Flap Top Felted Purse

After look at many felted bag patterns and not finding exactly what I was looking for, I decided to make up my own pattern.

Base of the bag
CO 40 stitiches
Knit 34 rows in garter stitch
Place marker (A)
Pick up and knit 16 stitches along left side of rectangle, place marker (B)
Pick up and knit 49 stitched along CO edge, place marker (C)
Pick up and knit 16 stitches along right side of rectangle, place marker (D)
Join stitches and begin knitting in the round for 60 rows.

Body of the bag
On row 12 - Decrease by k2tog after marker A, before marker B, after marker C and before marker D. You will have 14 stitches on each of the short sides and 49 stitches on the long sides.

On row 24 - Decrease by k2tog after marker A, before marker B, after marker C and before marker D. You will have 12 stitches on each of the short sides and 49 stitches on the long sides.

On row 36 - Decrease by k2tog after marker A, before marker B, after marker C and before marker D. You will have 10 stitches on each of the short sides and 49 stitches on the long sides.

On row 48 - Decrease by k2tog after marker A, before marker B, after marker C and before marker D. You will have 8 stitches on each of the short sides and 49 stitches on the long sides.

Once you have knit 60 rows with decreases, beginning at marker D, bind off 49 stitches. Place the 8 stitches between markers A and B on a stitch holder. Keep stitches between B and C on your circular needle. Place the 8 stitches between C and D on a stitch holder.

Bag flap top
If you would like to change yarn color for the flap top, do so here by tying on new yarn.

Knit in SS stitch for 34 rows. Bind off.

Strap
Remove the 8 stitches from the stitch holder and place on needle. Knit in garter stitch until the strap measures 22" long. Join with the remaining 8 stitch on the other stitch holder using the Kitchener stitch.

Weave in ends and felt. :)


Pre-felted measurements

Strap - 22" long in garter stitch
Flap - 14" wide by 7" tall
Bag body - 14" wide by 11" tall
Bag base - 14" long by 5" wide

Chemo Cap for Katy :(

Recently a good friend was diagnosed with advanced stage adrenal cancer. She is only 30 and is planning on getting married this fall. She started chemo this week, so I put my other project aside to make her a chemo cap. It is in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK in black, which is sooo soft, and I used size 4 needles. I based the hat on the Santa Cruz Cap. I did one repeat of the pattern for the hat brim and then knit in stockinette for the rest. The Santa Cruz pattern is great, but it was too holey for a chemo cap.

Hand Dyed Yarn

I received some acid dyes from a recent coop, and finally got the opportunity to dye some yarn. I love dark colors and these are representative of that.

Roses at Night - The first are 2 skeins of single ply 100purewool in the colorway Temple that I overdyed. Here is a pic of the original.







According to the pic when I ordered it was supposed to be darker. I hand painted black dye on one of the large grey sections and on the red section. I left the white, some of the grey and the burgandy alone. The overdye on the red section lead to a really dark burgandy color. Here is the result.







I am making a felted purse with it, so sorry for the in-progress pic. I love the new colors and it will be perfect for this project.

Midnight Sky - The second one was natural Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, which is sooooo soft and fluffy. I am planning on making a scarf with it and wanted self-striping yarn. I made a VERY large skein and dyed it in three sections. The blue and grey/silver are a little darker than I was planning, but I realy love the outcome. The colors are darker than in this picture.










I will update when the projects are finished.

Falling Water Scarf

I frogged the "My So Called Scarf" as it was too dense of a scarf for my liking. I used the yarn to complete another scarf, the Falling Water Scarf (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~bsennott/Falling%20Water%20Pattern.pdf) It was my first lace pattern. I need to block it, but it is done. It is for my DH's great-aunt who lives in Miami and still wears a scarf year round. The yarn is 100purewool in worsted weight in Southern Extravaganza. I knit it with size 10 needles. It is so soft and snuggly. It is about 8 inches wide.

Here is the whole scarf and a close up view of the pattern.










I really like this pattern, and it knit up very fast in worsted weight.

Homemade Swift

My mom bought me a ball winder for my birthday, but after trying it without a swift, I knew I needed one. I got inspired to make one after my mom suggested using a lazy susan. At our local Walmart, they had a "bamboo" lazy susan ($8.99), and I bought a 5/16" dowel rod ($.56), 1 72" 2x1 ($2), and some wood screws ($1). I screwed a 36" piece centered on the lazy susan and screwed it on after drilling pilot holes. I then attached a 17" piece perpendicular to the long piece on each side. I then drilled 5/16" half-holes 1 inch apart on the ends of the 2x1 pieces, and cut the dowel rod into 4 inch long pieces to place in the holes. Here is a final pic.







It spins very well due to the lazy susan. The hardest part of making it was trying to comfort my son who is afraid of the drill. I did it by myself while my DH was out of town, so he could not complain about another knitting project. It works so well, and the spin is so smooth due to the lazy susan. I hope this helps someone.

