The new p-word is...

(Looking for the sock yarn and needles contest?)



...Perdita!


Perdita from Knitty Summer 2006
Started and Finished: July 6, 2006
Schaefer Anne, 7 af (tonal reds)
US 1 dpns (2.25mm),2
6 grams total weight (incl. beads & buttons)
8/0 beads, size S (5 repeats)

Very fun, very quick knit. I used some leftovers from my Evening Stockings for a Young Lady, and think I could make 2 more. I will definitely look to this pattern again for leftover thin sock yarn, I like it a lot. I can see it being a really fun quick gift too. I used 8/0 beads since they're what I had on hand-- they are red with a metallic inside (I'm sure there's real terminology for this). This was my 1st time using a bead stringer (again, lack of terminology)-- it is SO much better than making my own out of wire since the "hole" the yarn is strung thru pops back open and doesn't just get flat to where I have to cut it off.

This was my 1st time working crochet edging and though it worked, my "buttonholes" were a bit misaligned :) No matter, secret's just btw you me and the chickens, kay? I need to learn how to crochet... there's just too much cool stuff out there that I feel I'm missing out on.

I have reconciled myself with the fact my camera (Canon S410) does not do justice to reds without a flash, and then looks... well, flashy. Here's a non-flash (so, no variegation shows up) pic:


good shot of the tiny scar on my left hand, too*

Aside from the beaded cuff, lots of little things around here lately...


Cloverleaf sock, left leaning (PDF!!)


Short row heel à la Priscilla Gibson-Roberts (Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy)

I love her short row heel, no wrap and turn AND no holes (really). I used it in the rpm pattern (thanks for all the comments, yall!)... Purlwise has an EXCELLENT photo tutorial on how the heel yarnovers and stitches are worked, btw.

A German heel on the Opal Krokodil socks...


Yarrow Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. I'm glad I worked the heel for practice and its interesting, but I probably won't choose to work it again, I see a bit of a gap where the work is turned on the short row decreases (more pics if when I finish them).

and a felted postcard, before...



and after.


Felted Space Invaders postcard
US 7's
Knit Picks Wool of the Andes; coal, hush and avocado
chart from knitmygrits

I was totally taken up with the idea of a felted postcard when I saw one on cpurl17's blog, and I've dug the space invaders scarf/chart for forever so it was a logical choice. :) I should have made my floats looser, not thinking they'd felt up tightly in the wash too (duh), but all in all I'm pretty happy. I took a hot iron to it on wool/steam setting and helped push down the edges (the "after" pic was actually before the hot iron treatment). The "card" ended up being about 6x8 or so.

I knit the chart as written, knitting each 1st st for a garter st border. I went and picked up those side rows and knit 4 rows of garter st to help tamp down the curling, I should have done the same on the "top/bottom" of the chart as the colorwork pulled in differently there. 2 trips thru the washing machine on hot with some laundry did the trick, the WOTA felts up well. It could have used another, but I'm impatient. I used a bit of fusible interfacing on the backside to help the card hold some "stiffness" before I sewed the card part to it, I think it helped. It adhered well to the felted fabric, felted floats and all.

One of these days I'll knit the scarf in double knitting, can't afford the yarn I want yet :)

And finally, for all those Smiths/Moz fans out there (who knew there were so many Smiths loving knitters? Or tomboy knitters, for that matter...)-- an incomplete shot of my Smiths/Moz vinyl collection (I ran out of stairs):



If you've seen my sock yarn stash, you'll understand I'm a bit of a collector, always have been. When I was younger, I wanted to hang these up on a wall in my grownup-house in glass or polycarbonate display cases-- I loved the look of each cover. The sick bit is I don't even own a turntable anymore. :)

My favorites are the bootlegs (the idea of *bootleg VINYL* is so appealing to me, knowing what a pita it is to press vinyl in the first place) and the colored vinyl discs-- those ones are mainly imports, except for the purple "tomorrow" Morrissey single.

tomorrow, will it really come
and if it does come, will i still be human?
all i ask of you is the one thing that you never do,
will you put your arms around me, i won't tell anyone...

