Monday 14 February 2011

I do like a nice plastic wallet

Since I finished the quilt last week I'm back on the knitting again, and remembering all the knitterly things that I love:
  • slim dpns - they make me feel very clever and dextrous
  • yarn - so tactile and squishy
  • Ravelry - I can waste entire evenings rummaging around its pattern library
  • portability - I tuck my knitting into my satchel and sneak in a couple of rows when I am on the tube, sitting in the playground or waiting at ballet.
This last point has been helped considerably by the purchase of one of these plastic zip-up wallets from Muji.


I have the A4 size, which is big enough to hold one or two small projects on dpns, some photocopied patterns, my tape measure and a little pair of scissors.  When it is zipped shut, I can tuck the wallet into my satchel and it is ready for whenever I have a spare 5 minutes.

I love the ghostliness of the wallet when it is shut

The wallet in my satchel - no more pulling out my umbrella and having a whole ball of precious Debbie Bliss cashmerino come too

I'm knitting things for the children.  When I asked O what she'd like she declared legwarmers would be just the thing.  I am knitting her a pair of these Easy Peasy Leg Warmers (pattern from The Witty Knitter blog).  The pattern is for a 10 to 12 year old girl, and uses thick worsted weight yarn.  So I am knitting it in much finer Debbie Bliss cashmerino to get a better fit on those skinny 8 year old legs my girl has.  It is a super easy pattern - and coming together gratifyingly quickly.  You can see more details on my Ravelry page for them here.


C wanted socks.  He is a (young) man after my own heart and likes nothing better than handknit socks.  I quite agree with him that they are one of the nicest things that can be knit.  For these I'm using the reliable, free, Kaffe Fassett sock knitting pattern that I picked up in John Lewis years ago. They yarn I am using is also by Regia - a deliciously bright primary coloured one called World Circus.  Again you can find more details on Ravelry.


I think I may be a little odd in being so motivated to knit because I have a nice plastic wallet to keep everything in...but perhaps not.  Muji must be onto something - everything in that shop just makes me feel like a small child again, wanting to spend ALL my pocket money on rubbers, glue, notebooks, pencils, folders, storage tins and felt-tips.  That small child is still in most of us I think judging by the crowds of middle aged people sighing over the plastic wallets and hex pens every time I go into the shop - just like me.

8 comments:

  1. I definitely get the appeal of what should be quite boring stuff in Muji, but it's lovely. I wish they'd open a store up here again thought, my nearest branch is Leeds.

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  2. It is all so pretty (and ghostly) in there!

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  3. I totally agree - I love that shop. There's something about stationery, isn't there? Fresh new exercise books and sharp pencils. I used to carry around a mini colouring book and crayons in one of those folders of yours (a smaller one though) when my son was a bit younger - perfect for whipping out in restaurants. Loving the socks, too :-)

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  4. Mr G has what is commonly called a stationery fetish and the closure of our closest Muji shop in Reading caused him some distress!

    I have still to tackle anything on dpns so my hat if of to you and all the beautiful socks you have knitted.

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  5. The minute I saw your plastic wallet at Kew I knew I had to have one! So perfect for socks-on-the-go. And I know just what you mean about knitting with slim dpns...

    K x

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  6. I totally agree! Any excuse to have a look around Paper Chase! My daughter wanted a Filo Fax (blast from the past!) so we had a lovely time picking colours and buying a suitable 'posh' pen to go with it. Of the joy of watching her come home and fill it with names and addresses and exam dates! She has inherited the 'stationary' gene!
    Jill - Cambs

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  7. Ooh, that yarn looks lovely, I think I might have to pay that shop a visit soon. I'm on a fabric "diet" at the moment but yarn is fair game as far as I'm concerned!! I have a bit of a stationery "thing" too, I do love browsing all the lovely notebooks and files in Paperchase, and I have "windowshopped" on the Muji website many times too!

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  8. what can i say about your plastic wallet,
    it's nice, simple and transparent

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