Archives for June 2007

When the temperature starts to rise, one starts to think of ways to cool off.

As one who is fiber obsessed, I start to see clear, fresh water in my yarn.

Happy Fiberlicious Friday!  The roving that I spun the yarn from was Pippikneesocks, merino/tencel in color Choco Bird, purchased from Scouts Swag.

I’ve been continuing to knit my Icarus, but it doesn’t make for very exciting blog posts.  To keep myself, and hopefully my readers interested, I whipped up another handspun pouch.

This one is knit from my earliest  spinning.  Spinneret introduced me to a kind and generous bunch of knitters and spinners who helped me with my drop spindle.  They also gave me bits of fiber to try.  I spun them all together and found the results quite charming. 

A few posts back when I showed the first of these bags that I made, along with a description of how to make one yourself, a number of people asked if the lining goes all the way to the bottom.  Yes, it does.  I find that fully lining knit bags helps with stability.  You don’t want your hard work stretching out of shape when you fill it with your latest sock project.

In other news:

• If you haven’t read Aija’s post from today, go over and read it.  She has some great etsy links, and pretty much sums up how I feel about etsy. 
• I got an e-mail earlier in the week that one of my photos had been chosen from Flickr for Darius’s COLORlovers blog.  This looks like an inspiring resource.  Go check it out.
• Isn’t it fun the Megan and Ashley picked the same yarn for their Fiberlicious Friday posts?  Each has their own beautiful interpretation of the yarn.

. . .writing this post.  I’ve got so much to do today, but I couldn’t resist showing you this gorgeous yarn that I got from the Plucky Knitter.  Besides, Megan started the wonderful Flickr group this week.  I love an excuse to show off pretty yarn!  She also urges us to flash a bit of yarn on "Fiberlicious Friday", but I didn’t have time yesterday.

The colorway is "Black Watch Plaid".  It’s a single ply sock yarn.  I can’t wait to give it a try.  My favorite size one sock needles are tied up in another project right now though.  So this yarn will have to wait.

. . . and on a completely different topic:

Who can resist pirate bandages?  Especially when they give you a little ducky with an eye patch!

Just because a knitter has a closet full of project bags, she should never hesitate to make another.  After all, they use up small bits of hand spun yarn very nicely.  Let us also not forget that multiple project bags mean that multiple projects will be accommodated.

I made this one from the Pigeon Roof Studios roving that I spun a few weeks back.

I knit it a few days after posting the photo of the yarn.  I has just taken me this long to get around to sewing the lining in.

I found the linen fabric at Purl Patchwork – the little blue cotton print was in the fabric stash.

It is easily tied to a belt loop for carefree knitting while in cafes or waiting in the grocery line.

I cast 4 stitches on a set of US size 8 DPN’s and knit in the round, increasing 4 stitches in each alternate round. (Oops, sorry! Your bag won’t have a flat base if you increase on alternate rounds, do it every round!)  Once the base was the desired size, I switched over to a circular and used the magic loop method, knitting until the sides seemed to be a respectable height.   An i-cord bind off was used for the top edge.  Finally there was a good dunk in a bath of Soak for some wet blocking. 

I let the whole thing sit around the house for a few weeks, then sewed a lining and made an i-cord drawstring with some leftover sock yarn.

Finished dimensions:

Diameter of base – 5"
Height of the sides to the i-cord bind off – 6 1/2"
Overall height – 11"
Length of i-cord drawstring – 26"

I mentioned in my last post that I not a monogamous knitter.  Quite the contrary, I am rather promiscuous when it comes to my projects.  Take my latest finished project for example.  It is the knitting equivalent of a weekend fling.

It was all about the yarn for me.  I fell in love with the rich color of  this Alchemy Bamboo when I saw it at Modern Yarn.

I knew it had to be knit into something fairly simple to show off the subtle variations in the magenta yarn. 

Amy Singer’s Montego Bay Scarf, from the Summer Interweave presented itself as the perfect choice.  I love the way the pairing of the bamboo yarn and the open stitch pattern creates a very drapey scarf.  The addition of a bit of fringe gives it sass.

DD#2 gives it attitude.

Montego Bay Scarf
Designed by Amy Singer, Interweave Summer 2007
Yarn:  Alchemy Bamboo; color Aubergine
Needles:  US #8 Knitpicks Options
Changes:  I added a three stitch garter border to the edges to help ward off rolling edges.
Amy braids the fringe in the pattern, I’m not sure if I’m going to do this or not.  I really like the movement of the fringe as it is now.  Perhaps if it starts to get a little ratty I’ll braid.

Two more days of school.  Then SUMMERTIME!!!!!