Vacation Knitting and my Craft Cart

I know I'm not alone in planning specially vacation knitting. Many bloggers talk about packing their knitting, and then seeing if there's room for anything else. :) I'm not quite that bad, but when I'm staring down a road trip with hubby and the kids, you can bet I'm thinking about all that uninterrupted knitting time in the car. You see, I'm blessed with kids who travel well and a husband who prefers to drive....one reason for that could be that I'm an impatient lead-foot, but I digress. So, here we are. It's summer, and I find myself once again evaluating my Ravelry Queue and Favorites to find just the right thing(s) to knit while we travel. Which raises the question: What makes perfect vacation knitting?

For me, it has to be simple enough that I can look away regularly without losing my place. It also has to be complex enough to hold my interest for hours at a time. Past vacation projects: Morganite shawl, various moebius scarves, socks, Clockwork, Catkin... you get the idea. I seem to really like shawls and scarves for travel knitting. But not super-lacy, complicated shawls and scarves. I stick to the basics. Nothing finer than fingering weight--the bumps in the road make laceweight too difficult to handle--and garter or stockinette stitch with a little shaping thrown in for interest. This year, I think I want to knit a sweater. I've done a ton of shawls lately, and I'm ready for something different. I picked up 4 skeins of Briar Rose Glory Days at the Fiber Event in April, and it's calling to me. It hasn't told me what it wants to be yet, but it's definitely calling to me. Stay tuned.

In other news, last week I took Wednesday off, and I used the afternoon to assemble a Craft Cart. I had an idea of what I wanted, but tried to keep an open mind as my son and I wandered through two Goodwill Stores and the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Nothing was quite what I wanted, though. Sigh. Off to Target to get a few groceries before going home....and then I found it. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it would sure work.

Room Essentials 3-Tier Wire Shelving plus the set of casters (sold separately). I also stopped at the hardware store and picked up some S-hooks and carabiners for hanging things from the wire shelves. What it holds: Both sewing machines (which are both hand-me-downs, and the only reason I keep them both is because my daughter likes to sew when I do), laminator, box of scrapbook papers, sewing supplies, boxes of fabric, trims, thread, craft paints, brushes, a couple of canvases, and on the very top is a paper cutter, a bolt of fabric and some fusible interfacing that I don't want to fold.  And the best part? It fits in the closet, under the games and beside the vacuum and carpet shampooer! (Yes, it's an insanely deep closet.) I do have to pull it out to get the vacuum and/or shampooer out, but that's okay!

Now, all I have to do is pull it out when I want to use it, and push it right back in when I'm done. This is going to go a long way toward keep my crafting messes under control. It will also make it more likely that I'll work on projects now that everything is in one place and easy to get to.

How do you store or organize your hobby/crafting supplies?