Notes on Exercise, Knitting

More than one person has asked me how I can knit while riding the bike, and from the tone, it wasn't the are-you-nuts question that I, for instance, would be tempted to use on someone out jogging in sleet. I believe the question is more literal than that, though upon further consideration, I'm not exactly sure if it's meant logistically (where do you put the yarn?) or more physically (how do you keep your balance?), or perhaps some other way that I'm not catching on to. (If you think of another interpretation, share, would you?)

For the first interpretation, I hang a small bag on the handlebars with the yarn in it, so I can pull it out a little at a time and it won't get tangled in anything. I did pull it out too far once, and the trailing yarn wrapped around a foot pedal, but I realized it at once (hard not to) and stopped to untangle it. I've been more careful since, and it hasn't happened again.

For the second, the bike is located in a corner, next to a wall, so my arm from elbow to shoulder leans slightly on the wall, which is enough to keep me upright, even balance-challenged as I often am.

I have found that the exercise is not suited to a project too large or heavy to hang loose from the needles. If you drape the finished end over your arm, it's rather warm when exercising. Smaller or lighter projects work better.

Speaking of which (and we kind of were), can we talk knitting project bags?

I don't know if many of you are knitters (are any of you knitters? why don't I know? tell me!), but if you are perhaps you'll understand that I'm currently experiencing a lack-of-project-bags situation. I have a couple of small ones, sock-project sized, that I like a lot, but once the project is a little bigger, I'm using shopping bags and awkward totes and being unsatisfied. When I snagged a project on the zipper of a bag (that purports to be a knitting-friendly bag, but I THINK NOT), it really firmed up my need for a better solution.

I don't think my desires are so ridiculous. I want a bag that will:

• stand up on its own: not rigid, necessarily, but structured
• not have heavy handles that drag it down
• shut with a drawstring or magnets or something that yarn can't snag on
  
• have medium or medium-large capacity
• have some pockets
  

I saw mention of the Flo bag from Lexie Barnes in the new Knitty, and it does look good. Lexie Barnes bags are supposed to be high-quality, or so I've osmosed. I've never seriously considered one because OMG the prices. But perhaps it's worth it? I mean, if I get years of satisfied use out of it?

Still, $125 is a lot of money, and I don't even love any of the fabric choices. So probably not. Which leaves me where I am.

On a slightly more helpful (Knitty) hand, I never even thought of having a bag for my yarn swift, but what a good idea! Mine just lays on top of a yarn-storing thing*, half on the wrapping it came in (for cushioning? or something?). And to totally mangle a Douglas Adams quote**, to go from complete ignorance of a thing to intense desire for it in the space of a few minutes is an unsettling sensation. (Though Dirk was faced with an electronic I Ching calculator, of course, not a bag for one of his yarn tools.)(I seriously doubt Dirk had any yarn tools at all.)(Though I think the philosophical nature of knitting would have appealed to a man who often mused on "the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.")

*It's like a medium-sized (plastic) chest of drawers, holding yarn and tools.
**I don't actually own a copy of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, but it was one of the first audiobooks I owned, and I listened to it so often, I can recite whole sections of it.

So, I don't really have a conclusion to this. It's Friday night, I'm not feeling 100% (just a funny tummy, basically), and, you know, there we are. Happy Friday!