Curly Purly Infant Kimono

I recently purchased the pattern for the Curly Purly Infant Kimono. It is supposed to be made in one skein, but it took me a little more. I used white Cottonease as the yarn. This is a gift for my cousin's new baby girl. I did not like all of the seaming required by the pattern. :( Here is a pic of the unblocked final product. It is supposed to fit sizes 0 - 6 mos, but it seems to run a little big. I knit it with size 8 needles.







I will be trying it again, but will make a few alterations to the pattern. I will post about it when I do. :)

Felted Market Bag

I made a large felted bag out of Berroco Peruvia in Aquamarine that I received in the February yarn swap on Diaperswappers.com. It was awesome to felt. The pattern for the bag is at http://pensandneedles.blogspot.com/2005/11/sentimental-stripes-felted-tote.html The black is Peace Fleece left over from another project, but it did not felt as well so the bag has a slightly rippled effect, but it looks pretty cool. I am using the bag to carry my doula client paperwork. I knit it with size 10.5 needles.










I made it slightly smaller than the pattern, but it still ended up being a little too big.

Delinquent Blogger

We moved into a new house on April 1, 2007, so the blog has taken a back seat. But... I have been knitting.

Scarves in progress

I have two scarves in progess for Christmas gifts. I know I am planning ahead, but if I do not do them now, they will probably not get done. :)

The first is the Mini Clapotis. This is a variation of the Clapotis wrap from Knitty. The scarf version pattern is from kpixie.









The first pic is a closer up view of the stitch pattern and the second pic is of the length I have completed. It has been really fun to knit, and I love dropping the stitches. I am using Knitpicks Andean Silk in Chocolate, which is really soft and drapey, but is a little boring in the solid color.

The second scarf is My So Called Scarf from Sheep in the City. It is a really pretty pattern that creates a really dense/warm scarf. I am using 100purewool in Southern Extravaganza.






It is going to take me a long time to finish, but it is pretty mindless knitting now that I have memorized the pattern. I love the yarn, so I keep picking up this project and knitting a few rows whenever I can. :)

Felted Mocs from Little Turtle Knits Pattern

I recently bought the Felted Mocs pattern from Little Turtle Knits. Included in the pattern are sizes from newborn to adult male. I have already made a couple of pairs. They knit super fast and are really cute. Here are a couple of pics of the finished objects. :)










The first pair is a set I made for my son in the toddler size using Paton's Classic wool that I dyed with food coloring.

The second pic are a pair I made for me in the middle school sizing out of Peace Fleece and a pair of infant sized for a friend's new baby girl our of Caron's Felt-It yarn in Neon.

I will definitely be making more of these. They will be great baby gifts for all of our friends who are procreating. :)

Acrylic Longies and Capris

I recently met a friend, E, whose family is allergic to wool, but really wanted someone to knit her new daughter longies. I volunteered to knit for her for the cost of the yarn and supplies. It was a great practice opportunity for me to practice knitting and refine my pattern. E ended up picking out Paton's Canadiana yarn in two different varigated colors. She wanted ruffled cuffs, so I knitted to the inseam length and did one row of increase each stitch, one row of knit, and one of increase every other stitch. Here is the pic of the finished pair.







E introduced me to one of her friends, L, who needed a doula for her upcoming birth. I am also a volunteer doula while I am finishing my certification through DONA, so I began working with L. She mentioned in passing during one of our meetings that she wanted a pair of acrylic longies for her new son. I decided to surprise her with a set for her son. Here is a pic.







Here is the last pair of Capris for E's daughter. They turned out really cute!

My first Felted Bag in Yummy Purewool

I purchased 5 skeins of Purewool from a coop on DiaperSwappers. The yarn is soooo soft and the colors are beautiful. It is single ply, so I have learned that I do not want to use it for longies for anyone who is mobile to avoid major pilling. I tried to figure out what to do with my one skein of Blauer Reiter which is a beautiful darker crayon box colorway. I decided to do the Sophie bag from Magknits. Here are the before felting and after felting pics.










I really love how it turned out. The Purewool felted alot, so the bag is smaller than intended, but it is still very cute. I am planning on making a larger felted bag to hold my knitting out of my next order of Purewool.

My knitting history

I started knitting in the fall of 2006 when a friend gave me a copy of "Knitting for Dummies" that she did not use. I started knitting to make cloth diaper covers/longies, but my horizon has definitely expanded. I started crocheting as a teenager, but did not finish anything major. I did not like how crocheted stitches looked for anything other than a blanket, but did not have the patience/focus for large projects.

My first major project was a pair of longies made from the Aubrey Doodlepants pattern. They were made from Caron Felt-it yarn in the Wildflowers colorway. The yarn is really pretty, but it is single-ply and therefore is will pill like mad. I ended up selling them for the cost of yarn because they were too small for my son. I should have done a better gauge swatch. :) Here is a pic:





I did a second pair for a friend's new daughter along with a hat. It was in the same yarn in a different colorway. Here is a pic:





After these, I got a little more adventurous with my knitting.

New Blog

I have been watching many of my friends, both online and in person, keep up great blogs. This blog will be primarly about my knitting and fiber projects, but I may add other fun information along the way. :)