Knitting Needle Roll

Although we may seem all about embroidery here at Urban Threads, we certainly aren’t averse to other types of crafty endeavors. Most needlework folk have other hobbies they enjoy that involve pointed objects, and one of the most popular ones is knitting. Knitting, like embroidery, can sometimes have a bad rap as a “grannies only” pastime, but hardcore knitters the world over are showing that knitting can be anything you want it to be, including, if the mood should strike, a little bit punk. This week, to showcase your own take on your knitting skills, we’re going to make a pretty cool and personal knitting roll where you can keep all the implements you need to whip up a scarf or pair of mittens at a moment’s notice.

To start, we need to figure out how big your roll is going to be. This all depends on how many needles you have and how tall they are. The roll I’m going to make will fit a few circular needles and about a dozen or so knitting needles no longer than 12 inches. If you have lots and lots of needles, or really tall needles, you might need to make a longer or shorter roll as necessary.

To make my roll, you’ll want to cut a rectangle 19 1/2 inches high and 16 inches wide out of both pieces of your fabric, both the outside and the inside lining. This is allowing for a 1/2 inch seam all the way around. Remember, this will only fit needles 12 inches or smaller, so add a few inches to the height if needed.

The main component of our roll is the pocket. You can use matching fabric, or fun contrast-y fabric like me. You’ll want your pocket to be about 5 1/2 inches when done, so it should be 6 inches with seam allowance. Fold your fabric in half, (the folded edge will be the top of the pocket) and trim the folded layers it so it’s as wide as your lining and about 6 inches tall.

As well as this cool little roll containing all your knitting needles, we’re going to make a few extra pockets to hold some other useful things, like a little pair of scissors, a measuring tape, etc. Remember these items will determine the size of some of your pockets. Keep any large items to the outside of your roll (in this case, the left side) so they don’t bunch up things when rolled.

Take a piece of pocket fabric, fold it in half, and cut it to size to fit a little scissors.

Fold it right sides in, pin them together, and sew a seam down three sides, leaving one end open to turn right side out.

Flip it right side out, fold the raw edge in, and sew a seam all the way around to close your pocket piece.

As an extra little bonus, you can cut a little piece of felt just smaller than your pocket and stitch it on as a little needle holder.

Using your scissors as a guide, line your pocket back up on your fabric to get the placement right, and pin it in place.

Sew a seam around the three sides, leaving the top open. One pocket down!

I’m going to create another long shallow pocket for little things like my tape measure, and maybe really small needles, thread, or even buttons. Whatever you like.

Measure out your fabric, and as before, fold it right sides in, pin and place, and sew a seam around it, leaving one end open to turn right side out.

Once you’ve turned it right side out, fold the raw edge in, and pin the pocket in place on your fabric. I put mine just to the right of my scissors pocket.

Remember, you don’t want to plan on putting big bulky items far off to the right where the roll starts, because that’s where the roll will be the tightest when closed. I plan my tape measure pocket to be on the left end of this one.

Sew a seam around the three edges of your pocket, leaving the top open. All our little pockets are in place!

As one last finishing touch, sew a seam across the top of the big pink pocket.

Now it’s time to figure out where all the sections of everything go. Pin your pink pocket in place to the white lining fabric. Don’t forget to allow for our 1/2 inch seam allowance!

Depending on the needles you want to put in your roll, you’ll want different widths to your pockets. Most will be very small and narrow, about an inch or so wide, but a few, like the first section for our circular needles, will need to be about 5 inches wide.

The pocket for our measuring tape also needs to be about 3 inches wide. Mark off all these measurements with a pin. I tried to match most of my markings with seams already on the attached top pockets.

Sew the lines down your pockets to make the different needle sections. Start at the top of your pink edge and sew a straight line down, keeping them parallel.

My first seam was for the large circular needles, which was large enough to not touch the edges of my scissors pocket, but your later seams are going to sew sections onto your smaller pockets. This is the point, so don’t worry that you’re sewing over those pockets. Just make sure the seams you planned don’t leave unusable size sections on your top pockets

The finished seams! Try testing out some of your needles to make sure everything is fitting well before we sew the last step.

We can’t, of course, let the opportunity pass by to embellish with some crafty skully goodness. We want our design to be centered on the outside of our roll once it’s rolled up, so in order to get that placement right, we have to remember a few things. One, remember those extra inches at the top are a flap that will be folded over, so really you want to center your design in the first 12 inches. Put it just a few inches away from the edge at the far right, like shown.

Hoop up your fabric with some cut-away stabilizer and embroider away. I picked our knitting skull from our latest skully set - it was just too perfect. Once it’s done embroidering, snip away the excess stabilizer.

Before we layer everything together, we’re going to get a piece of ribbon ready. This will be what we use to tie our roll together. Take a long length of ribbon, enough to wrap around a few times, and fold it in half. Gather up the excess below the fold and tape it together. This will keep the extra ribbon out of the way of the seams when we stitch it together.

Place your newly embroidered fabric on top of your pocket and lining, right sides together. Lift the corner on the left side, and slip in your ribbon, leaving just a bit of the folded edge peeking out to be caught by the seam.

I’d place the ribbon just a little bit below your embroidery so you don’t have to cover the design up with the ribbon when you wrap it.

Sew a 1/2 inch seam around three sides of your roll, leaving the top edge (the end opposite the pink pocket) open for turning.

Flip your pocket right side out, and turn the raw edge in, pinning it in place.

Finally, sew a seam all the way around your wrap, securing the open edge closed, and giving everything a finished seam. I used contrasting pink thread. Just ‘cause.

Your finished knitting roll is a thing to behold! Slide in all your favorite knitting implements into their snug little pockets to see them in all their glory.

You can also load up your special pockets with your little scissors, stock up your felt needle holder with yarn needles, and slip your tape measure in its special little pocket. There’s even a space for your special circular knitting needles!

The top flap folds over neatly to cover up your needles and make sure they don’t slide out while you’re carting your knitting roll around.

Roll it up, tie it all pretty, and you’re ready to go! This little kit can go with you anywhere and will let everyone who sees it know that you’re a different kind of knitter.

If the hot pink and black doesn’t do it, well then you know the awesome knitting skull and crossbones will. Have fun being crafty and cool out with your newest knitting tool!