Look, I probably shouldn’t love these as much as I do. I fully acknowledge that they’re a modest amusement at best, a scandalous waste of time at worst. But somehow I find them unspeakably charming and am completely unable to resist.

They just hit all my sweet spots.

They turn a very modest collection of supplies (a single sheet of material, a few feet of ribbon or tape measure, a bit of sewing thread, a scrap of yarn) into something both adorable and useful using only the most basic of knitting and sewing skills. They offers the faint hope that I will maybe, just maybe, finally be the sort of person who always knows where their scissors and darning needle and tape measure are. And they let me go ‘ooooh, tiny book!’ which is clearly just one of the things my brain likes to do!

Now, will they be enough to finally turn me into a truly organized person? I mean I assume not. But I’m willing to find out!

General information

This 38-page pattern shows you exactly how to turn a scrap of yarn, a single sheet of material and a bit of tape measure into an adorable little needlebook! It walks you through the whole process, from picking your material to cutting it out, folding it up, and sewing it together with lots and lots of step-by-step photos of the process.

Skills & scope

If you can knit a tiny rectangle, cut out a shape, and sew a straight(ish) line, you can make these! Seriously, there are a handful of straight seams holding the whole thing together. I am terrible at sewing and I can make one of these in about half an hour. You can totally do this!

Yarn, gauge & sizing

The pattern includes instructions to make three different styles of needlebook (the original, one with an extra deep pocket for stitch markers, and an extra large one perfect for DPNs). Each of the three versions can be made with or without a knitted page (some of the photos show them without the knitted page because that makes it easier to see all three different versions).

As written, the finished books will be about 4.5 inches tall, 2.5 inches across when closed, and 7.5 inches across when opened (the original and the one with the pocket) or 5.5 inches tall, 3.5 inches across when closed, and 7 inches across when open (the extra large one). I find that’s plenty big enough to hold scissors, cable needles, a tiny crochet hook, a darning needle, and a tiny pen and bit of paper for notes. But you can absolutely play with the scale of the template to make something a bit bigger or smaller if your printer allows for it and you can find material that works for those sizes!

You can absolutely use scrap yarn for this.

The pages took less than 50 yards of a heavy yarn (worsted, aran, or bulky-weight yarn is perfect). Gauge isn’t terribly important, just knit tightly enough to make a sturdy fabric.

Tools & supplies

You need four things to make these: a few dozen yards of thick yarn, the material for the book itself, something for the closure, and thread. For the material, you want something that’s thin enough to cut with scissors, flexible enough to fold easily, and that won’t fray when it’s cut. For the closure, you want ribbon or a piece of tape measure about two feet long. For the thread, ordinary sewing thread is great. There’s a post with more details and links to exactly what I used over here.

You’ll also want a few basic office supplies (a way to print out the template, a pen to trace it onto your material, some scissors to cut it out with, and some binder clips (or paper clips, or clothes pins, or tiny hair clips) to hold the material in place while you sew.

And, while you probably could sew this by hand (if you do, you’ll want a thimble and possibly an awl to prepunch holes, depending on how thick your material is), I think you’ll have a better time if you use a sewing machine. You don’t need anything fancy (it’s all just short, straight seams), but a machine makes quick work of the project!