I recently found a new knitting gadget that just tickled me.  It is so simple yet extremely useful and I had to have it.  Let me introduce you to the sock needle keeper.

The sock needle keeper is a small pouch with two snaps.  The snaps are strategically placed to keep your needles inside the pouch while your work in progress is outside the pouch.  I often knit with double pointed needles because I do so much historical knitting.  Double pointed needles are the only way to make something circular (before circular needles).

The problem with double pointed needles is the knitted stitches can fall off both ends of the needle.  Trying to keep point protectors on four double pointed needles is a pain in the neck.  But my new sock needle keeper holds the needles in place and keeps the knitting on the needles, even when pulling the work in and out of my various project bags.

I used the sock needle keeper for the last soldier socks I knitted.  Then I used it for the fingerless mitts I made after the socks.  I’m getting ready to cast on another pair of socks using the yarn that I have been spinning.  I’m also knitting a shawl out of the yarn I spun, but the lace pattern and short rows do not go well with busy days in the Visitors Center.

I love to find handy little gadgets like the sock needle keeper.  I bought mine at the local yarn shop, Island Wools.  Island Wools has a sign by the cash register:  “See it here, buy it here, keep us here.”  This saying is a good reminder in these days of finding everything cheaper on the internet.  Even though the yarn in the shop is more expensive than what I could buy online, I am glad to have a local yarn shop.  I want to keep it here!

So I bought the sock needle keeper at Island Wools.  I might also get one online.  Della Q has a nice one.  The one I already have only holds six inch needles.  But I also have eight inch double pointed needles. . . . I’m sure I can use two.