While brainstorming things to put in this book, someone suggested a little box might be just the thing for a small project, not too much of a time commitment, good for practicing a number of techniques. I thought this was a good idea, but I think I may have strayed too far from the original concept. Still, I think it can be said that this box is unique in construction — searches online for knitted boxes invariably turned up boxes with no lids, or lids knitted separately. This box not only has a lid, but a seamless construction, shaping and an integrated hinge thanks to the lock stitches used.

For practicing techniques, this is an ideal small piece — it has cast-on, bind-off, increases, decreases, color-changing and lock knits and purls. However, it’s also designed to be sturdy and stand up on its own — so the fabric is tough and unyielding, for the most part. This is not something you want to hear about most knitting projects, but for a box it’s not a bad thing. The bad thing is that the way I make the fabric tough is by knitting it in bulky yarn on size 4 needles. The first couple of revisions broke at least one DPN, and required plenty of resting due to stress on my hands. All this because I don’t like to felt my double-knitting — I like the stitch definition. You may want to experiment with larger needles and felting — I’d love to see how it turns out.

Regarding the name, yes, this is named after the John Masefield book and my favorite bizarre BBC Christmas minise- ries from childhood.