what’s in your essentials?

My zippered pencil case finally gave up the ghost after many years of loyal service, but when I went to find something new I was a little overwhelmed with all the options these days.  I ended up just ordering this (and you can see my needle/hook gauge attached to the zipper):

So I have a separate little bag for my Clover crochet hooks, and I have separate storage bags/cases for needle sets, etc., but no matter what yarn project I’m working on, this comes with.  First off let me laud the fact that this case has an expandable zipper, like a suitcase, so if I ever go nuts with my supplies it can handle it:

But as of now I don’t, because my essentials fit inside:

A nice zippered pocket on the left for the small things, at “pencil holder” flap in the center, and space behind it is all I need!  In the zippered pocket I have some point protectors, cable needles, plastic yarn needles for sewing in ends, and extra grippers to slip on hooks (and yes, a plastic cable needle is broken, lol, I need to just throw it out):

The hooks in the middle are ones in sizes that I find useful for a variety of instances, including picking up knitting stitches if I drop one, or just extras if someone else wants to join the crafting fun.  And behind that:

Stitch markers for crochet.  Stitch markers for knitting.  A Cath Kidston measuring tape that has yellowed over time (but I don’t care), a 6″ metal ruler, some embroidery scissors, and my needle tin, which holds:

Thinner sewing needles, more stitch markers, safety pins, and a few bits of string.

And like I said, this goes with me every time I’m working on a yarncraft.  Do you have a container or bag like this that holds your essentials and sticks by you like glue, and if so, what’s in yours?  Am I overdoing it, as I suspect, or should I go all out, unzip the expander, and add all my Clover hooks to the back and combine 2 pouches into 1?  Is there anything vital that I’m missing that I need to add?  This stuff has been in my essentials fot years now, but it’s very possible I’ve missed something important!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!  I hope you are all doing well!

yarn journal

Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to Hannah Ackroyd, who introduced me to this.  Thanks Hannah!

The Kathryn Ivy blog/site  provides free PDF pages for your printable organization needs.  You can make a binder (with dividers, perhaps) to organize your knitting/crocheting projects, your yarn stash, your needle/hook stash, your yarn wish list, your queue, notes, sketch pages, and graph paper of different sizes!  How cool would it be to be so organized, to be able to show off your finished projects with ease, and to be able to express your own yarny creativity all in one place?  Check out this screenshot of the crochet project sheet:

It’s a little small but you can see there’s space for a photo, all your yarn specs, notes, and at the bottom you can tape/paste your yarn label and a little snippet of yarn!  I can just picture a lovely neat binder full of these completed sheets!  So are you interested in making your own project journal?  Then please go to the site with all those lovely pages:

click here.

I do apologize if this is something everybody already knows about — it was new to me and I just had to share!  Thanks again to Hannah for enlightening me.  Now I just need to go out and buy a hole puncher and a nice pretty binder and I’ll be ready to start getting organized!  I’m so excited — it’s like Ravelry in physical form!

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I’ll be on a short vacay in Charleston with my mom starting tomorrow so I might not update for a few days, but I’ve left such a condensed wad of posts that it makes me feel like it somehow all equals out. 🙂