OMG It's Not a Bag....

Saturday morning while I was waiting for the arrival of a certain book in the mail, I threw caution to the wind and cast on a Coachella. I didn't have the yarn called for, but I did have this beautiful silk-blend ribbon that had failed to be two different items in years past.

I had to regauge the pattern, which fortunately worked out to simply working the next size down. (I knew I'd have to fudge some of the armhole shaping because of a different row gauge, but I was confident. I wanted a new tank top to wear to a shindig next month my friends are throwing in Chicago.)

Sadly, it was too stiff. Before I'd gotten halfway through the armhole shaping, I knew it just wasn't going to have the drape I wanted.

So what does the intrepid knitter do when she craves a new tank top from this gorgeous stash yarn? She designs one.



I'm just a few inches short of the armhole shaping on the front.

FO: Norberta the Second

No yarn pr0n this week, I promise to make it up to you next week.

I had a bad day at work yesterday, the kind of day where the clock seems to stop moving and you'll just never ever get to go home and have it done with.

When I finally did get home, something happened in the first ten minutes that made me so furious and sad that I started to cry and shake uncontrollably.

It's difficult to explain what upset me so much--I've typed out and erased three explanations now, not wanting to say too much, but not wanting to sound excessively mysterious. I'm failing at both. Let's just say someone I thought was gone from my everyday life is doing his best to come back into it, and there are people calling for me to defend my decision to keep him away. That doesn't really cover it--in fact it kinda sounds like I have a stalker or something, which I don't--but the whole thing is really painful, and the people trying to call me into account over it are saying very hurtful things, and I just want the whole episode to be over, now, and not open for discussion for weeks on end while the angry mob is waiting for me to tell my story with pitchforks and torches in hand.

After I'd talked to some of the not-angry-mob people about this whole affair, I couldn't settle into anything for a while. I didn't want to just lay in bed with my arms around a stuffed animal and cry, but I couldn't concentrate on a book or any of my games. I tried consoling myself with the Knittyboard, which worked for a little while, but I ran out of threads to read.

Out of nowhere, I remembered Norberta. She'd been sitting half-knit in a basket on my floor near the TV for weeks, months, I'm not even sure.

I started to cry again when I messed up first the cast-on then the increases on the first hind leg. I had to start over three times, and that third time, I did throw the needles to the floor in a fit. Here I was trying to calm down, and knitting was only making things worse.

But I had nothing else I wanted to do, so I kept going.

The second hind leg went better. That just left the wings. My redesigned wings are fiddly little things, and I thought I might end up screaming if I didn't get them right the first time, but I did.

Sewing and stuffing went fine-that's when I finally started to breathe normally again, when I stopped thinking about how angry I was and started thinking about the motion of the needle as I sewed, making sure the wings lined up across the spine, getting the shape of the head right when I stitched on the eyes (they're super-glued, too, so no huff about giving a baby something with buttons, please).

I realize now that I made a mistake sewing her up--the arms are folded the wrong way, which makes them much longer and skinnier. But the baby won't know that. If I'm lucky, the baby will wear this dragon ragged with constant love and abuse, overlooking all its tiny flaws...and that, after everything, is what finally calmed me down.

I'm still upset, even now--my problems didn't just evaporate because I finally finished something I'd been meaning to. But balancing that anger with the joy of creating something for someone else, well, I'm so in love with this little dragon right now that I wish I could keep her.

Who wouldn't love this face?






Project Specs:

• Pattern: Knitty's Norberta
• Yarn: KP Crayon in Red and Orange
• Yardage: Less than two balls Red and less than one Orange
• Needles: Size 6
• Gauge: didn't check
• Modifications: Restructured wings as in my first Norberta

The One and Only Harry Potter Post I Will Ever Write

I haven't been knitting much. So sad. The mosaic piece is bound off and partially finished, but I don't know what to do for handles yet, so it's just sitting there. I don't think I've added a single bit to the freeform thingie.

Why, when last week was so productive, is this week so unproductive?

Well, I didn't take any knitting with me on Saturday when we went to see friends in Ypsilanti for the purpose of dinner and a movie. What movie? Why, Harry Potter, of course! In 3-D on IMAX, no less. Only the last twenty minutes turned out to be in 3-D, which is good, because otherwise we'd have had a theater full of headaches, but it was incredible.

This week, whenever I'm not playing my regularly scheduled WoW, I'm trying to finish up a book I borrowed before HP #7 arrives on my doorstep this coming Saturday morning. I was so excited that for once, I would have the whole day off to read--the last two were delivered only mere hours before I had to go to work and yield the tome to my covetous husband--but two weeks ago, my dear, sainted mother asked me to fill in for someone on her Saturday shift. At the time, I thought, "More hours = bigger paycheck, plus helping Mom....."

