Packages Away!

I have been knitting my fingers to the bone trying to finish Christmas gifts.  Every time I think I’m done, I think of one more thing I should make, and it never seems to end.  I still have a gift for my mom and a couple others I need to finish, but they will be sent separately.

I spent most of today taking pictures, wrapping gifts and assembling boxes.  All that remains is a trip to the UPS store and the post office.  Check it out.

Mostly hand made or assembled goodies in those 4 boxes.  One is the baby blanket I finished, but the tower looked more impressive if I included that box. 

Well, back to knitting the stragglers.

Sited: Long Lost UFO

(That’s UnFinished Object for the non-fiber folk)

This blanket has to be the longest I’ve let a project go in quite a while. And even worse, I am making it for the daughter of a friend in Texas who sent me the yarn in July! I had to come up with a second yarn to go with the fluffy pink and purple yarn that was just fingering weight, but I should have done it sooner. At least she should get it for Christmas.

The yarn is Dream Girl by Yarn Bee (Hobby Lobby Brand) in color “cordelia jane” with Caron Simply Soft in white. I think I used 6 skeins of the Dream girl and 2.5 of the simply soft, and the final dimensions are 42″ square. I used a simple Double Crochet Shell Pattern like the Happy Baby Blanket from Lion Brand.

The request came after I made this blanket as a baby gift for the newborn, and big sis wanted a baby blanket after her original one was lost. Hopefully this will make her happy.

It makes me happy to get it off of the To-Do list.  I am hoping to have all projects currently in my mental queue completed before the end of the year and spend a little time thinking about what I want to make next year, rather than the purely impulsive cast-on behavior that has been dominating my knitting for the past few months.

I hope to at least have a mix of planned and unplanned knitting.  :)  I’ll let you know how that goes.

A Horse of a Different Color

A little while back, Larissa asked me to crochet a couple of toys for friends with new babies. The first one I finished right away. It was this dragon based on a pattern for the Baby Snow Dragon by oldbaglady on Crochetville. I added more spines and a pair of wings, and he flew off to his new owners right away.

The second one took longer. I was trying to create an original cat pattern, but finally gave up after every attempt looked more scary than cute. I settled on making a horse, since I hadn’t before and have good memories from childhood of a stuffed horse named Morris. I used a pattern from Katrina’s Crochet Creations for Amara the Unicorn. I sewed the legs on so that they are fixed and used yarn for the eyes and nostrils, rather than glue on beads as suggested. The tail was put on with the same “latch hook” method rather than one tassel.  He will be trotting off shortly.

Other projects are racing along, but will not be revealed until the packages are opened.

A couple of books and the world opens up

I sat down with Barbara Walker’s Treasury (BWT) book 3 last night, and it started the wheels turning. This is the book about charting.

Of course I immediately wanted a digital way to convert text instructions to charts. I found several, though my search was much more successful after thinking to look on Ravelry for a group talking about charting patterns. The Symbolcraft group had a thread on knit charting software that lead me to these intriguing sites.

Jacquie has a great visual chart designer at http://jacquie.typepad.com/Charts/knitChart.htm

To convert text to a pdf with symbols, good-natured ribbing has presented CHART-A-RAMA

And the do-it-all tool that is not free, but worth noting is Knit Visualizer by Knit Foundry. This was recently mentioned by the Yarn Harlot (Nov. 6, 2007), and based on the Demo version I have been playing with, it seems pretty powerful. She is going to be releasing a new version very shortly, so that should be neat to see.

When you think you know…

After 9 years of marriage, you begin to see patterns. You can usually predict what your spouse is going to do and what kind of gifts they give. We don’t usually exchange holiday gifts, and the last gift I was given was a remote control helicopter. Fun? Yes, but not what I would have picked out for myself.

Today Scott out did himself. He has been saying for days that he has a surprise coming in the mail for me. I had trouble thinking what it could be. He made a big deal about hoping the company was discrete, and how he made sure it had my name on it. I admit he had me quite scared.

Then today a box came from Amazon.com. Scott, who was working from home, ran upstairs and couldn’t wait for me to open it. I opened it and I have to admit I was stunned.

He bought me knitting books! And not just any books, but the ones I have been longing for and restraining myself until after the holidays: Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns! THE go to guide for stitch patterns. Just flipping through them I see endless possibilities. This will be the beginning of full on design for me. I can’t wait, and Christmas gift planning is already being adjusted to incorporate some patterns from these books.

He sure teases me about knitting, but wants to see me go as far as I can with it. What a guy! With the pressure he’s under from work, I don’t know how he has time to notice me, but I sure do appreciate it.

Just goes to show that when you think you know, you’re most likely to be surprised.

Making the knitting bag

Here is a preliminary description of what I did to make my knitting bag. More detail and pictures may follow after the holiday. Best to read all instructions before starting.

I am definitely a novice seamstress, so use at your own risk.

Please comment or send me an email (sarah_beckman*at*yahoo.com)if you use this pattern, I would like to know what works and what is confusing. Feel free to ask questions, and I can’t wait to see other people’s bags.

Stellar Babble’s Knitting Bag

(18″ is the width dimension for the fabric)

ed: Requires 1.25 yd (or less depending on width of fabric) each of print fabric and canvas

I cut:

1 18″ x 27″ from both print and canvas

1 18″ x 14″ from both print and canvas (makes 4″ pockets on the outside, if you want them deeper, extend the 14″ measurement 2″ for every inch of pocket. Keep in mind that the bag is 10″ tall.)

2 18″ x 7″ from both print and canvas (makes 6″ deep pockets on the inside)

2 3″ x 20″ from canvas for handles - adjust length to your preference, just leave 1″ on either side for sewing to bag.

