Finished Project - The Missing Piece Hobo Bag

Here it is folks, my Missing Piece Hobo Bag finished and in use!  Yay!  First off, I am so glad I shortened the handle by 10 inches (thank you Ravelry knitters!)  I could possibly have shortened it even more as it hits about mid thigh on me (I'm 5' 6") and somewhat lower when carrying heavier items.  The Cotlin yarn from Knit Picks really has a lot of stretch and drape to it apparently.  Much different from the 100% nylon yarn Norah Gaughan used in the original pattern.  Substitutions can affect your outcome by a lot.

 

Speaking of substitutions, I am glad that I knit this purse on US size 9 needles instead of the US size 10 1/2 with which I got gauge as the purse is voluminous.  Don't get me wrong I like a big bag.  Being a mama I tend to carry a lot with me at all times.  You never know what you'll need right?  I'm often amazed by women with small purses.  For instance, where do they put their first aid kit, drawing stuff for their children, snacks, water bottle, spare hot wheel car, not to mention their latest knitting project? 

 

My lovely husband Dan took all these photos for me and I think he just got about every angle he could.  He's going to become a real pro at photography when I start finishing sweaters whether he wants to or not.  No, seriously he's very supportive and always loves to help.  I don't even need to bribe him like I do my son - how great is that?

Please don't notice the slight *ahem* tummy bulge.  Knitting doesn't seem to burn the calories like I wish it would.  And, so far I can't seem to master walking while knitting - can you?  I read once that Elizabeth Zimmermann managed to knit while riding on the back of her husband's motorcycle - so cool.

I love the above two pics as they look almost connected.  Also, it shows of the traveling cable along the bottom of each "wedge" section of the purse very well.  

I'm calling this project a success.  

What do you think?

Sock Sunday - Van Dyke Pattern

Hello again.  I hope you're weekend is going well.  Mine started off with a bang having finished my pair of Van Dyke Socks on Friday night.  Yes, these babies have been around for a couple of years, but finally they are leaving the WIP basket for their permanent home in the sock drawer.  Woohoo!

The first sock went along swimmingly only ending somewhat shorter than the pattern calls for (three lace repeats instead of five) and only 5 rows of ribbing.  Sigh.  Should have purchased more yarn; the story of my life as a knitter.  The yarn by the way is Blue Sky Alpacas sport weight which has only 110 yards per skein.  This should have been a tip off for me, but I'm sure I thought 2 skeins = 2 socks - short socks I now know.  As you can see below I avoided the hole at the top of the gusset  this time by picking up extra stitches and knitting them together.  But, it was a little make shift and I'm still wondering what is a better way.  

Any thoughts?

  Then moving onto the second sock all was well until the very end when I realized I wouldn't have enough yarn to make the same number of rows of ribbing let alone doing my favorite Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.  Ripping back to only 2 rows of ribbing I commenced casting off only to run out of yarn.  I cut off the tails from the first sock and used those to continue binding off only to run out yarn again.  Having no other brown yarn available to me I used a piece of rainbow variegated yarn to finish the last 2 inches.  It shows of course, but it's on the inside edge which hides it a little.  You can see it in this picture just a bit of blue and purple along the top edge.

 

So, a fair amount of imperfections in this pair, but I'm trying to focus them being completed instead of the errors.  Hmm ... it's not working yet.  My next pair of socks will be for my mother's birthday.  I have the yarn, but no pattern yet.  What's your favorite sock pattern? 

Gratitude Friday and Gift Giving - Three Hats

 Another week has come to a close and my but the summer is going fast!  Are you finding that also?  All the back to school ads are popping up and everyone's thoughts seem to be turning toward Fall.  I too am thinking of Fall/Winter by continuing my Christmas in July (now August) gift giving project.  Our friends John and Sara just had their 3rd baby girl and what do you think of when someone has three daughters (besides paying for 3 weddings - ouch!) well matching hats of course!  Bring on the Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe hat pattern by Kathy Broughton. It's a cute elfish hat pattern in ascending sizes baby through adult.  So, here they are Eennie, Meenine and Miney (I saved Sara from a matching "Moe" hat as I thought that took the cute factor a little too far.)

