Monthly Archives: October 2009

No knitting mojo to speak of…

So I’ve decided to do a post with a couple of my non-knit finished objects. Because I do on occasion do crafts other then knitting, but with two children under the age of 4 and no dedicated craft room, it’s hard to do them.

The first is a long over-due sewing project from when I was back in Wisconsin in May. Most of the hard work was done, admittedly, by my mother.
There is a story that goes with this project. I fell in love with a large wedge project bag made by a seller on Etsy who has a fan following on Ravelry. There were some bags she did with a Japanese MonokuroBoo print that I loved in particular, but she ran out of the fabric before I could place a custom order. I managed to find the fabric on Etsy, bought a fat quarter and a yard from another shop, and then emailed the bag seller asking if I provided my own fabric and paid the full custom price which usually includes materials, if she would make the bag for me. Sounds reasonable enough, one would think.

The answer I received back disappointed me. It was a no, citing the age old reason of, “if I do it for you, I have to do it for everyone.” I’ll openly admit, I hate that reason and reading it made me angry. Angry enough that I decided not to purchase any bags from her in the future and make my own to show off.

So, I looked up tutorials on wedge bags and came upon this one for a triangular prism bag, almost identical to the others (I had long suspected the Etsy shop in question used free tutorials and modified them to sell and searched thusly). Here is where my mother comes into the story. She took the tutorial and the finished bag measurements that I wanted and made the pattern pieces for me. She then sewed up a mock-up to make sure it would work out when it came time to use my own fabric. It was my idea to use interfacing on all the pieces to stiffen it up.

The results were well worth it.

I plan to make more of these, whenever I find the pattern pieces or make my own from the tutorial. Not bad for a project inspired by a negative emotion and childishness. This bag takes a mere fat quarter of both the outer and lining fabrics and is large enough to hold a medium size project. That is a skein of sport weight yarn, 250 yards, to give an idea of the room inside. You could easily fit a baby sweater in it, or a scarf.

The second is a quickie with no story. It’s my first hand embroidery that I did on a plain t-shirt for The Girl’s first birthday last month.

Pretty cute, eh? Admittedly, I think this would have turned out a bit better in a 100% cotton shirt, instead of one with 2% spandex for stretch. The smaller backstitch is fine, but the other stitches seem loose. Overall, I’m happy with it and think it turned out well.

FO catch up…

Or Attack of the Size 7 Needles?
I am so ashamed. I have many FOs to blog about… and fully finish before I can. I admit it, I find little thrill in the finishing details once the actual knitting is done. Ends need to be woven in. Scarves need to be blocked. Pictures, many pictures must be taken. Then there is blogging. Sometimes, it is easy for a project to slip through the cracks. And by “a project,” I mean, half a dozen projects. 2009 had a strong start for organization and keeping on top of my knits but I’m quickly losing steam.
Anywho, I have some knits to share. All children’s knits which seem to be my thing lately. The Boy and The Girl are quite happy about it. The Boy moreso since he understands what is going on; The Girl would rather throw off her hats and try to wriggle out of her sweaters. Treacherous little thing, she is.

Pattern: Eyelet Yoke Cardigan (Ravel it)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece

Needles: KnitPicks Options US size 7

Overall, this was a very easy knit that I completely converted from a bottom-up seamed pattern to a top-down seamless one. I reversed the directions (turned the decreases into increases, etc) and did the sleeves in the round. I’m not sure why so many people want to bother with seamed sleeves; I have an immense dislike for them. They never fit me right and I can never get them to fit into their armhole properly, despite being careful to make them the same size. This fits her pretty well as a normal cardigan at the moment, but it has room for her to grow into it and it will be a cute cropped cardigan as she gets bigger. This was a great way to use up some of my Cotton Fleece leftovers.

Pattern: Hurricane Hat (Ravel it)
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted-Marine and Hollyhock
Needles: US size 7, two circulars method

These were super quick, straight forward knits. Each took roughly one day of knitting. The very last decreases get a little confusing, but they look like the turned out all right. I knit them a bit smaller then gauge to fit a toddler head rather then an adult. In February, we’ll be heading back up to Wisconsin for a wedding and neither of my little Texans are used to that type of cold. I’ve been working on some nice warm woolen knits for them to keep them toasty. It seems a bit early to start, but I like to be ahead of schedule when I can be.


Pattern: Whirligig Shrug (Ravel it)
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
Needles: US size 7

You have probably started to noticed a theme here. All projects have been easy, and all have been on size 7 needles. This one is no different, I assure you. Very basic top-down raglan with some seed stitch ruffles. Really simple U cables, a little purl ridge edging and voila! FO. Easy, but cute. I suspect Japel could be even more successful as a children’s designer. Once again, these were leftovers from one of my projects. I was surprised at how little it took, the pattern seems to seriously overestimate the yardage required. Other Ravellers have made the same comment, so it isn’t just me. For now, this is a touch too big for her and falls off her shoulders. No bother, she has her blue cardi for now. Someday, I’d like to upsize this for me. For the time being though, I have plenty on my plate.

On a non-knitting note, Blogger and its formatting are starting to drive me batty. It should not be this hard to get everything to look proper. I finally had to leave my entry as-is and leave it. Why does this blogging platform hate me so much?!