I only realized my mistake earlier this week. Would I have still agreed to work knowing that I wouldn't finish the book in time, and would spend all of the hours slaving over a hot grill wondering what happened? Oh, probably. But I wouldn't feel like such a fool!

In deference to the haters, who, I remember last time a book came out, spent countless blog posts and comments decrying the hype of Harry, the "poorly-written" Harry, and the "he's just a rip-off" Harry....I will speak no more. I'm tired of defending Harry, and I won't apologize for something I enjoy, so this will be the extent of what I say.

But I doubt, after tomorrow, I'll be posting again until I finish.

Jem! Is Truly Outrageous

Yes, I was a kid in the 80's. I wish that theme song hadn't been so catchy, or I wouldn't still remember it.

Today's pr0n is from the same trip to Nautical Yarn as last week's....it was in the sale room in the back, and I liked the colors, so I threw it in with the laceweight. Not quite as exciting, but it's still telling me it wants to be a cute little evening bag or something...



Berroco Gem, now discontinued, in #3655, Azurite



Wasn't it super-nice of them to slap a rubber band under the label around their ball of intensely slippery ribbon yarn? I think it was nice.



I admit a passion for blues, but I liked this yarn especially because it's blue, black, and blue-green, something I rarely see. Most dark and bluish colorways throw in purple instead of green...

WiPs Ahoy!

I have two WiP bags at the moment. The first is a trip back into freeform knitting, which I toyed around with ages ago, then rediscovered when I got Unexpected Knitting--I had grand visions of using up my stash in some awe-inspiring jigsaw bedspread. Hmph. That project lasted two days before something distracted me.

I started a half-hearted little freeform a few days ago and didn't really expect anything to come of it...I thought it might be nice to add a piece here and there in between other projects, to use it as a meditative object while I thought about new bag designs. But looking around random blogs I discovered the freeform knit 365 project, which I have no desire to join, per se, but looking at those pictures did inspire me to chug along on the freeform bag with more gusto.



The mostly-straight edge at the top will, in fact, be the top of the bag. I plan on making the piece wider, eventually joining the left and right edges into a tube, then flattening it in different ways until I come up with two "sides" I like. Then I'll futz with the bottom.

My freeform isn't particularly adventurous--I always have to set myself rules to keep my projects in line--but seeing as how I am shooting for a functional finished object (a first for my freeform knitting, and say that five times fast!) I don't think it's a bad thing that I'm limiting myself.

The rules for this one:

1. Blues and purples only. A multi is okay if it's more blue-purple than other colors. (A purple-blue-pink-green sneaked in this way. But it's a small piece.)
2. All straight edges--no curves or short rows. (Those, I'll play with on freeform bag #2, if I can make #1 successfully.)
3. Only garter, stockinette, and seed stitch. (Too many textures + too many colors....not so good.)

For my own curiosity as much as anything, I took the picture and numbered the pieces in order...it's very interesting to me to see how it grew, especially because until I did the piece that decided me on the top edge, I mostly determined the placement of the next bit by choosing a new yarn and then seeing where I thought the color would look best.



On to my second WiP, one I am enjoying immensely.



A simple mosaic stitch pattern in SWS left over from Lizard Beach.

I love knitting this so much that I will be sad when it's gone. Mosaics are my favorite type of colorwork--I'd take them over fair isle or intarsia any day. And because of the constantly shifting colors, I deliberately chose a very simple stairway pattern that wouldn't be too busy. So this is such an easy, pleasant piece to work on.

I'm trying to knit up my stash right now--no buying more yarn for bags until (if/when!) I make some money off these things--but when the time is right, I will get more SWS in other colors and try some other mosaic patterns.

FO: The Purple Purse Eater

I've only knit three purses so far since this little whirlwind started, and I'm already out of patience for naming them. My pics for the first two were titled "ruffles" and "cableruffle"--how stunningly inventive, one might say. Or not. This purse is unflinchingly purple, and Purple People Eater was the first thing that came to mind.

I have yet to come up with a naming scheme. Female names are soooooo overdone. I can just see myself at my future handknits shop in a paisley dress and my hair in sausage curls, saying, "This model is Haley, this one Brittany, this little number is Gina..." Okay, there's one shawl designer I can think of who names her designs after their intended recipients, I know this from a lace shawl named "Catharina"...but that works for me, you know?

I could name them after....stars? Vindemiatrix, Alcyone, Sirius? Rock stars? Axl, Madonna, Sting? Chemical compounds? Magnesium sulfate, sodium ferrocyanide?

Enough of that. It's the Purple Purse Eater.



