Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A great purse for knitting transportation

There's been a long hunt going on around here for a Good Purse, aka one which will hold my knitting as well as all those other things you throw into a purse, and leave me hands-free for knitting and walking at the same time.  Sometimes cross-body messenger bags or purses are too small for even a little bag of yarn, or they're big enough but weigh a ton, or have several other problems too annoying to list here.

And I don't have to list them because I have finally found my dream purse:


It's from Hedgren, and it's called Orva.  I found it in a local department store's luggage department but I've seen the line in lots of other luggage stores too, if you're interested in having one yourself.

I've been using it for a few weeks now and after some initial indecision about what to keep where, it's proving to be not only a great bag when I'm out, but a great organizer when I'm home.  Those three front pockets?  They're stacked like a desk organizer, and I treat them accordingly.  One for keys, one for phone and notebook, etc.  I never, ever look for my keys anymore because I know exactly where they are.


The pockets work so well because they're stitched onto the front of the bag instead of layered inside, and they've been allocated some depth of their own rather than just borrowing from the diameter of the panel fabric. 

The main section only has one zip pocket, so you're not crowded at the entrance by a lot of other pouches and things that make whatever fell to the bottom impossible to find (I'm looking at you, former purse.)


Also, the top of the zip pocket is close enough to the top of the bag that it's never blocked by whatever else you threw in there.


Like, you know, knitting.

I use the biggest of the front pockets as my tool catch-all.


My everyday tools include subway tokens in an old camera film canister (what a sad day it will be when we no longer find those in junk drawers, ready for repurposing) and of course a tape measure, as well as a pen for noting pattern adjustments.  I can see stuffing a spare circular needle into a pen holder though, or a big crochet hook.

Best of all: this bag is not only water-resistant, it's lightweight.  My last bag, which I tolerated for its light weight of 310g, was smaller and very mean about accommodating anything more than a sock on 5" needles; this baby will hold a ton and weighs 301g.

Well, maybe that's not really best of all... 'best' is probably that not looking for a great knitting bag any more means I have more time to knit!

Hope you get time to knit today, and I'll see you tomorrow.

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