Side-Along-Bag..........................

I finally wrote up this pattern. I had scribbled it down as I knitted the first bag and then followed the pattern for the second bag knitted and felted here.

From one skein of Yarn Yard Pencil Roving.



To this knitted bag............this bag has a stocking stitch base, the first bag had a garter stitch base.



Close up...........



Felted and blocking........



Felted close up.................


Free Pattern
Side-Along-Bag: by Gilraen

Materials: Pencil Roving 100gms, 9mm circular needles or DPNs, 4 stitch markers, darning needle to finish bag.
Optional: button

Using one skein of Pencil Roving cast on 13 stitches and knit 6 rows in Garter stitch or 5 rows in stocking stitch, for which ever effect you prefer. Garter will give you a firmer base but stocking stitch leaves a rounder bottom and allows for more yarn for the handle.
Then using circular needles or DPNs pick 3 stitches on each side and another 13 stitches on the opposite side, placing a stitch marker at each corner, so you have a total of 32 stitches.

Knit 3 rounds then
KFB, K11, KFB, K3, KFB, K11, KFB, K3, (36 stitches)
Knit another 3 rounds then
KFB, K13, KFB, K3, KFB, K13, KFB, K3 (40 stitches)
Knit another 5 rounds then
K2tog, K13, K2tog, K3, K2tog, K13, K2tog, K3 (36 stitches)
Knit another 5 rounds then
K2tog, K11, K2tog, K3, K2tog, K11, K2tog, K3 (32 stitches)
Knit another 3 rounds and then
K2tog, K9, K2tog, K3, K2tog, K9, K3 (28 stitches)
Knit 2 more rounds then

K1 casting this stitch off, K9 and turn work (leaving the remaining stitches on a cable/needle etc)
Now knit in stocking stitch for 9 rows ending on a knit row, on the next purl row decrease one at the end by P2tog.Continue this decreasing 5 times until you are left with 4 stitches, SSK on next knit row and P2tog on the following Purl row, SSK on last row and cast/bind off.
Returning to the remaining stitches hold the bag with the flap to your left and knit across the remaining stitches, casting off until you have 3 left on the needle. You can I-cord this or knit back and forth which ever is your preference. I knit back and forth to leave an asymmetrical cast off at the end as a feature, but it’s up to you.

Then felt the bag as your machine allows or by hand if no machine. Block: I used plastic bags stuffed tightly to ‘shape’ the bag, and stretched the handles. Allow at least 24 hours to dry and then decorate as you see fit.

If anyone finds a mistake in the pattern please please let me know, I'm only human. :D

EDIT: I forgot to tell everyone that the creative genius who came up with such a great name was Linz. Thank you!! :)

FluffyKnitting Prize arrived today.........

I won a Prize on FluffyKnitting. Liz the blog owner sent me a prize parcel which arrived today.




As you can see it contained a lovely Araucania Wool, Beautiful hand-crafted stitchmarkers and some lovely Cadbury's. My 2 sons made off with half the chocolate immediately. Thank you so much Liz, it is a fabulous Prize :)

Liz you also enabled me into buying some DB cashmerino aran in Teal at Jannette's Rare Yarns to knit Silver Belle, so I guess I will be joining your KaL shortly!! :)

Monkey Sock Swap Parcel Received by my Pal

This is what I sent out for my pal at the Monkey Sock Swap 3





She got it yesterday and has posted a pic on the MSS3 blog so I feel it's okay to post this. :)

YPF................................Louet Gems

Louet gems hand-painted by CTH in Peacock bought at Woolly Workshop

Louet Gems in Aqua bought at Pick up Sticks.

I love this yarn! It feels so soft and silky amd whether the yarn is plain or hand-painted by CTH it is georgeous. They are both fingering weight yarn BTW.

Micro Monkeys finished.

