Product Review: I Could Make That

I'm pretty good at dealing with, accepting, or at least tolerating other people's annoying habits. It's part of working with people, which, try as I might, is an unavoidable part of being human. There are some traits,, however, which seem prevalent in the species that bug the dickens out of me on a regular basis. Things like confusing "teach" with "learn" or "lend" with "borrow" or people who do not say "please" and "thank you" to service people. Generally that sort of thing.

But here's another one. People who look at handmade items that others have for sale and say in a snotty, condescending tone of voice, "well, I could do that." Yes, the item is handmade, you probably could do it, but if you're looking for things that a mere human could not make on their own, why are you at a craft fair. 

I'll admit, being a knitter, I fall victim to this exact thing. I find myself looking at some hand knit items while thinking, "I could make this for way cheaper." Usually, I'm looking at hand knit wash clothes when thinking this, which, yes I could make for cheaper, but I have about ten skeins of cotton yarn upstairs and a bunch of queued patterns on Ravelry that make me question if I'll ever get around to actually making the clothes. 

My new favorite purchase also falls under the "I probably could have done the same exact thing for cheaper" category, but I don't care. I love it, I love, love, love it.

The Knitter's Tool Tin

Those who know me, know that keeping my knitting tools handy is a bit of a problem for me. I keep the basics in a Namaste Buddy case, and keep the more specialized items in a Knit Happy Fold 'n Go Notions Box, both of which work well for home use. The problem comes in when I travel. I always have trouble remembering to pack up everything that I need, and keeping it all together without taking up too much space in my bags. And, despite my best efforts, I will end up in dire need of a darning needle, stitch markers, scissors, or a tape measure.

Enter The Knitter's Tool Tin, I can't remember if it was an ad on Ravelry, or something I saw in a magazine or on a blog, but somehow I ended up at the Sexy Knitter's Etsy store and found it.

So cute!

What is it? It is a tin, the size of an Altoid box, but clean and cute. Inside the box is a tape measure, a pair of puppy snips, 5 handmade stitch markers, a mini double ended crochet hook, a stitch holder, a cable needle, two tapestry needles (one blunt and one sharp), and a sewing needle.  On the lid of the tin is a magnetic strip to keep the needles from getting lost. Then there is the added detail that you can choose from a variety of cover designs and pictures, or get one custom made (I went with the orange owl cables). Absolute pure genius. 

The Contents, except I lost a stitch marker already.

Now, I know there are skeptics, who are thinking, "really, couldn't you have done this yourself?" And the answer is, yes, I could have. But that would have involved hunting down all the items (most likely ordering from multiple websites), and the tin and assembling everything. Then I would still have to decorate the tin, which still probably wouldn't have ended up nearly as cute. And that's a lot of knitting time that I would have wasted. In short, it wasn't worth it to me to make it, but it was worth it to me to buy it. So I did. 

And I don't regret it. This little tool tin lives in my purse and has the tools I need whenever I need them. I left for a road trip with a friend this weekend and didn't have to worry about whether or not I might have to sew a seam, or measure progress, or need a stitch marker, or pick up dropped stitches, or splice together yarn ends (all of which I did have to do this weekend); the tools to do it all were in my purse. 

Puppy Snips, open

Puppy Snips, closed

Add to that the bonus that everything in the kit is TSA approved, no more worrying about my scissors being confiscated at security checkpoints when I fly, the Puppy Snips, in addition to being adorable, are completely harmless.

In short, if you're a knitter, a kit like this is a must have. It was an idea I would never have thought of, and I'm not sure I could have assembled it for less money (especially when you factor in shipping and handling from several different websites), and I'm all for supporting sellers on etsy. These things made this wonderful little kit so worth the price for me, and added the bonus of less knitting time lost due to lacking or searching for the correct tools!