My Father’s Daughter

Toys and Gadgets

I know full well that there are a number of ways in which, for better or worse, I resemble and take after my father. Normally though, I would say that I have not really inherited his love and attraction to gadgets*. New kitchen accessories only get added after carefully weighing cost, space required, frequency of use and labor savings per use, though I cook just about all the meals in our household. My father cooks far less, but you can rest assured he will have every ideal tool for the meal when he does cook right down to the marble mortar and pestle. I only purchased a new cell phone when the old one died, and even then got a mid range model which can hardly be said to have all the features…

That said, I must have a little of the gadget desire in my blood because while looking for yarn for my upcoming project I decided to check out stitch markers. Now, this was actually very reasonable and fits my usual profile – I was looking for stitch markers because I’d come to the realization that I really did need to expand my collection after literally running out while doing the Fireworks shawl and scrounging up things to use that were less than ideal. I totally believe in having the right tools for the things I do a lot.

No, it was when I saw the CocoKnits Maker’s Keep while looking for stitch markers that the desire for a gadget arose. Impulsively, I put a Maker’s Keep Kit in my cart. Not a tiny little impulse either – it cost nearly 50euro for the Makers Keep and associated stitch markers.

This first time I was saved though… it turns out Wollen Berlin was sold out of the kits so they refunded my money and sent just the yarn, my actual need.

The danger had not in fact passed though. As you know, one of the yarns in my order just didn’t fit the bill. And thus I had to go shopping again for a different yarn… and I still needed more stitch markers anyway, right?

Turns out, MyLys also sells the Maker’s Keep, though not as a kit. So I had to pick out the various Cocoknits stitch markers that work with it. Oh… and some cable needles to go with it may have slipped in too… And this time, nothing saved me. It and all the stitch markers I wanted were totally in stock. So, without further delay, my new craft gadget:

It’s a magnet on a wrist band for holding metal stitch markers or other small metal craft items. The bright colored stitch markers are all coated metal to stick.

Was it worth it? Do I regret my impulse? First, I’d say that it’s not life changing – I could totally continue to craft happily without the Maker’s Keep. I expect that most of the time when knitting I won’t be moving stitch markers on and off the project at such a rate that the wrist band makes a huge difference. I do love the idea of having it for my next cable project. I dislike sticking a cable needles into something as a potential safety hazard, and I do worry about losing them. I’m also looking forward to using the metal cable needles instead of the plastic one I have currently.

I also found it particularly handy last Sunday when I blocked my Fireworks Festival shawl (I promise photos in the next post). It was great for holding a small set of pins as I blocked it out without worrying about upsetting my pin box on the bed, or having to reach across for them. So, I don’t regret my impulse to get it. It is something where I think I’d say “your mileage may vary” depending on what you make, how you like to work, and your budget.

I’m also really happy with the new stitch markers. I did feel like it was time for a little reorganizing of my (now larger) collection. My stitch markers all previously fit in a small round 1.5in (4cm) diameter enamel pill box. However, the top doesn’t stay on well anymore and the new markers definitely wouldn’t fit. I also didn’t like how much empty space there was in the cardboard boxes they came in**. So, I rearranged them all Thursday morning:

Little ones are in the clear pill boxes which can fit in the zippered case and are what I’ll use most. They are neatly divided into the CocoKnits rings and my older markers (most of which are Sheep and Wolf in fun colors). The little mint box has all the larger markers mixed together, including the new open loop from Cocoknits which I’ll talk about in a moment. Other plastic locking/open markers are all in the little plastic pouch.

Over the last few months, I’ve realized I needed a better solution for marking stitches in crochet and naalbinding, as well as rows in general. In the image above the upper left shows three styles. On the far right is a locking stitch marker in a safety pin style from Clover. They are extremely secure, but are bulky. I find them great for pinning together seams, OK for marking rows, but annoying as stitch markers, especially on finer yarns. The middle one in green is what I tried to use for marking stitches in naalbinding, but there’s a serious flaw. Based on the shape, they always slide such that the round bottom is down, making it very easy for the yarn to slide out of the opening in the top. Ie: they fall off All The Time.

I really like the style of the Cocoknits open loop marker (and it’s part of what sold me on buying a wrist magnet that wouldn’t be any good without things to stick to it). The loop has a low profile, and the ends overlap significantly. In addition, the little blob at the end both ensures the yarn doesn’t snag when you remove it, and that when it falls “heavy side down”, this puts the opening at the bottom:

As you can see, I’ve put my new markers into use on the tunic I’m knitting, including the open loop to mark rows up the side as I start doing decreases. Somehow, they also seem to flop around less than the plastic safety pin style, so I find them banging against my desk less. The small rings are working fine on my 3mm (US 2) but I have a hard time imagining using them all the way up to a 4.5mm (US 7) as advertised. I like my rings a bit bigger than the needle so they don’t slip under the stitches and are easy to move from needle tip to needle tip.

I do need to wrap this up as TheEnabler and I are supposed to go on a walk while it’s sunny out on May Day, but I wanted to cover a couple last things.

First, I can show off the April Undercover Otter yarn since it’s not April anymore and Undercover Otter posted their Instagram reveal a few days back:

I am absolutely thrilled with it (and also slightly baffled about when I started loving bright pink so much, but I must accept that this true). It goes wonderfully with the yellow from last month:

And I’m totally going to use them together, unless May, which is Jaws, turns out to be an aqua color. Because the pink also looks fantastic against the ironing board. Then I might have to find something to do with all three colors together.

Lastly, if you are itching for a little online shopping, check out the BIPOC in Fiber website which just went live today. It includes a directory with designers, indie dyers, and more, to which they will be continually adding.

*Even he has had to admit though that he’s more or less run out of gadgets he wants to buy. Birthdays and Christmas are harder than ever…

**and because I can’t throw out small boxes ever, two of these have already been repurposed to hold our GURPs dice so the cat can’t play with them. Know what’s REALLY loud at 3am? Plastic dice being batted all over the un-carpeted floor.