purples and red

I'd been wanting to knit a string bag for a while, and was going to knit this one pointed out to me by Chris... loved the solid bottom and that it was knit in the round. Then Amy let loose the sheep of summer with the surprises, and I'm nothing if not a knittyhead-- so cast on for the everlasting bagstopper pretty much right away.


Everlasting Bagstopper
surprise from knitty summer 2007
Louet Euroflax Linen "eggplant," 1 skein
US 4 (2.75mm) Addi and US 11 (8.0mm) Susan Bates, 24"
Started: 24 July 2007
Finished knitting: 27 July 2007
Finished with strap: 1 August 2007

It is super great-- flat solid bottom, picking up sts and knit in the round with a super simple stitch pattern (no need to even worry about memorizing). It worked up very quickly-- I used US 11's for the body of the bag (patt calls for US 10.5), just because I had them on hand. The stitch pattern is even more open with my choice of needles, but not a big deal.



I chose a dupioni silk ribbon picked up from Article Pract, don't think it is a really great choice ribbon wise but love the color with the deep purple of the bag. I was worried the ribbon wouldn't be strong enough to support the bag, so I first stitched a doubled bit on the inside of the bag where the handle would go, then stitched the actual doubled ribbon handle (hopefully for even more support) over that.


(no laughing. i am so not a seamstress.)

Since the inside of the bag, including the stitched part, can be seen when the bag is worn, I secured the ribbon with about 2" spare of ribbon hanging below, and then folded it up and secured that with a single stitch.



Again, not perfect but better than seeing my crazy stitching job :)

I also managed to accidentally crisscross the handle... I got a little flustered sewing this thing on and didn't really care enough to fix it, it's still functional.



It is a functional bag, will work well for treks to my local farmer's market. My bag is slightly longer than the original (at about 11" deep before the top border) since, well you know when you have enough yarn you just want to keep knitting? If I knit this again, I'd not let it get so deep-- it stretches like mad and there's no need for a 2' deep bag :) I knit the entire bag from one skein of Euroflax Linen, with a golf ball sized bit left over. I had hoped to see if "linen softens in the wash" was true, but the choice of silk dupioni for the handle won't have me throwing this in the wash anytime soon.

For things I can throw in the wash?


Zen Yarn Garden, "bodhi" colorway
100% merino superwash, 420 yd

It looks so happy next to my new bag-- all smug and soft :) I won a contest @ Roxanne's blog, the dyemaven behind Zen Yarn Garden's yarns, and in addition to getting to name her new spinning wheel (Bodhi) she dyed me a custom colorway. I asked for a purplish, burgundy semisolid, and it is just spot on to what I wanted :) Thanks again Roxanne-- (she has both an etsy shop and her own storefront, I don't think this base yarn is currently listed in either but you may be able to ask her for it).

Yay for favorite colors!


ps... happy rounding up day! many coliseums to you.

etsy friday

Usually my posts on etsy friday consist of a picture (maybe two) and a little bit of my impression of an item I've bought on etsy. Today'll be a little more picture intense, but you'll see why I couldn't just stop at one.


Small project pouch set from piddleee.etsy.com

Next time you see me, just tell me I'm not a tomboy anymore :) I just absolutely love using handmade bags to house my current knitting projects, and the bags from piddleloop are just awesome and feed that need in me. Bags keep everything together (yarn, needles, patterns, notions), help keep center pull balls from falling apart, and just look better stacked on my desk than 4 wips with needles and patterns everywhere.

I've known of Jen and Wendy's store for a long time-- piddleloop attaches stitchmarkers from "local" (etsy) stores on their bags' zippers, including stitch markers from my store, zeromarkers. It isn't to say I give them to the piddleloop team, or that I even sell them at a discount-- Jen quietly buys markers from my shop like everyone else, and sends them along with her bag orders without really advertising (before you buy a bag) that she does-- one of the little surprises from the piddleloop sewing team. You can check out the post about stitch marker and etsy love on the piddleloop blog (yes, I'm biased... you can see some of mine there :))

Their blog was the thing that had me all crazy about this particular bag-- Jen had posted a cryptic shot of a finished bag and I near on lost my mind with want (story of my recent life). Jen had no more of the loteria fabric, but went on some crazy manhunt and found fellow etsyhead azaleaSTUDIO with a single yard for sale, snapped it up and made this bag set custom for crazy me.