Project Specs:

• Pattern: My own
• Yarn: TLC Amore
• Yardage: Somewhat less than a full ball, though I don't know by how much, since the ball wasn't a full one to begin with *wink*
  
• Needles: Size 5
• Gauge: ~ 4.75 sts/inch
• Finished Size: 8 1/2" W x 7" H, excluding strap

The closure is another of my clever (devious!) attempts to avoid extra notions like zippers and buttons. (No, beads don't count, shut up.) The i-cord loop goes over a little seed stitch tab, and the weight of the beaded fringe keeps the tab from sticking out. It's not a rough-and-tumble bag for this reason, since to open and close it one must feed the fringe through the loop, but I tested it a fair bit before adding a bit more reinforcement, so I'm not that worried.



As neat as I find that, it was actually an afterthought. At first I was going to leave the top open like a tote, but I got out my bead box to do some embroidery, and it came to me. The first thing I did, however, was this:



There was going to be more, and this was going to be the front, but when I got to that point I liked it enough without further embellishment that I left it that way, and once I figured out the closure, I thought that having a corner motif on the same side as a centered bead fringe would be a bit lopsided and overdone. I like the "hey, surprise!" effect of having unexpected embellishment on the back...I think I'm going to make this a theme. When I do another fringe-closure bag, I'll put something small and coordinating on the back as well....

I'm also planning another Ruffle-style purse, except the ruffle is transmorgrifying in my head to a lace edging...we'll see if anything useful comes of that.

Tomorrow, I'll whip out a WiP Wednesday....just to prove that I'm actually knitting these and they're not magically appearing out of thin air, or being ghost-knit by a family member. (Did you see the weird email Parikha got? Sheesh.)

Sitting This One Out

The new bandwagon is passing me by this time.

I've been hip and current before--I've knit a Clapotis, a Rogue, a ChicKami--but I just can't say that I'm inspired to do the wildly popular Mystery Stole 3.

I signed up for #2, back in the day. I worked my way through the first clue with some laceweight I had in my stash...and it looked awful. It was the wrong yarn for the pattern, and I honestly didn't like what I had done thus far. It didn't appeal to me. So I canned it, and unsubscribed from the group, and never thought about it again.

Does the idea of the Mystery project appeal to me? Yes and no. I like the idea of starting a project without knowing exactly what it will look like in the end--which is the exact antithesis of how most knitters pick out most of their projects. I see a sweater or shawl or whatever in a magazine, a book, or online, that I like, (I ponder substitution yarns and prices and what I have in my stash, since I'm on a budget), and if the shoe fits, I knit it. This Mystery is not that process at all.

What I don't like is the suspense. I'm impatient, I always have been, and if I had liked the way the first clue of #2 had turned out, I would have been all afire to start the second clue immediately. You know, the one that I didn't have. When I'm excited about something, I don't want artificial roadblocks standing in my way.

But it's an essential part of the setup, I know. If you could get the clues as you needed them, the individual surprise factor wouldn't be spoiled--you still wouldn't know the outcome when you started--but with thousands of knitters working alongside you, a good number of them bloggers to boot....well, someone would knit the whole thing in a week, post it, and the surprise for everyone else would be ruined. I don't disagree with pacing the clues out. I just don't like it.

So I'm sitting this one out. Let the flood of progress posts commence--for I will, of course, be avidly following the progress of everyone else's little Mysteries. At least half the blogs I visit have mentioned it, so I'll have plenty of vicarious knitting to satisfy me.

FO: A Tale of Two Purses

Blogger won't let me use the title field today....I've read that a few other people are having this problem. WTG Blogger. (ETA 7/10: Though the bug isn't fixed, there's a workaround, and it bothered me to have the titles messed up.)

First is the bag I designed right when I first decided the whole Etsy thing might be a good idea. I was leafing through Knitting on the Edge and came across the Double Petite Bell Ruffle (pg 64, for interested parties). I thought, that would make a cute purse! But trying to describe my thought process beyond that point would get confusing, since I rummaged through my stash for yarn for it and starting getting ideas for eight million other purses as well--it took me a while to actually settle on a clearcut plan for what I eventually ended up producing.

Here she is, lacking a proper name, but adorable nonetheless.



Project Specs:

• Pattern: My own
• Yarn: Lion Brand Kool Wool (body) and Schachenmayr Micro Color (accents)--don't have the labels, so I don't have the color numbers
• Yardage: almost a full ball of KW and barely any MC
• Needles: Size 5
• Gauge: ~ 5 sts/inch
• Finished Size: 6 3/8" W x 7" H, excluding strap

Doesn't she remind you of a dress that a little girl might wear, with spaghetti straps and a ruffled skirt?

Hot on the heels of finishing her up, I envisioned a more demure version, something slightly (if only slightly) more dignified that might be an older, wiser sister to the first one.

Only one ruffle, more sophisticated coloring, some twisted-stitch cables, and, best of all, an improved i-cord binding.