 

They are knit from Malabrigo bulky weight merino yarn that comes from a sweater I decided to frog as it made me look well, lets just say rather large.  The buttons are from my Grandmother's extensive button collection which all predates 1950 which was the year she died.  I really enjoy it when I am able to use one on a project and share a little family history.

 

Here is my ever so helpful son Sam modeling the "Miney" size which will fit his friend Abigayle who is also 6 years old.  Isn't he a trooper for doing this for me?

I love how cute it looks from the back with that little pointed top.  

Are you working on your Christmas knitting projects yet?

Well, that's it for the gift giving, as for what I am grateful for this past week it would have to be the following:

1.  The wonder and awe my son has for each "new" thing that enters his life.  For instance the used fish aquarium we purchased through Craigslist for his birthday yesterday was not "used" in his mind but a wonderland for fish waiting to be set up.  Such joy!

2.  The vacuum cleaner.  Yes, it is a mundane everyday appliance, but oh I couldn't do without it especially since adding a black lab to our family.  I was warned about shedding, but I had no idea I tell you!

3.  Our couples counselor.  Having a third party, who doesn't take sides, help you understand your partner and vice versa I have found to be an invaluable tool in keeping a marriage strong.

I thought about not sharing that last one, but it was on the top on my mind simply refusing to be thrown aside.  Hopefully it's not TMI (too much information) as my cousin would say.  So, that's my top 3 blessings of the week.  What's on your gratitude list today?

WIP Wednesday - Mobius Vest

Have you heard of Elizabeth Zimmermann?  It really is hard not to in the knitting world.  So much so that people just refer to her as EZ.  Well, I am going through an EZ phase where I'm reading all her books and making a few sweaters as well.  Her way of constructing a sweater is fascinating to me and how easily she makes the math work out to customize it just for you.  What I'm showing you today is her Mobius Vest from her book Knitting Around.  It's just two long rectangular pieces of garter stitch knitting (with a bit of short row shaping half way through) made into a vest by twisting the rectangles a 180 degrees and seaming up the sides.  That twist gives you the lapels for the front of this cardigan style vest.  It's really that simple.

Now, this vest isn't going to win any current fashion shows, but it's practical, comfy and warm.  Basically, I just had to knit it because I was curious to see how it would turn out.  The I -cord as you go edging, short row shaping, and "afterthought pockets" kept me interested and the garter stitch knitting made it a perfect sweater to knit while visiting with friends.  All I have left is to tack down the second pocket lining and put in a zipper closure.  Of course this has been sitting in my WIP basket for over a month with only these two little things to complete, but I will finish really I will.

The funny thing is I knit this sweater with 3 strikingly different dye lots of the same color Malabrigo worsted weight yarn.  The story goes like this - I bought 3 skeins on Etsy for cheap to knit this vest, but it looked HORRIBLE on me (really I can't say enough bad things about it, it was that awful) so it was frogged and laid in wait for another project.  Then I couldn't find any other garment to knit with that little yarn (yes I know, hats and scarves abound, but I wanted a vest I tell you.)  I thought I could buy a few more skeins of the same color thinking "I can blend the dye lots so no one will know." Well, they were so different blending would look striped so I knit blocks of color intentionally showing off the difference in hue.  When I was just about done I ran out of yarn and ordered 1 more skein.  Ack!  At that point I thought so what and went with it.  All in all I think it looks alright, but it's destiny will probably be a homeward bound sweater. 

 

I tried showing you a few shots on how it fits, but without photographic help tonight you only get a couple of glimpses.  The upper one shows how the lapel and "cap' sleeve look and the lower one shows how the pieces are twisted inward making a V in the back.  After it's finished and blocked I will post again and you can let me know whether I was successful or not with my different dye lots.

What's on your needles this week?

For Kicks and Giggles

Using up every scrap of yarn after I finish a project is a goal of mine.  You've seen what I do with the smallish felt-able bits here and the itty bitty bits here, but what do I do with the 1/2 a skein plus bits?  Well, it depends on the yarn, what I need (or think I need) and what might make a fun gift.  This time around I decided I needed a small bag to carry a sock knitting project with me wherever I go.  Knitting projects tend to get all tangled up in my purse so I thought a separate bag would solve that little problem.  Using the leftovers from my Missing Piece Hobo Bag (yes, it's done and a post will follow as soon as I get pics!) I knitted up this bag from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.  Here it is:

 

It measures about 8 inches high and 6 inches in diameter.  My modifications were to only do 1 inch before the drawstring holes instead of 3 (since I wanted more bag than collar) and to make the bottom rounded like a hat so it would "sit" nicely next to me.  The original pattern called for a three needle bind off across the bottom making it a flat style bag.  I did decreases just like you'd do for a hat, but with less rows between the decreases and I love the spiral it creates.