Oy, teenage angst and the lyrics of *my* wonderful woman weekend.

***


*when i was really young, i remember sitting on the covered concrete backyard porch in my las vegas home, my mom walking in and out of the screened door as she paced with the giant cordless phone against her shoulder and ear, talking to a friend. i had this dog named eskimo (we called him momo) that my dad had found in an alley behind his work at one of the casinos, poor dog belonged in alaska with his thick, heavy coat... not nevada. as my mom traipsed in and out, i decided i needed to "ride" poor momo, who promptly sat down as i jumped onto his back beneath his shoulders, sliding me to the ground and managing somehow to cut my hand. its not this memory that the scar holds though--

i remember, at the exact moment of sliding off the dog and cutting my hand, realizing that someday i would die. that everyone would die, and in that moment i knew exactly how huge and permanent death actually is. i felt for a second a bigness i still can't wrap my mind around, and started crying startled at the idea-- holding onto the dog's mane and weeping into his coarse fur with a bloodied hand.

Felting, part two... mini mitred square bag

I almost feel cheated that I didn't know how fun felting would be til now. I mean, I read about it all the time but I'm one of those, you spent all that time knitting and you go and ruin it?-types, but not anymore :) I still can't believe that this floppy, sorta sloppy knit thing has turned into a tough, thick fabric without much doing.

Started: January 26, 2006
Finished: January 29, 2006 (incl. felting & drying time)
Handpaintedyarn.com - Malabrigo yarn bulky 6 ply merino, US 10.5-11 (Addi 7.0mm) Paris Night and Rojo Intenso
No pattern (seat of my pants, more knitting info here)
2 trips thru 2 entire hot cycles in the washer (15 min apiece?) in a halfed-over pillowcase closed with binder clips and 3 towels that didn't mind the ride

The bag has shrunk from 6.25" w to 5" wide total (incl. a little smooshing, same as pre-felting measurements), the mitred square started life as 5"x5" and is now 4"x4", and the depth remained the same (1.5"). So that's a pretty even 20% felting - shrinkage rate, not incl. the depth of the bag itself (as I stretched it out). To wit, the garter strip that attaches the mitred square to the back flap of the bag was 1.25" to start and is now 1", so again the shrinkage was 20% when not pulled/molded into a different size.

I managed to mold it into this square shape I really wanted it to have (square bottom, square solid sides) by inserting a very very tight fitting piece of crafting foam inside and letting it dry around it. The foam was actually a little wider than the side panels, so a bit of the black back & front panels have a 90 degree turn in them, not the red. (Seen in the peekaboo pic below). I think it would stand on its own, if it weren't front-heavy with the flap. I am personally thrilled to see that I can mangle the felted item into any shape I want.

I do think that the construction also helped me achieve my "squarish" goal; check out the last pic of the tiny swatch I tried and felted along with this one. I knit that one by knitting the sides and bottom panel as one, and adding the front and back panels separately. I didn't block that one using crafters foam (I didn't really give too much thought to it since I don't like the way the red sides and bottom look, kinda distracting), but you can see that it has more of a tendency to go "round" on the bottom, U-shaped. Probably could be altered with foam too, but the lines of the second mitred square bag were easier to locate and mold. At least imo...

And of course I could probably have achieved the squarishness by knitting pieces separately and seaming them together, but what fun would that be (none for me!)

I can also see a bit of the garter and sl1, k1 patterning, but only as bumps and ridges, not stitch definition. I've never seen a felted bag irl, so I don't know if this is common. I actually like it-- the sl 1, k1 made a sort of column-ish ridging effect happen on the front and the back flaps of the bag, and the garter's ridge on the bit that connects the mitred square to the back flap looks natural as it "works" in that direction. So I won't switch up any of the stitches on the final bag (though, just for "feel" the garter feels thicker, not sure how true it is since its just my fingers poking around but there you go.)