Project Specs:

• Pattern: My own
• Yarn: KP Merino Style in Hollyberry (body) and Elann Baby Silk in Black (accents)
• Yardage: almost a full ball of MS and barely any BS
• Needles: Size 5
• Gauge: ~ 5 sts/inch
• Finished Size: 6" W x 7 1/4" H, excluding strap

The basic construction is the same for each: knit the ruffles and place them on holders, begin one side of the body, join the ruffles to the body with the three-needle joining method, set the body piece on a holder. Lather, rinse, repeat for the second side. Next is the i-cord bind-off, which I did with the WS facing because it looked neater that way....my generally loose tension meant that a little of the body color showed through the i-cord on the side that was facing me, so I chose to have that be the WS of the bag. At two points on each side I worked unattached i-cord for the strap loops. On the first, I merely stopped working attached, made the loop, then started attaching it again...this left a gap that I found less than ideal.



When I got to that point on the second bag, I did a little fiddling, and came up with a too-complicated-for-words method of splitting the i-cord on the last unattached row so that I could wrap it around itself in a loop, knit another row, and have the loop be secure. (It's actually much easier than it sounds, but I think it's one of those things that's simpler to show than describe.)



After that, it was just sewing the body pieces together, sewing in the lining, and knitting the strap. I despise zippers and am not very fond of buttons, so I came up with a system that uses the strap itself as a closure--holding both sides of the loop, plus gravity, keeps the top closed. Let go of the strap, and the top can be opened, though the opening between the strap loops is still big enough to reach into and rummage around in even while holding the strap.

(Can I say the word "strap" any more in this post? Strap, strap, strap. It's getting to the point where it's just a sound that's losing meaning for me. Like the time in elementary school I couldn't remember how to spell "with". Now y'all think I'm crazy, never mind.)

I'm Officially a Slacker

I had no idea I hadn't posted since May.

Let me mollify you with my sexiest yarn pron to date, courtesy of my mother-in-law on our trip to Ludington, MI.



Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Silk Lace 20/2, in Turquoise Jeans




The in-laws rented a house in Ludington for two weeks and invited us to come up to see them. It's a charming little lake town, without the overwhelming sense of tourist-y-ness you get on the shore farther south--I used to live in Spring Lake as a child, I loved having six ice cream parlors on the beach....but still. Tourist-y.

The "girls"--myself, my mother-in-law, and my grandmother-in-law (which is so unwieldy to say! I just call her Gramma too!) --spent one afternoon shopping, which included a trip to Nautical Yarn, a very nice little shop. Well, it wasn't even really little, but it was cozy. We all wandered around and picked up and petted and put back down...I was particularly taken with some Interlacements, but I didn't have a whole lot of spare cash (so sad), so I was trying to be content to look and touch and not buy.

Then MIL said, "Have you picked anything out yet? It's on me."

At that very moment I wandered by a basket holding skeins of laceweight, which just happened to be 100% silk and softer than my best friend's chinchilla....

I have to design something truly beautiful and unique for this yarn. No commercial pattern will do!

Our next stop was a quilting shop, and while I don't quilt myself--I've found that matching corners and getting seams straight is too fiddly for me, and next to impossible anyways--I do love to look at fabric. I walked out with a bundle of fat quarters.



A better look at my favorite of the seven--



Why, might you ask, do I need small amounts of different beautiful fabrics if I don't quilt? Glad you asked.

A few days before we left on this trip, I had a sudden inspiration for potential combination of stashbusting, designing experience, and moneymaking. This isn't definite yet--I don't know if I'll actually be able to manage it--but I'm thinking of selling purses and bags on Etsy.

Things working in my favor:

1. Bags are quicker to knit than garments.
2. While I don't subscribe to this philosophy myself--I have one purse I use for everything, and one tote bag--many, many women believe you can never have to many purses. My mother is a prime example.
3. Bags can be, for lack of a better word, "quirky"....I can make a funky little bag and have it be more likely to sell than a funky sweater. (In other words, some women will carry something more frou-frou, frilly, colorful, or silly than she'd wear.)
4. While I still plan on charging a fair price for my knits, smaller items mean smaller prices. I could spend six months knitting a shawl and try to sell it for $300...or I could spend six months knitting bags and sell them for $35-50 or so. Maybe the shawl would sell, but I'm not holding my breath.
5. Etsy itself just seems too good to be true. I spent an hour reading everything on their site about selling, then another hour or so just looking at people's stuff....I love it. I hope it really is that good!
   

I have knit two bags since coming up with this plan, and rooted through the random FO's I have in the closet and found two other mostly-finished bags that need lining or some such, and two bags abandoned without straps or closures. Pics of some or all of these over the weekend....