The drawstring is a delicate 2 stitch I-cord with wrapped tassels - so fun!

The bag is very roomy with space for a full sock skein, pattern, needles and extras.  The only problem I have with it is that needles poke through the sides thus I will probably be lining this bag with fabric once my sewing machine comes back from the repair shop.  It will lose it's soft drapey quality, but will be more functional.

 

I still have some yarn leftover from making this bag too so stayed tuned for what I did with those little cotton/linen yarn bits.  Anyway, that's my project that was just for "kicks and giggles" this week.  

What do you do for kicks and giggles?

From the Yarn Stash

This week's From the Yarn Stash yarn is from Dream in Color hand dyed yarns.  It's their bulky weight yarn called "Groovy" in the, now get this, "Green Lantern" colorway.  Yes, a super hero name for a colorway!  What's not to love when this yarn is earmarked for my son Sam who is 6.  I told him the name and he flipped out and says he can't wait to wear the sweater and BE Green Lantern.  I love Dream in Color yarns for the subtle variations of color that give the yarn a depth and rich quality.  Also, they are machine washable which is perfect for children who play outside and get gloriously dirty.

 

 Photo is a little dark as this one was hard to photograph.

The pattern I am using for this beautiful green yarn is Elizabeth Zimmermann's famous Tomten hooded jacket.  This will be Sam's annual "I'm growing like a weed" Fall/Winter sweater for the year.  I will be modifying this pattern slightly with a collar instead of the hood as he already has a hooded sweater (The Wallaby which was last year's sweater that thankfully still fits as I made both the body and arms extra long).  Sam expressed interest in a zipper closure and that will be a new thing for me.  Any tips out there for putting in a zipper on a knitted garment?  What yarn do you have stashed away for your Fall/Winter sweaters?

Gratitude Friday and Gift Giving - Hat and Mitts 2

How's your week going?  I was in a bit of a funk for a good part of my week, but managed to turn it around by the end.  What caused this funk eludes me, my mother claims it was the solar flares, my friend the full moon, my husband claims it was my sore throat, but all I really care about is that it has lifted.  So, what am I grateful for this week?  Take a look.

1. Craft Night with my homeschooling mom friends.  It only occurs once a month as schedules are so busy, but it's worth the wait.  

2. The book The Yarn Harlot: the secret life of a knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  I haven't had such a good laugh in a long time.  Reading about projects gone awry, works in progress and endless amounts of yarn - what's not to love?

3.  Packages in the mail.  I LOVE getting mail and a package is the best.  The anticipation, the arrival, the moment of opening it all thrills me to no end.  Of course, the packages are usually yarn and you can guess how I feel about that.

My gift giving this week was another hat and fingerless mitts set knit in Malabrigo yarn.  The hat pattern is aptly called Who? and is free on Ravelry.  It was a fun, fast and clever knit.  I went to my local fabric store to get buttons for the eyes and was so disappointed by the lack of selection.  White was pretty much my only option in the size I needed.  Are people just not sewing anymore?  Or maybe it's another sign of people doing their shopping online? Oh well, I think it still came out looking sharp.  

The mitts pattern I used is again the 75 Yard Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts.  It's just such a solid pattern and being able to squeak out 2 gifts from one skein is fabulous if you ask me.  The colorway is called Vermillion and it's a very pretty soft, almost pinkish, red.

The recipient of these gifts was my friend Denise.  Again, I choose the receiver by the color yarn I was using and since Denise loves red they were destined to be hers.

Who would you love to give a gift to for no particular reason?

