Every week somebody emails us a photograph of a bag that is almost right: beautiful, well made, and two centimetres too short for the needles. Choosing well is mostly a measuring problem, and measuring takes two minutes.
Start with the project, not the stash
Ignore how much yarn you own. Lay your current project flat, find the tallest thing in it — almost always the needle tips or a cable connector — and measure that. Add three centimetres of clearance and you have your minimum internal height.
Then think about the next project rather than this one. If you knit sweaters four times a year and socks twice, buy for the sweater and use a small drawstring bag for the socks. Two bags sized for how you actually knit beat one bag sized for an average that does not exist.
Handles, straps and honesty about your shoulders
Short tote handles are for moving a project between rooms. If you carry a project further than that, you want a shoulder strap, and if you carry it for more than twenty minutes you want one wide enough not to cut in. A crossbody strap is the single biggest upgrade a heavier project bag can have.
The Everyday Project Tote adjusts from 78cm to 132cm, which covers hand carry, shoulder and crossbody for most people. If you are taller than 190cm and want it fully crossbody over a winter coat, choose the crossbody style option.
The details that actually decide it
A wide base means the bag stands up on its own while you knit from it, which sounds trivial until you have tried to work from a bag that keeps collapsing. Bar-tacked seams and a bound interior matter more than one extra pocket, because a bag that snags your yarn or fails at the handle is a bag you will quietly stop using.
Check the lining, too. An unlined waxed canvas bag can leave a waxy mark on pale yarn, and a loosely woven lining catches on needle tips. Ours are lined in organic cotton for exactly those two reasons.
One bag, or two
Most people who knit regularly end up with two: a large bag for the current garment and a small one for the project that travels. Buy the large one first, and add the small one the week you notice yourself carrying a plastic bag instead.