This is the first in my series of posts (and videos) about the notions and tools I keep on hand for different fiber crafts!
My students and friends who are new to fiber arts regularly ask me what I carry with my projects. Do I have one notions bag that moves from project to project? Do I have smaller notions bags, one for each WIP (work in progress)? What are the tools I don’t leave my crafting area without? My answer to this is my standard answer for most questions in the fiber arts: It depends.
Respectfully purlioned from Abby Franquemont, the answer ‘It depends’ isn’t a cop out. It’s really not. The answer to the vast majority of questions depends on a whole host of variables. Those variables are why some folks endeavor to make their own handmade fabric in the first place – so they can choose exactly the fabric they make. There are some who don’t want to make 27 decisions before they start a new project, however, and that’s also an approach that will work sometimes. Sometimes, it won’t. It depends. *ducks lobbed tomotoes*
For those folks who don’t yet know what they don’t know and haven’t formed their own opinions OR those folks who are always interested in what works for others, I’m going to talk today about the things that have accumulated in my ‘master’ notions bag: the biggest of my notions sets that gets moved from WIP to WIP, or shared between multiple WIPs when I have a few large projects happening simultaneously.
If you’d like to see all the items and hear a little bit more about how I use them, check out my video!
My master notions bag includes:
- sharp pair of small scissors – preferably with a cap*
- chibi with darning needles in a range of sizes *
- measuring tape – preferably a dressmakers tape*
- highlighter
- erasable colored pencil – 2 colors!
- cable needle
- Fix-a-Stitch tool or crochet hook
- nail file – also in a sleeve or case*
- unscented lotion bar
- lip balm
- spare cable key and end stoppers for interchangeable needles
- a length of waste yarn – I recommend white mercerized crochet cotton
- brass jump ring stitch markers
- needle sizer, especially if your project calls for a needle change
*Mandatory!
My auto-pilot project kits (for hats and socks):
- measuring tape
- scissors or snips
- darning needle
- crochet hook (for hats that start at the crown)
- ~1 yard of crochet cotton
What do you like to have with you when you sit down to work on a project? Leave me a comment with your three mandatory notions! Were any of these suggestions new to you? Let me know what was helpful in this post or video!
Donita Westman 
Those are great lists for both the “everything you could need” and “on-the-fly-for-this-simple-project” bags. My only addition would be a spare pair of reading glasses if those are something you use at times. Everything else becomes preferences–for example, I prefer the Clover padlock-style stitch markers, except for lace projects, and for those, I prefer cabone rings with a tail of number 10 crochet cotton attached via cow hitch.
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