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Sock Sunday

I love alliteration don't you? Sock Sunday sounded like such a good title even if I don't have a pair of socks to show you every Sunday (man, don't I wish!)  Today's socks are a simple stockinette stitch for the foot and a 2 x 2 rib for the leg.  I felt the self striping yarn would detract from any other pattern.  The yarn I used was Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in Mulberry Stripes colorway.  This is a very inexpensive sock yarn made up of 75% wool and 25% nylon that I purchased from my local Micheal's Store.  Normally I abide by the saying "Life is too short to knit with cheap yarn", but I just loved the colorway too much.  I used Wendy D. Johnson's book Socks From the Toe Up pattern called Van Dyke Socks as a starting point and just omitted the lace pattern work replacing it with stockinette and 2 x 2 rib.  I choose this pattern as it was one of the ones knit on size 2 needles and frankly speaking I'm scared of size 1 and 0 needles as they are so delicate.  Lastly, I used Jeny's "Surprising Stretchy Bind Off" to (you guessed it didn't you?) bind off, and it's very true to it's name. 

 

 Here's how they came out - pretty huh?

 

My only problem with them is the little hole I get at the top of the gusset.  Can you see it in the brown stripe?  Is anyone else plagued by this?  Has anyone come up with a solution?  If so, I would love to know.

What sock patterns are you dying to try out?

Gratitude Friday and Gift Giving - Hat and Mitts

It's easy to get caught up in our problems and worries as life rushes past us.  To balance this out I like to "count my blessings" as my mother used to say to me as a child.  I now call it my gratitude list, but call it what you want.  So, I'd like to share with you the things I am grateful for this week:

1. My son finding joy and awe in a thunderstorm even when it woke us up at 5:45 a.m.

2. My knitting as it gives me a focus while calming me.

3. My mother (who lives with us) for helping out more on a week when I didn't feel so well.

One of the items that is always on my list is my friends and how they stand by me with my erratic communication skills and tendency towards holing up in my house (with knitting of course.)  They pull me out of my shell and keep me connected to the world which I so need.  To let them know how much I care I like to give gifts.  I don't usually plan it, but for instance I'll have some yarn left over from a project and think "this would make a great coffee cup holder, or fingerless mitts etc." and the color usually directs me to who it should go to.  

This week I gave a Christmas in July gift to my friend Kelly who is also my son's Daycare Provider.  I had almost a full skein of Malabrigo yarn left after making my Elizabeth Zimmermann's Mobius Vest.  The color is called Sunset and I knew right away it was perfect for Kelly.  The hat pattern I chose was Lotus and what a fun quick knit it was to make, but afterwards I still had a fair amount of yarn left.  Hmm...what to do?  Pull out my 75 Yards Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts pattern that's what.  I just made it with less then 12 inches left of yarn upon completion!  Oh how I LOVE using up every little bit of yarn!  Both knitting patterns are free by the way.  Here's how they came out:

My mother modeled that hat with the restriction of not showing her face.  Oh well, she is a sport to stop what she was doing so I could take a photo before I gave them to Kelly.  The hat just covers the tops of the ears.  I did 4 repeats of the pattern, but maybe could have done five.  I made a mistake that corrected itself over a few rows, but it's hard even for me to pick out so I think it's o.k.  The mitts came out just fine as predicted.  When I gave them to Kelly the first words out of her mouth was "I love the color!" which made me smile all the more.  What fun it is to give gifts for no particular reason!  I highly recommend it.  

What is it you are grateful for this week?

WIP Wednesday - A Vest

Well, I ran out of yarn for my Hobo Bag strap so it has to be put on hold until I get more in the mail from Knit Picks.  Oh well.  After digging through my WIPs I decided it's back to work on the Wall Street Cables Vest I'm knitting for my husband.  It actually was supposed to be a wedding anniversary gift last year, but my fear of cables and making a man's garment in DK weight yarn stopped me.  

 Please excuse the quality of this picture as it's a photo of a Xerox copy from a book.

Meanwhile, Dan's wearing his only vest everyday, (yes, even in the summer as the A/C at his work makes it quite chilly for my tropical blooded hubbie) and he's getting a little bored of it, not to mention it could use a wash.  So, I jumped in and guess what?  The pattern is pretty simple actually, and the cables not a problem.  Yes, the DK weight yarn still means this will take me a while, but I have about 2 months to finish before this year's wedding anniversary.

 

Above is my progress so far and I am pleased with the definition this merino yarn is giving to the cables.  Why was I so afraid of them?  Seems rather silly now. What projects are you working on this WIP Wednesday?

