Recently, I took a night off from knitting anything.  I have several projects on the needles and I'm always anxious to see them finished, but they're only fun if you enjoy doing it, right?  And most of them don't need to be rushed.  The only thing I REALLY need to get done right now is help Mom pick out her yarn for the shawl she's getting for her birthday.  Once I get that done and actually have the yarn in my possession, I'd like to get the shawl started fairly quickly. 

Anyway - back to my original statement - I took the night off from knitting.  Instead, I spent some much needed time with my sewing machine. :)  I've been wanting to finish a few sewing projects, but never take the initiative to do anything about it.  And I had already decided that I couldn't start any sewing projects until I had actually mended the 4-5 blankets with tears in them.  (We use large quilts as lap blankets in our house, and most all of them had little corner tears in various places.  Which makes stuffing or batting fall out and only encourages those tears to get larger.)  I'm happy to say that I completed that dreaded task fairly quickly, while watching Bolt.  (Cute movie - X liked watching the animals!)

So now what I'd really like to do is make myself a knitting needle case (okay - maybe a couple cases).  I'd like this case to house and protect all sorts of needles.  I'm leaning towards making one to accommodate my KnitPicks Interchangeables (cables, keys, and ends as well!) in one place.  Right now I'm using the case they came in, but it's plasticy and I have a hard time getting the tips out because they stick to the sides.  It would need to hold more than 1 set, though, because I've already got the Harmony Wood set and I'm slowly building up my Nickel Plated set.

I'd probably also like to have a case that holds just my dpns.  I don't have many dpns right now, but I'd like to change that as time goes on.  This case would hold shorter and longer dpns, with the potential for a small pocket or 2 for things like needle caps and such. 

And while I'm dreaming....I'd probably also make a few smaller needle cases so that I can stash a small set of needles in various project bags.  I hate when I'm working on a project that calls for a circular needle and dpns, or even potentially different needle sizes, leaving me with needles, cables, dpns, etc. milling around in the bottom of my project bag.  I'm always afraid my needles will get broken (X likes to steal my project bags and deposit them around the house.  He also likes to swing them around or pester the dog with them like a toy!).  Although a small needle case will not completely solve this problem, it would provide them with a little extra support.  The small needle case would only need 2-3 slots for needles, a pocket for notions (stitch markers, needle caps, interchangeable bits, cable needles, etc.), a pocket for 1-2 cables/circs, and potentially a pocket for a ruler, scissors and small pen/pencil.  If anything, this is what I'd like most.  Maybe I'll start with this needle case and work my way up to a larger one.  But I think that would accommodate my needs fairly well! :)

I keep drawing out different things that I like - now I need to set the plan in motion.  I've seen it suggested when trying to design the size of a project, it's helpful to make a "paper" version.  Using paper grocery sacks (or something similar), cut the pieces, stitch them together, see if I like the finished product.  I may try that this weekend. 

Well now that those creative juices are flowing...I'll let them simmer for a bit whilst I hammer out the details.  In the meantime - I've made half of what will be a neat drawstring pouch.  It's not very big - only big enough to hold sewing or knitting notions.  If it were a little smaller it'd be a girly dice bag! :) I still need to line it (which means finding coordinating fabric) and make the drawstring.  Then tah-dah!  Finished! :)