Easily portable knitting light

May 15, 2017 1:04 PM

I knit while I'm in bed, watching TV in the living room, and visiting friends at rest homes. I would love to buy a light that is telescopic, retractable, or somehow designed to be easily portable. Doesn't need to be battery operated. Help please!
posted by Triumphant Muzak to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Best answer: My preferred portable worklight is the IKEA Jansjo LED light--either the one with the clip on it or the one powered by USB. They're not tiny, but the flexible neck makes it very manueverable and compact-able.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 1:20 PM on May 15, 2017

These LED lights they're making these days are amazing! Bright, inexpensive, long lasting. At my local hardware store, I recently picked up, for $9.99, something like this
gooseneck clip light
posted by at at 1:24 PM on May 15, 2017

Best answer: How about a headlamp?
posted by xris at 1:48 PM on May 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Or a necklamp, like this (which I haven't personally tried, I link purely for illustrative purposes).
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:49 PM on May 15, 2017

Ottlite is a crafters friend. Many have claps, fold, or are battery powered. I have this one in my office. This one telescopes. These fold and come in battery powered. There's also a clamp one. (I have the standard one of that style.) ETA: Amazon has them cheaper often.
posted by Crystalinne at 2:25 PM on May 15, 2017

Will a music stand light work? I have this clip-on light that can either run on batteries or plug in to the wall. It has two little arms with two brightness settings each and barely takes up any space in my knitting project bags and music tote.
posted by kiripin at 4:23 PM on May 15, 2017

Just a note on the folding Ottlite -- they are fantastic, and super-handy, but they DEVOUR batteries. Like, the light gets noticeably dimmer within an hour. And at least the one I bought did not come with a power cord. However! It turns out that the charger for an old model of, I think, a Nokia phone works perfectly as a power cord, and you can get those for cheap off Amazon.
posted by sarcasticah at 5:55 PM on May 15, 2017

I just use a book light. They're available all over—I picked up a couple different ones as promotional freebies. They have a clip that I usually attach to some part of my clothing, and a flexible neck. LEDs are bright and easy on the batteries. They're also cheap—plenty of them are available at a $5-$10 price point.
posted by BrashTech at 6:04 AM on May 16, 2017

I love my Ottlite. This is the one I have, and I can easily move it from the side of my desk to the front, or to my crafting table. I've even clipped it to my shirt when I needed parts of my quilt lit for a photograph. I've been using it since November and couldn't be happier with it.
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 1:32 PM on May 16, 2017

I use the Beam-n-Read (which The Corpse in the Library referenced above), and have been very happy with it. It has a low and high switch, so I can decide how bright I need it. Batteries last a long time
posted by Philbo at 10:47 AM on June 8, 2017