From The Yarn Stash

I am a knitter who tends to always be thinking ahead to the next project.  Do you find yourself doing this?  I'll be in the middle stages of a project, where it lags the most for me, and will start dreaming of what I want to do next.  Then I'll compound the process by looking at yarn at my favorite online yarn stores (love shopping from the comfort of my own chair) Eat.Sleep.Knit., KnitPicks and Etsy.  That will send me over to Ravelry to find patterns to fit the yarn I chose.  Then looking will become buying and hence the "stash" is born.  So, I thought I would share a few of my purchases with you so you too can visualize what's ahead.

Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace Yarn 100g. 800m. / 874 yards 2 ply made in Peru

This beautiful yarn from Misti Alpaca was on sale at Eat.Sleep.Knit., and doesn't that just explain it all to you?  The colorway is called Pink Flamingo which I found a bit off putting, but the hand painted colors of pinks and corals are ones that look great on me.  It's 100% baby alpaca lace weight yarn that is slightly fuzzy.  Alpaca can be SUPER warm, so I think having a light weight yarn will make it not too hot (my 1st sweater was a bulky alpaca pullover and man did I sweat!)  The pattern I have purchased for it is called Chamomile Tunic, which I will alter by adding long sleeves (this is Minnesota after all.)  The knitting looks pretty straight forward, but I foresee needing some help on the crochet band.  Luckily my favorite local yarn shops, Needlework Unlimited, Linden Hills Yarn and Skeins,  all have nights where you pay for help on whatever project you are working on. What are your favorite places to purchase yarn?

Missing Piece Hobo Bag

I mentioned in my last post that we are going to the Philippines over Christmas, which for me means warm weather knitting projects. (Yes, everything translates into some kind of knitting project for me.)  The purses I currently have are both thick felted wool; not exactly suitable for hanging around the equator. So, I started my search for the perfect bag on Ravelry, as many knitters do, and came across this pattern from Nora Gaughan.  She aptly calls it the Missing Piece Hobo Bag as it is a pentagon with one wedge missing.  The pattern was published in the book KnitKnit - Profiles & Projects From Knitting New Wave.  Luckily I found it at my local library saving me from purchasing yet another knitting book.

 

Here's Nora's version from the book KnitKnit

I wanted to do it in Linen, but linen yarn is rather expensive if you get 100 % linen yarn.  So, I looked into getting a blended yarn of cotton and linen and KnitPicks had a very nice and reasonably priced yarn called Cotlin that fit the bill.  I needed 8 skeins for this project making the purse cost about $24.  Not bad for getting a purse exactly like you want huh?  I choose two colors as the pattern calls for knitting with two strands  throughout.  My basic wear everyday colors are navy blue and brown as I tend to look really washed out and wan when I wear black. 

 

The skein called "coffee" is a dark rich brown and the other skein is called "planetarium" and is a deep night sky blue.

You can better appreciate the colors in this next photo of the front and back pieces of the purse.  I took the photo in shaded daylight (if that makes sense), but it still came out a bit washed out.  This pattern was difficult for me not being an experienced pattern reader so it took me four attempts to complete the front piece.  Yikes, casting on 199 stitches four times!  I wasn't aware that you read the pattern one direction for the "right side" and the other direction for the "wrong side", but once I figured it out it was quite easy. 

When the front piece was finished I noticed I made one more mistake.  Agh! went the perfectionist in me.  Apparently I started with row 1 being the "right side" instead of the "wrong side" which made a difference in the center of each stripe's lace pattern.  It still looks good, but I did correct the problem in the second piece which will be the front.  And since you can't really see both sides at once I doubt anyone but me will know. 

Here's the correct version of the lace detail.

Nora Gaughan did her version on size 10 needles, and even though I knit tight (I got gauge on size 10 1/2 needles) I still decided to go down a size needle so the lace holes would be smaller.  Some people on Ravelry lined their purse to escape that problem, but I didn't want to do an extra step you know?

Strap in progress.  Need to get size 9 straight needles as it is a bit award knitting on my circs.

Now, all I have left is the bottom strap section to knit.  It is only 24 stitches wide now, but needs to be 75 inches long.  That's right 6 feet 3 inches long - yaooza!  I'm hoping to finish this week and get back to my Hubbie's cabled vest as he's feeling neglected.  I'll post an update when I finish.  

But for now, Happy knitting everyone!