The end.*

Well, aside from the set! :) Let's just sift on thru the pics I've taken of the bag, eh?



You can order your bag with a grommet at no extra charge. I have to admit I bothered Jen via email no less than five times "reminding" her I'd really, really like a grommet... the idea with it is you can knit without unzipping the bag if you like by threading the start of your work thru the hole. You can't remove it (and say, put another project inside) by "tying" it to the bag, but it's just a really interesting idea. For as much as I begged for it, I haven't used the grommet yet :)



Piddleloop hooked me up with this sweet ribbon handle, knitting hands silkscreened on the light blue satin. I haven't seen this ribbon on their bags for sale (yes Virginia, I subscribe to their rss feed)... but in any case its a little hint as to what's inside.

Speaking of inside, let's go!



It's hard to capture, but the amount the bag can hold is surprisingly large. (That's my unfinished Everlasting Bagstopper inside-- a 100gm skein's worth of Euroflax Linen knit into a loose fabric and not even taking up half the space inside). The bag is lined with a coordinating fabric and has interfacing between the layers, same with the 4x6 pouch.

Deeper down the rabbit hole...



Pocket on one side, and...



...elastic needle/hook holder on the other. The little extra details inside make me think this would work well not just as a project bag, but say a notions or a knitting accessory bag as well. I have more than one set of needles for the elastic holder, but the few crochet hooks I have would slip in nicely there while my needle box and roll could hang out in the main body of the bag... my notions box in the pocket. Just thinking out loud, no bad ideas here ;)

edit, 7/27: Sherry W let me know in the comments that her double pointed holders work well in conjunction with the elastic needle holder-- slip needles in and pop the holders over. Really good idea, since I have several of her dpn protectors and just the other day was wishing I'd carried a spare set of needles with me, losing one needle forever on transit and not having enough to keep knitting. (The horror!) Thanks Sherry :)

Since we're already inside and you know you like the up the skirt shots...



...pictures of finishing and grommet from the inside. I don't sew but with anything handmade (like, 99% of what I buy on etsy!) I always am super critical looking at the finishing touches on an item. I don't know what's right, but I can see if it's wrong. The attention to detail and finishing is awesome to my eye.

For those of you curious about the size, a size comparison shot of the piddleloop bag next to the JapaneseHandmadeEtc bag (my son really wanted me to take a pic of *his*)...



They're both great. I can't wait to sew the (bad choice of) ribbon onto my everlasting bagstopper so Hanami can sit in my new loteria bag instead of being shoved unceremoniously on the side of my desk. :)

Besides the super great stitch markers attached to the bags, piddleloop also includes really sweet little surprises with each bag they sell. Also, notice the adorable sheep and horse (?) buttons above from my inside pics? Jen sent me a bunch of these as promos for her store on top of the ones that adorn the inside, so I'll be sending them along with new orders from my store til they run out. (They're all handmade as well, buttons and handstamped promos).

I really love connecting with people who appreciate and "practice" handmade-- piddleloop sources many things from other etsy sellers, writes about etsy and handmade on their blog, and practice it in their products and even their promos. I dig it a lot, and it makes me love my bag even more.

They will do custom work, so you can contact them thru etsy for more info on their sold items or if you have an idea in mind. Very easy to work with-- I appreciate how up front they were about the custom process and how it all came together, just as I'd hoped. Yay :)

You know, I didn't mean for this to be a one-item etsy friday, but it feels this is a good place to wind down. So there you go, have a good weekend! :)



* edit, 7/30: jen let me know that she's scored 4 more yards of the loteria fabric from etsy and can take custom orders for bags in it, and will have some for sale in their shop eventually. woo!

blame it on the weather

For the past two days in my neck of the Bay Area, the overcast sky and misty weather has everyone and everything a little off.

I'm wearing socks with my shoes...



...and my son needs a jacket outside.



I'm playing my milli vanilli card and admitting that I have cast on for a new project...

*

...and that I have a more than a sweater quantity's worth of yarn heading my way, thanks to the Debbie Bliss sale** at Little Knits.

Hope it holds :)


* pressed amber stitch marker from my etsy shop, will be adding round shapes and more of these nugget shapes later on. you can convo me for a reserved set-- very light even though they're relatively large.

** free shipping to US for orders of +$125, 50% off int'l shipping for orders +$150 with "debbie7" code.