The idea I hinted at yesterday has to do with magnetic boards. It's not something I can make at home, but it's a set of improvements I'd like to see made.
To recap, the standard issue magnetic board is very useful and very inexpensive, but it has some shortcomings.

Boughten

Scavenged

LoRan appears to be the leading (possibly only) seller of magnetic boards. LoRan appears to have been bought by or is marketing through the Dritz line of sewing and crafting notions. LoRan boards come in several configurations. Some have easel backs, so they stand up on their own. Some of the easel backed ones have small pencil-holding ledges along their bottom edge. Sizes appear to be 6"x10", 8"x10", and 12"x18". There are also supplemental accessories including separately packaged easel stands, plain gray metal/plastic magnet bars, magnetic bars with rulers printed on them, see-through magnifying magnet bars, and special packaged bundles of the base model boards plus accessories. There are also "after market" vendors that sell other types of place-marking magnets/magnifiers for use with magnetic boards.

My problem with the LoRan line are:

1. That it does a lousy job of protecting the charts while the work is in progress. I didn't realize exactly how lousy a job until I began using my improvised solution. The largest LoRan size is bigger than I need for 99.9% of my knitting charts. But the two smaller sizes are smaller than standard US 8x11" paper (or the standard Euro A4 size of 210x297cm, for that matter). Charts put on the boards get bashed up - even if both the board and the page are slipped into a page protector. This damage is especially bad if the board/chart combo is stuffed into knitting bags in between working sessions. My el cheapo scavenged cookie pan's raised rim did an excellent job of keeping my project together and unrumpled, and keeping the magnets in place in between uses.

2. The boards are flimsy and prone to bending and denting. Once they are no longer flat magnets have a more difficult time sticking. Again, my cookie sheet was thicker and (for non-cooking purposes at least) resisted warping and denting better than the commercial product.

3. The magnets are wimpy, and can't grab through more than a page or two, or are easily displaced in between working sessions. This one is a balancing act. There are incredibly strong magnets out there, but they would be difficult to move while working. Finding just the right amount of stick to stay put when needed and still be easy to move when necessary is difficult. Even more so when you remember that for most low adherence magnets, the magnetism slowly dissipates over time. What worked last year might be less useful this year. My cut up promotional fridge magnets did a fine job through up to two sheets of paper, but I like to keep all the pages of a pattern together when I'm working. I'd want something a bit stronger, perhaps something that could stick through a plastic protective cover, plus three sheets of paper, but not necessarily something thicker. The thicker the magnet, the more difficult it is to read Think thick rulers vs. thin rulers. Thick rulers are visually offset from what they are measuring, making taking accurate measurements more difficult.

What I want is something like this:



Wouldn't it be nifty if that transparent magnet-through plastic cover was a full-sheet magnifier page?

Now, how much more would I pay for something like this above and beyond the flimsy market standard? Not sure. If the least expensive packaging of the LoRan 8x10 sells for about $5.00 US (more or less), I'd pay around $15 for something this elaborate, provided the quality of the piece was commensurate with the price.

Remember - if you see this product for sale out there, you saw the idea here first. [grin]