The Year of the Bag

You know how the Chinese have the Year of the: Dog, Cat, Parakeet, Pack Rat, Armadillo, Boa Constrictor, Agapanthas and Dragon? Well, this year has been the Year of the Bag for me. That's right, it has been the bulk of my knitting projects for this year. And today I can finally unveil the finished products.

Behold, the bags:

Four different patterns are represented here. The outer rows show the four bright and beaded bags called Take Along Bags. Each of these bags were knit using Red Heart yarn in variegated colors. I found this pattern in the Creative Knitting magazine July 2007 edition. I took some liberties with the pattern and added a linen stitch to the section that became the flap of the bag. It really turned out nice. The beaded fringe makes the bag more fun.

In the second row from the left, starting with the turquoise bag, is a row of Amanda Squatty Sidekick felted bags. This pattern is available free on the Net. All of these were made out of one skein of Cascade 220. Each one I knitted I learned more about how a pattern is written which is helping me write a pattern for the kittyghan to submit to the Knitting A Pattern A Day calendar for 2009.

The denim colored bag at the top of the third row is from Debbie Bliss Home book. It is called Felted Bag in the book. I call it a bucket bag by virtue of its round bottom construction. I used two skeins of Cascade 220 to construct this one. The pattern was not as clearly written as I needed for the first attempt, so when I went in to buy the yarn for the project I asked the gals at Needleworks by Holly Berry in Old Colorado for tips. They were very generous with their ideas, experience and suggestions. With their help this bag turned out just the way I wanted it to. I added the longer handles.

The lavendar bag is made from the Bucket Bag pattern by Two Old Bags. According to their website, they call this one a "feed bag" style. They are also the creator of the Lucy bag pattern that you may have heard of. I made the smaller version of this bucket bag from the pattern. It turned out beautifully and was a fun pattern to knit. I used two skeins of Cascade Eco + yarn to knit this one.

Update from December 8th: The snow-ice storm kept me home. So the kitty donations will have to wait or will go to a local cat shelter. Since I spent the day indoors I decided to clean and decorate for Christmas. I had help, of course.

Knitting Marathon

What do you do when you realize that you have not considered a knitted gift for someone very important in your life and their birthday is a week away? It's called a "knitting marathon" and I pulled one recently when I realized my mother's birthday was on the horizon. Here is the pictorial version of panic:

Day One: Have an idea, find a pattern, buy the yarn and cast on (don't forget to swatch):

It did not take long for help to arrive:

Pedro had his own ideas of what should be done on the project when I got up to get more coffee. He thinks the color suits him.

Day Two sees some progress. Please note I am doing this while still attending my full time job.

Day Three: I have the contrasting color stripes working and the inspector is liking the larger size and is in the process of softening it up.

On Day Four Pedro decides that he wants it and "Grandma" will have to get something else for her birthday gift.

By Day Five I am getting anxious to get this done. The toughest part of knitting this was doing the yarn in double weight and my left hand circular tip kept disconnecting from the weight and the angle I had to hold it to knit.

Day Six it is off the needles and ready for felting. Here it is posing with Dracubear for scale. It came out the size of a lapghan.

Now it is off to the washer for felting. Note: since this felting is an inexact science, do not cut your 2-inch styrene blocks until you have it felted the way you want. Then cut the forms and place two if them in the bag, stuffing plastic bags in the middle between the foam to get a squared look for your tote. Then if you want to make another like it you have the forms already built and hope that the next one comes out about the same size. This one had to go through the washer three times before it was felted completely. The finished size after felting was 15" wide, 5" deep and 15 1/2" tall.

Needless to say, Mom loves it.

Pedro got to visit it recently and did not like it as well as he did before it was felted.