Sunday, August 06, 2006

KIPer Bags Review

I'm all about high quality of products, but every once in awhile I find something that isn't of the highest QUALITY, but is of the highest FUNCTION. This is true of the new KnitPicks KIPer Bags. The quality is okay (for vinyl), but the function puts these bags in a league all of their own. And I should know...I LOVE bags (and shoes, and yarn).

The fabric panels on the bags are decent looking & a stylish tone on tone pattern, but of course I'm not thrilled that where there should be leather...there is vinyl. I'm not a fan of bags with vinyl accents instead of leather, but for the price, these bags (even with the vinyl) can't be beat! They could have charged the $49.99 for just 2 of the bags just on their function alone!

Each of the 3 largest bags have a zippercompartment on the inside of the bag as well as pockets on the inside. The zipper compartment is large enough to hold many pairs of straight or circular needles. The outside of the bags have an "attachment system" that allows you to attach the purse organizing bag to each of the 3 knitting bags.

The bottom attachment is made up of two magnetic snaps & the top attachment is two u-shaped clips that flip up to slide the purse onto & then snap down to lock the purse onto the bag. Since this attachment is on all 3 of the knitting bags, you can easily move the purse organizer to any of the bags. I think it's very clever & functional.


The purse organizer that slides onto this attachment system has a place for almost anything you can think of . In the center of the bag is a zippered compartment. On one side of this zippered compartment is a section to hold miscellaneous items as well as slots for credit cards & a pocket for papers, receipts, notepad, whatever. On the other side of the zippered compartment is also another pocket as well as 2 slots for a pen or pencil, a pocket for your cell phone and slots for more credit cards (or your grocery store card & library card, etc). Personally speaking, this purse organizer has everything I could think of...except...a separate pocket to protect my sunglasses & I wish it had zippers on each end instead of one that goes all the way from one side to the other. I also wish it were a tad bit deeper, but I'm sure some people may think the purse organizer to be too big. It's all a matter of personal opinion.



The largest size bag is plenty large enough to hold either 25 sock projects or even 2 large sweater projects. In other words, it's a large bag that I look forward to using as a carry-on when I fly off to Oregon next week. The medium bag is probably the size I'll use if I'm knitting a childs sweater or more than one pair of socks. The small bag is the perfect size for a scarf or a pair of socks or a small baby sweater. Other than the purse organizer, there's also a small organizer for knitting notions (tape measure, cable needles, stitch markers, etc). It's a decent size although I wish it were a bit longer to hold my gauge ruler.

For the price ($49.99) these bags are a great deal. They are stylish and functional & I sure hope someday someone comes out with an affordable version in leather!

5 comments:

grundgetta said...

My mother would so love this.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering about those. I'm a sucker for bags too! ;-) Thanks for the review!!

vickthompson said...

Thanks for the review on theses bags. I LOVE bags and have been debating getting these for a while.

Anonymous said...

Hi-I'm getting ready to order the KIPer bag set and was curious if you are still happy with the purchase?

pacatam said...

I'd like a set and Knit Picks no longer sells them, if you want to sell them, my email is tami@cinebarstar.com