After literally years of searching, I think I’ve finally found my permanent solution to storing all my knitting notions: windowed rectangular slip tins from the Container Store (item numbers 10054318 and 10054319). I think I paid $12 for the larger and $8 for the smaller, or thereabouts, which I know is a bit pricey. BUT, I’ve easily spent three times that over the years on other boxes that just didn’t cut it. Plus, I don’t think I’ll ever buy any other boxes, so it’s a one-time cost. (I was originally inspired to look for these when the drug store had Danish butter cookies, in those nice round tins, on sale at 2-for-1. But round isn’t very space-efficient.)
These boxes have smooth edges so when I jam them in my knitting bag, there’s no chance of snagging my WIP. All the plastic boxes out there, whether for generic crafts, specific crafts like beading, and even for fishing tackle (at least all the ones I’ve seen), have bits that stick out: hinges, locking tabs, even handles. Those corners and pointy places will not be friendly to a WIP or even to extra balls of yarn.
I use the small one to hold stuff I need nearly all the time: a variety of stitch markers, two sizes of crochet hooks (for casting on, picking up dropped stitches, and hooking up after dropping down to fix mistakes), a bead-storage tube with my blunt tapestry needles, a tape measure, and my nice Fiskar snips. Because it’s small, it can easily sit on the end table next to me.
Since I’ve been doing so many lifelines recently, my smallest tapestry needle is living outside its tube on an extra strip magnet from my chart holder, since the boxes are made of steel.
The larger box holds my collection of satin ribbon cut in various convenient lengths, cabling needles, needle gauge, a set of sock DPNs (useful if I have to drop down multiple stitches to make a repair), three size-3 circs I use for socks (which constitutes the bulk of my knitting recently), a beading tube with sharp sewing needles, and index cards with key measurements for me and the Big Guy. Since it’s not jammed full, I can fit the small one in it if necessary.
I look forward to many years of happy knitting notion storage!