To make the outside of the bag:

1. Sew the 18″ x 14″ pieces right sides together along just the 18″ edges with a 1/2″ seam. Turn, iron and sew 1/4″ from the edges just sewn.
2. Fold this piece in half (print side together) so you have an 6.5″ x 18″rectangle. Iron crease as reference line. Open, measure 2.5″ on either side of center line and mark a line parallel to the center line ( I fold and iron there to make a line). Measure 3″ in from un-sewn edges and mark a line perpendicular to the center line on both edges. ( Between these lines is the width of your bag)
3. Fold the 18″ x 27″ print piece in half with wrong sides facing to make a 14″ x 18″ rectangle. Iron crease as reference line.
4. Open and align the center lines of the two pieces with right sides of print facing each other and pin together. You should have a 13″ piece of canvas ( backed with print) centered on a 27″ piece of print fabric. Sew along the marks on the canvas piece to attach the canvas to the print and make the bottom of the outside pocket and corner of bag.
5. You should now have two pockets 4″ deep x 12″ long. Decide how many and what size pockets you want on your bag and sew the canvas to the print fabric as desired. (I made one more line perpendicular to the center line so that I had a 7″ and a 5″ pocket). (Keep in mind that you will have 2 2.5″ pockets on each end of the bag when it gets sewn up)
6. Fold in half with canvas on the inside, align edges of canvas, and pin all layers together. Sew along the 14″ side seams with 1/2″ allowance.
7. Iron the bag flat. (This is where I would probably cut 2 sided fusible interfacing in two 17″ x 10″ squares and attach to print fabric above the sewn line to help keep the lining in place later. But I haven’t done it, so it could be a complete failure.)
8. Now fold the bag so that the side seam and center fold are aligned and make a mitered corner 2.5″ deep. If everything went well, the lines that hold the pocket on should cross at the corner of the miter. See this tote-bag tutorial for a picture of the mitered corner. Sew across the corner ( should be 5″ across) to create the width of the bag.
9. Turn right side out, iron as needed, and set aside.

To create the lining:

1. Sew one 18″ x 7″ print and one canvas piece right sides together along just the 18″ edges with 1/2″ seams. Turn, iron and sew 1/4″ from the edges just sewn. Repeat for the other two 18″ x 7″ pieces.
2. Measure 3″ in from un-sewn edges and mark a line on each edge of both the 18″ x 6″ pieces.
3. Decide the size you want your pockets to be and mark those lines as well.
4. Fold the 18″ x 27″ canvas piece in half with right sides facing to make a 14″ x 18″ rectangle. Iron crease as reference line.
5. Open, measure and mark a line 2.5″ from the center line on each side.
6. Align edge of 18″ x 6″ pieces, with print facing outward, on the 2.5″ lines on the right side of canvas. Pin in place.
7. Sew the bottom of the 18″ x 6″ pieces to the canvas fabric
8. Sew along the marked lines on the small pieces.
9. Fold in half with pockets on the inside, align edges of pockets, and pin all layers together. Sew along the 14″ side seams with 1/2″ allowance.
10. Repeat the corner mitering with the lining.
11. Iron as necessary

Making the straps:

1. Fold your 3″ x 2o” strips in half the long way.
2. Sew one end and long open edge of one strip 1/4″ from edge. Repeat for second strip.
3. Turn and iron the strips. Sew 1/4″ from each edge of the fold and hem. Repeat for second strip
4. Sew a zig-zag down the center of each strip.
5. Set aside.

Putting the bag together:

1. Put the lining inside the bag, making sure side seams are aligned and mitered corners are on the bottom of the bag. (Pat from my knitting group (Twisted Stitchers- meetup.com) suggested cutting a piece of plastic canvas and placing it in the bottom of the bag between layers. I think this is an excellent idea. I would probably cut it 1/2″ smaller than the bottom rectangle, so that the bottoms could be stitched together.)
2. turn it upside down, put something heavy in the bag, or otherwise ensure that the corners are aligned and the bottoms are touching. Pin in place.
3. Although I didn’t do this until the end, this is probably the best time to sew the bottoms together. It is a tricky proposition, but I managed to sew over the stitching on the outside pocket that defines the edge of the bag in order to hold the lining to the bag.
4. (If I had used interfacing, I would probably iron it now.)
5. Fold the top edge of the outside and lining of the bag down aprox. 1″, so that the lining is even or slightly below the outside. Pin in place, leaving a gap for the handles.
6. Measure 4″ in from the side seam and mark with pin ( 4 times).
7. Insert strap 1″ deep between lining and bag, with outer edge at the 4″ mark.
8. Pin strap in place.
9. Sew bag lining and strap together by sewing around the perimeter of the bag 3/4″ from edge.
10. Repeat, sewing 1/4″ from edge.
11. Sew bag and lining together along 4 corners, from top edge to outside pocket to hold bag and lining together.
12. For extra strength, you can sew a box with diagonals for each strap.

Put your knitting in it and take some pictures, you’re done.

I know this would be better with pictures and if I had more sewing experience, but hopefully, it gets you started.

Snow and an FO

Well, it really is winter here in Central NJ. We have the snow to prove it. Here’s a view from our patio door.

I made Scott take a walk with me in the snow to grab a couple shots of his new hat. It is the Marsan watchcap from RedLipstick.net. I knit it from 2 oz. of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair, even though it calls for 3.5-4 oz. I had exactly 1 ft of yarn left, so I don’t know if I can get that lucky again. I used US8 dpns from Lion Brand (set of 5) and knit the Large size (88 stitches to start).

The purl stitches look a bit open, but he says it is pretty warm. I don’t think I would do the decreases at the beginning of each dpn again, since it lead to ladders at the decrease. I haven’t blocked it yet, but it may have to wait until it needs washing.

Overall it was a very easy knit.