-up because your tools will fall out.

Luckily, it's easy to avoid these pitfalls and half the fun is in the planning!

If you'd like to tackle your own needle roll-up

Skill Type: Basic Sewing

Tools Needed:

Fabric remnants for lining, outside, and pockets.

Stabilizer like felt or interfacing

Thread

Needles (hand or machine sewing needles)

Measuring tape or ruler

Scissors (optional: and rotary cutter)

Ribbon

The tools you're going to want to put in your roll-up. Examples: knitting needles, crochet hooks, needles, row counter, markers, cable needles, circular needle cords, ruler/stitch gauge, etc.

Instructions:

To start, you'll need to determine how large you want your roll-up to be. You'll need to look at the tools you want in your roll-up. Some of us use long knitting needles. You'll want your knitting roll-up to be tall enough to carry and protect those needles if you're going to store them in your roll-up. If you're going to put a lot of tools in your roll-up, you'll probably want it to be pretty wide, but remember...the bigger and bulkier you make your roll-up, the less portable it will be. I have a large roll-up that holds all of my tools. It's great for teaching and packing for long trips because everything is in it. I also have a smaller roll-up that only holds the tools I need for knitting socks, because that's what I do most often so I need that kind of portability.

You can lay the tools you'll want in your knitting roll-up on the fabric you'll be using to get an estimate. I'd suggest adding a bit of room along the width so that it will roll up easily and you can toss in a few extra tools at some point in the future and it'll still close. Then you'll want to add 1/2" seam allowance to all 4 sides of the fabric and interfacing to determine how big you'll be cutting your fabric. To make the roll-up section before the pockets are added, you'll need fabric for the outside and the inside and your stabilizer. Felt can be cut to exact size. Interfacing should have seam allowances added and be sewn in with your fabric.

You'll want to take the time to determine the basics of how you'll want your tools laid out in the roll-up at this point. You can always change things up a bit while you're putting the pockets on but for now, you'll want at least a basic layout. Needles should be planned to lay vertically in your roll-up so it will close. Other tools should also be laid vertically in your layout as much as possible. For smaller tools like crochet hooks and row counters, you can plan for 2-3 rows of pockets. You could also make your knitting needle roll-up taller and put pockets above your needles, facing inward as I did in my sock needle organizer. The added benefit of designing an organizer that way is that you can fold that section of the organizer down to both keep your tools from falling out and protect the tops of your knitting needles.

At any rate, once you've established what size you need your knitting needle roll-up to be, you can cut your fabric and stiffener.

If you've never sewn, you'll have to pay attention to these assembly instructions. You're going to make a 'sandwich' of your layers of fabric this way: If using interfacing, lay the interfacing down first. If not, you can proceed to the next step, which is laying your outer fabric face-up. Then you'll place your lining fabric face-down atop your outer fabric. You're going to sew these layers together with a 1/2" seam allowance in this fashion: Starting near the center bottom, you'll want to sew almost all the way around the edges, pivoting at the corners for a neat edge. Stop sewing and reinforce about 2-3" before where you began. This is so you can turn your piece right-side out. Then clip the fabric (and interfacing if you used it) diagonally at all 4 corners, making sure not to cut in far enough that you clip the threads that you just sewed down. This is so there isn't a lot of bulk in your corners.

Turn your roll-up right-side out, making sure to press the fabric at the corners out as far as you can for the neatest corner. If you planned to use felt as a stiffener, you'll want to put it inside your roll-up now, making sure to line it up properly at the corners inside. If you need to use a tool to get the corners pushed out or the felt lined up properly, a knitting needle is actually the perfect tool to use.

Once you have your corners settled, you can then turn in the seam allowance along the edge you used to turn your piece and stitch it closed near the edge.

Now the outside of your knitting needle roll-up is complete and you can start the fun part.

Figure out how long you'll need a piece of fabric to make your main pocket for your needles. Add ½" seam allowances to top and bottom and one side and leave the 4^th side longer than you'll actually need. You can use other finishing techniques at this time if you want coordinating fabric on the top edge, as I did in my large roll. If not, you'll need to turn in the edges on top, bottom, and the right-hand side, and then sew the right-hand side at the outer edge where you want your needles stored. You'll be securing the bottom once all of your pockets are made. In my large roll, I actually made 2 rows of pockets by sewing 2 layers of fabric to my lining at the same time. I have my straight needles in the taller pocket, and my double-pointed needles in the shorter pockets below.

For a truly custom fit, which is especially nice if you're storing large or small needles so they stay in the pocket properly, you'll want to organize your needles the way you want them in your roll. Then you'll take your largest sized needles and slide them between the fabric for the pocket and your lining. Wrap the pocket fabric around the side of your needles (if they're large enough to require it) and then pin the pocket fabric to the roll-up snugly against the needles. Pull the needles out and sew vertically along what will be the pocket edge. Slide the needles in the pocket to see if it's a good fit and make sure you've got the technique down. They should fit side-by-side and not wiggle much. If you're satisfied with your work, keep doing that with smaller needles all the way down the row. When you get to the last pocket, you'll want to cut the side you didn't turn under before about half an inch past where you have to secure the last pocket. Turn that edge under and sew the pocket down.

Now it's time to secure the pockets. If you're storing large needles or large DPNs, you'll find that the pockets to hold them have a lot of room at the bottom. If you want a nicer bottom edge of the pockets, you can pin the fabric down at regular intervals along the edge or fold the fabric toward the seams at the edges, making a pleat on each side. Once you're satisfied with how your bottom edge will lay, you can sew as close to the edge as safely possible along the length of all of your pockets. Now all of your needle pockets should be done.

If you want to add pockets for scissors, circular needle tips, sewing needles, crochet hooks, etc. you can sew smaller pockets in in the same fashion inside your roll-up. If you're storing something you're afraid might slip out or that won't fit in a pocket well, you can make a wider pocket and sew a flap of fabric overlapping the top of your wider pocket, secured at the sides, so that you can slip things into the pocket and store them safely. I did that for my markers in both of my knitting needle roll-ups.

Once you've sewn in all your pockets and secured everything, you can use a fabric marker or embroidery floss to mark the pockets with the size needles that go in the pocket. (This is optional). Then you're ready to attach your ribbon.

Along one of your previous seam lines, secure the ribbon to the outside of your roll-up. You can get creative and use velcro, bias tape ties, or some other closure if you like instead, but ribbon is cheap, easy to work with, and comes in all types of widths and cute patterns.

Now you're ready to throw in your tools, take some pictures for bragging rights, and head to your next knitting night in style.