Last weekend was the Henley Arts Trail, a yearly event in which artists local to Henley-on-Thames open up their homes and studios for the weekend, and showcase (and hopefully sell) their work. It is great fun, both for the opportunity of being exposed to artists in a friendly way, and also for getting to see some wonderful spaces. Doug and I try to go every year. This year, we hit 13 locations and purchased pieces from 6 different artists.

At the very first stop we went to, I saw this restored chest and instantly knew it was the solution to my knitting needle storage problem:

First, let’s talk about the chest; isn’t it lovely? The artist, Sue Davies, specializes in “Painted furniture, Shabby Chic, Murals, and Painted Furniture Workshops”. Look at the stenciling on the side of the chest:

And here I am to give you an idea of the size:

I have written numerous times over the year on the problems of storage for all of the paraphernalia which we knitters tend to collect. (We won’t even touch on yarn storage here.) My most recent post on this topic was this one, written earlier this year, in which I included some photos of my large and messy collection of knitting needles. Like this one:

Consider that horrible mess, and then look at this beautiful chest; doesn’t it get the little grey cells activated?

Just look at my knitting needles now, displayed in the drawers of my beautiful new chest.

Let’s go through them, one at a time.

Drawer 1. This is for fixed circular needles and straight needles, sized US9/5.5mm and above.

Drawer 2. Here I have my fixed circular needles and straight needles, sized US8/5mm and below.

Drawer 3. This contains my Knit Pro Karbonz interchangeable needles and my micrometer (for accurately measuring needle width).

Below is a closeup of the set and the open micrometer box. (The needle set is complete, but not all are in the box right now).

Draw 4: This contains my Chia Goo interchangeable needles. These are my most used needles. I reach for these all of the time. I have many sets of the needles in most sizes, and multiple cables.

Below you can see the inside of the carrying pouch. Note that lots of these needles are currently on WIPs, so this isn’t the complete set.

Drawer 5. This contains all of my DPNs, short fixed circulars, cable needles, stitch holders, crochet hooks, and various doodads (to use a technical term).. The DPNs are only partially sorted, but at least they are now all in one space.

Included in there is a lovely soft knitting case, which also contains DPNs and doodads, and here you can see the inside:

Drawer 6: This drawer has no knitting needles but contains lots of extra stuff like buttons, ribbon, measuring tapes, stitch markers, pins, etc.

Isn’t it wonderful? Not only is it ORGANISED (sacre bleu!), but it’s beautiful! I know that I still have hidden stashes of needles all over the place, but now, when I find them, I have a sensible place to put them. (Doug wants to know if I will still be able to find a size 5 needle when I need one. Oh, ye of little faith!)

I hope you are enjoying something beautiful this weekend.