Kid Solution: Bendy Straws

My biggest pet peeve about going out to eat with kids is the drinks.  They have these tiny little cups for children, but then they give them a straw that is 3 times taller than the cup.  I hated how my daughter would always struggle to drink from the straw at restaurants.  And once, the one time that I let her get red fruit punch, she had so much trouble with the straw that she ended up knocking her cup over.  And of course it spilled all over her. 

Now, some restaurants have bendy straws which I appreciate very much.  They are so much more manageable for little ones.  The only problem is there are very few restaurants that have them.  My solution to this problem was to keep bendy straws in the diaper bag so we would have some with us at all times.  That way we could swap out the tall straws for the bendy straws, and Angie could easily drink from her cup by herself.  Well, as she got older, we used the diaper bag less and less, and now that she is almost potty trained, I think it is pretty much retired.  So I decided to keep them in my purse.  Only problem is, my diaper bag had this great zippered side pocket that was perfect for the straws.  My purse has the same side pocket, but it is already being used for my keys.  Since I didn't have a good place to put them in my purse, I would just have to try to remember to grab one before we left every time we went out to eat.  That is hard to remember.  Plus, sometimes you don't know that you are going out to eat until after you leave.  Not to mention they get dirty and bent out of shape in my purse.  So, this is yet another project idea that has been in my head for quite awhile.  I needed some kind of pouch or case to keep the bendy straws in.  Since I always prefer knitting to sewing, I decided on a knitted pouch.  I came up with this pattern:

Materials: 

Cotton yarn

4 size 8 dpns (double pointed needles)

button and matching thread

Instructions:

Cast on 18 stitches.  Divide them equally among 3 dpns. 

Begin knitting in the round, and continue until the piece measures approximately 8 1/2 inches. 

Bind off 9 stitches.  Continue knitting in stockinette stitch on the remaining 9 stitches for another inch.

Next 2 rows:

Knit 3, bind off 3, knit 3.

Knit 3, cast on 3. knit 3.

Knit 4 more rows in stockinette stitch and then bind off all stitches.

Line up the button under the button hole and sew on.

Sew up the bottom and weave in loose ends.

Now I can keep several bendy straws in my purse for when we go out to eat.  They won't get lost in the bottom of my purse, and they won't get dirty or bent.  And best of all, I don't have to worry about Angie spilling her drink because the straw is too tall for her.