DanaGervaisDesigns

Living the Knit Life

28/12/2015

What's In My Notions Kit?

I purchase these  notions kits from Ebay for $3-$6 each with free shipping.  I usually order five at a time.  They come pre-filled with things.  Some of the things I use, some of the things I don't use (but am too lazy to remove from the kit) and one of the things is a mystery item - I have no idea what it is or what it does.

I have these little kits all over the house.  In project bags, purses, beside knittng chairs, in my office. Everywhere.

Here is a closer look at the contents of one of the kits that lives beside my sofa:
First of all, the measuring tape is shady.  It is probably wrong.  About half of the measuring tapes in these kits are wrong on the inches side and correct on the centimetres side.  I should really go through each kit and toss the defective measuring tapes.

The pretty stitch markers in the bottom right are mine; they did not come as part of the kit.  The plastic circle stitch markers and removable stitch markers came with the kit.

Now that I am cabling without a needle, the cable needles can probably go.  They are really too big for my purposes anyway.  The smallest one would be suitable for worsted yarn and I typically use fingering weight.

Sometimes I use the knitpicker to pick up a dropped stitch, but there are small crochet hooks all over my house (in the same way that there are Easter eggs all over the house on Easter morning but in a more permanent way) and on my key chain, so I usually use one of those first.

Then there are some prong-type-things in the kit.  What are those?  They look like a medical implement.  I think they are the exact same thing that came in my "Operation" board game when I was 8.

This is them closed:
And this is them open:

Do you know what they are for?  If you know, please leave a comment so I can stop wondering.  

I also keep a few dozen sewing gauges, needle gauges and correct measuring tapes scattered around the house.  

Am I missing anything?  What do you keep in your notions kit(s)?

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2 comments:

  1. The mystery item is called a bodkin. You open it up, put a piece of elastic or a drawstring in the teeth, close it tight, then use it to pull the elastic or drawstring through a casing. It's used mostly for sewing.

    I keep waste yarn in my notions kit, both to use as waste yarn and as a stitch holder. This stuff is great:

    http://www.yarn-store.com/knitting-machine-ravel-cord.html

    ("Yarn Leader" in upper left corner.) It's nylon, can be knotted but easily unties, doesn't leave fuzzies behind, is easy to remove, etc. (I don't know anything about that shop, though.)

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    1. Mystery solved! Thank you, Karen. I am not much of a sewer, so I have never used a bodkin. I keep bits of scrap yarn in my project bags for lifelines and such, but that nylon cord is a good idea.

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