I can't decide (haven't) if I am going to knit the straps all the way up from the side panels without stopping, or if I will create a little loop/long bit and attach them with a ring or something. I'm not looking to make it adjustable or anything so I don't know why I'd add a ring attachment but for looks, but I'm going to keep my eye open for something in that neighborhood before I make a decision.

I think the final bag's going to be 3x this size, aiming for a 12x12 flap. The bag I'm modeling the size after is that width but isn't as deep; the mitred square keeps my options closed in making it less so. I cast on 33 sts (k 15, k3tog, k 15/k back -- k 14, k3tog, k14/k back etc.) so it'll probably be 93 sts (k 45, k 3tog, k45) and I'll work the pieces from there. It is kinda deep (12"), but I want to be able to carry magazines/legal pad sized paper in it so... not much option there. Maybe I'll consider a less wide bag. I'll also change the mitred square pattern, don't know what to yet tho. I also haven't decided if I will use a closure on the flap.

First felting foray, part one

Ever since I decided I was going to amtrak it down to stitches west, I've been thinking about what to take with me (and of course, what I want to take home!)

I've been dreaming of hauling home an armload of sock yarn (socks that rock, lisa souza, mountain colors bearfoot, etx...) and thought that knitting and felting a bag may be a neat project for bringing stuff back in.

I dig the mitred squares/domino knitting look and wanted a bag that was similar to the satchel I usually carry-- with a flap closure the same size as the front panel of the bag. I didn't quite find a pattern handy that fit what I was looking for, so I tooled around and figured out what it'd take to make this bag.

Not much :)

Knit in handpaintedyarn.com's (hpy, malabrigo yarn) 6-ply bulky merino on US 10.5-11's (Addi circ, 7mm.)

So, here are some pics pre-felting (I'll get it into the wash tomorrow to see how my first felting plan works). I knit a small, "sampler" sized bag to try and see how the different stitches would work out once felted-- I knit the mitred sqaure in garter, the front and back panel in sl1, k1 -- purl back, and the sides/bottom in garter.

I hate putting pieces of knitting together, I have no style. So I knit as much as humanly possible in one piece, picking up stitches when needed. I knit the mitred square first and BO, then picked up stitches along the side and knit the front, bottom panel, and back all in one piece (sl1, k1 -- back; garter -- bottom; sl1, k1 -- front panel), all while slipping the 1st stitch to make a selvedge to make seaming easier later. Then I picked up stitches along the bottom's panel and worked garter up the side for the side panels (still slipping the 1st st).

Finally seamed the side panels to the front/back panels, and done. Wove in ends (I'm bad at that, too-- no wonder I love socks...), and this is it.

I'm planning on continuing the side panels on upwards for my final bag (depending on how the felting process works out, I guess) for a shoulder/across the body strap. I learned how to knit backwards to try and draw off the tedium of turning after knitting only 4-6 sts (also to try and omit the mess a 24" addi makes wrapping itself around and around in the process). :)

Flat and assembled the bag is 6.5" h, 6.25" w, 1.5" d, with the side panels smooshing outwards.

I'll probably switch up the mitred square patterning-- I'm going to use a variegated blue/yellow instead of the red. I also want to see how seaming the side/front panels from the inside works. Also, I'm not tied to using any stitch pattern (garter or the slip stitch one), I tried the different types to see how they'd felt up and that may change in the final one, too.

I started this idea swatching and tried first to knit the side panels and the bottom panel as one piece (see last pic that looks like a deflated penguin), but didn't like the look. I also knit the back panel and the flap in one piece, so you can see where the mitred sqare "turned" (I was curious to see what'd happen if I did that, killed the cat as it were.)

Anyhow, wish me luck with the washer :)