I thought, since I’m a total bag ho, that I’d do a bit of a review of some knitting bags. I’ve always been obsessed with bags and purses and of course this carries over to my knitting now too. I love the idea of always having knitting with me along with my other essentials so I think I’m going to have to get used to carrying a bigger bag!
So far, I own a Lexie Barnes Flo bag, a Jordana Paige Knitter’s Satchel and have a Namaste Messenger bag.
I ordered the messenger bag because frankly, the other two aren’t doing it for me.
The Flo bag is great to use for socks, or some other smaller project and would have to be dedicated as a knitting bag. The organizational pockets are great, but when you can only fit a tiny project they are only so useful. If you try to fit more yarn in there for something other than a one or two small skein project, you won’t be able to close the bag. I do like that it’s waterproof and you can just wipe up the bag to clean it and the patterns are super cute, but not functional enough for me. I love it though and can definitely use it to tote a small project to my SNB night along with a normal purse.
The Jordana Paige Knitter’s Satchel is a cute old fashioned style bag with the french clasp closure. Inside there is a zippered pocket (which I keep a mirror and lipstick and such in) and credit card slots. I wouldn’t use these as I still feel the need to have a wallet to hold money and change and receipts. There is also a small detachable zippered case. It is SMALL. It can fit a lip balm, a small tape measure and a couple other tiny items like stitch holders or markers but that’s about it. On either side of the purse frame there are circular pieces of material that snap so they can hold your circular knitting in place. There are also slots for straight needles or your ends of your circulars.
In the front, there is an area of small pockets to hold cable needles, darning needles, tiny scissors and the like. Not much more can be put in there though as it is sort of a flat area.
All in all, the bag is nice, but for me, got messy as there is no place for my wallet, cell phone, or any other items I need that were separate from my project. They all must be placed in the main area with the yarn and you can only imagine how fun it is to dig through yarn and my project to find my ringing cell phone.
So, I tried a third, the Namaste Messenger bag in black. They just came out with it in black so I ordered it right away. At first I was leery of the fact that it was corduroy but I think the pockets and the way the bag is separated are ideal. The bag can expand and has a zipper that goes around the bottom of the bag that when unzipped will give you more room. The top flap has a zippered pocket across it. Opening the bag, in the front are two small snap closure pockets, small but big enough for my wallet, cell phone and keys in one of them and my camera, usb cord, and other items in the second.
Inside the body of the bag towards the front are three open pockets. For me holding some crochet hooks, tape measures, row counters, and little cases with other notions or cosmetics. In the same area is a open space to hold a project. In the middle of the bag is a zippered pocket that goes the entire width of the bag (across). This is now holding a sock project and is completely separated from anything else in the bag. The other side of this center pocket is another open space with another zip pocket across the back wall of the bag. This has TONS of space, is easy to carry on your shoulders and allows for easy organization within the bag. I love it.
For the Flo, at the price it is, and how little it holds, it’s not of much use to this knitter and the Jordana Paige bag, while nice and roomy, was not quite what I was looking for in a all purpose bag either.
The Namaste bag, priced lowest of the three bags, was the best buy for me, hands down!
Anyway, that’s my two cents! I wish you all a very happy Valentine’s Day (if you celebrate it) and will have some nice knitting pics for you tomorrow!
Oh, and….2 MORE DAYS TO SPA!!!
