You can never have too many knitting bags

Last week, Susan Strawn from the United States visited Lee Mills for a few days, and stayed with me and John.  She teaches and researches the history of dress, especially knitting, and writes frequently for Piecework and Knitting Traditions.  Angharad and I met her at the In the Loop 3 conference in Winchester last September. She was visiting the U.K. again to go to the In the Loop 3.5 conference at the end of July in Shetland, so she stopped off in Huddersfield for a few days on the way back to Heathrow.   We took her to Lee Mills last Thursday and Friday, and showed her some of the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection.   We had thought that she  might want to see more at the weekend, but there is so much to see that it gets exhausting, so she decided to be a tourist instead - we took her to York and the Quilt Museum on Saturday, and she went with Angharad to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Sunday.

It was fun having her here - it is great to have visitors who appreciate what a wonderful collection the Guild has, and having someone knowledgeable visiting is really exhilarating.  (Though tiring as well - we all felt exhausted after 2 days talking about knitting.)

Susan brought knitting bags with her from the U.S. to give to me and Angharad.  They are Tom Binh bags, made in Seattle, and very splendid.  They are made in very durable and waterproof ripstop nylon (ballistic nylon - don't know what that means. Presumably not that they are bullet-proof.)   They are very roomy and have two transparent zip pockets inside.  And one of the pockets has a little ruler in it (very handy), with a Latin motto on it:   Siquid mantica non capit, domi reliquendum est , which according to the Tom Binh FAQs page means: If it doesn't fit in your knapsack, leave it behind. The handles are a nice length so that you can carry it either over your shoulder or in your hand.  And they look very smart. 

The bag has a yarn stuff sack, too, which clips inside.  It's in dark gray check, to match the lining of the big bag, and has a transparent base - so that if you use it as a yarn holder you can easily see how much yarn you have left.

When Susan gave me the bag, she said "You can never have too many knitting bags".  I have said that myself before now (as an excuse to get a new one, obviously).  But the Tom Binh bag is so superior to all my others that I can't think that I will ever need another. A very generous gift.