One really happy customer!! He told his Playgroup leaders that his mummy knitted his special socks for him, sweet or what? :)

The pattern had to be down sized to accommodate the smaller number of stitches. I used 4 DPNS x 12 stitches on each and reduced accordingly. I can give the exact details if anyone wants. :)

EDIT: The 'pattern' was rewritten as follows
I used 12 stitches instead of 16.
Row 1 knit all
row 2 purl3, knit6, purl3
row 3 purl2, k2tog, knit2, YO/YO, knit2, SSK, purl2
row 4 purl2, knit8, purl2
row 5 purl1, k2tog, knit2, YO, knit2, YO, knit2, SSK, purl1
Row 6 purl1, knit10, purl1
row 7 K2tog, knit2, YO, knit4, YO, knit2, SSK
row 8 Knit all
repeat

The rest of the pattern is knit the same as the original Cookie A pattern but uses 12/12/12/12 instead of 16 etc. :)
I have used KPPPM, Interlacements Tiny Toes, Crystal Palace Panda Cotton and Fiesta Baby Boom yarns so far. I have always used 2.5mm needles to knit this sock. :)

Vogue Flower Power Scarf..........................

I asked the lovely Kerrie from Hipknits if she had anything suitable for this Nicky Epstein Scarf in the Fall edition of Vogue Knitting..............and Kerrie treated me to many many pictures of different coloured sets to chose from. I narrowed it down to these 2 sets, aren't they lovely!! Thank you Kerrie, I picked them on Monday and they arrived today. :)

Roving............Knitting..................Felting................Bags

I had long admired the Pencil Roving on The Yarn Yard site and wanted to try it out for a felted bag. This colourway is Jeanie, very appropriate indeed! :) No pattern for roving? nevermind I will make one up. So I do...............here it is .....

Knitted, it looks nice knitted up, doesn't it? :)

The assymetrical flap not only looks nice but it also lets the roving go further. I finished the strap end in the same way...........



The big button weighs down the flap and adds character, though as this bag is really for a teenager I might do a different button, that one is a bit too 'fancy'??


What do you guys think? Would a teenager like this as a Christmas pressie with some lip gloss and costume jewellery in it? I have test knitted up the pattern with a different roving colour, I will post that one too and hopefully get the patttern typed up. :)

Prize package........................

REcently I entered a Prize Draw on Dreamcatcher's Blog and to my delight I won. This parcel arrived beautifully packaged yesterday accompanied by a lovely sweet card.



And the contents were even more georgeous!! Thank you so much Dreamcatcher. :D


The contents included Divine chocolate which is all gone now! :) Posh Yarns Lucia in CanCan, a fantastic sock bag exquisitely made and which will be full up from now on!! And lastly a beautiful and delicate book thong.........for my knitting books? :D Thank you again. :)

Micro Monkeys......................by special request!

My son put in a special request for these, well he fetched the KPPPM and demanded a pair of Monkey's after seeing the pair finished for my MSS3 pal. :) I did have to downsize the pattern to fit the smaller socks and it was more sucessful than I thought possible. :)

EDIT: 25th Sept
The pattern was rewritten as follows
I used 12 stitches instead of 16.
Row 1 knit all
row 2 purl3 knit6 purl3
row 3 purl2 k2tog knit2 YO/YO
knit 2 SSK purl 2
row 4 purl2 knit8 purl2
row 5 purl1 k2tog knit2 YO knit2
YO knit2 SSK purl1
Row 6 purl1 knit 10 purl 1
row 7 Knit2tog knit2 YO knit4
YO knit2 SSK
row 8 Knit all

The rest of the pattern is knit the same as the original Cookie A pattern but uses 12/12/12/12 instead of 16 etc. :)

YPF.................................ShiBui Knits Sock

This is ShiBui Knits Sock yarn in colour Spectrum. I bought it from the lovely Sheri from The Loopy Ewe. It feels very soft, a bit like Louet Gems.

Monkeys finished for Sock swap 3

All done..............first pair finished in months........first FO in months. That will teach me to start new things before finishing something first!! :)

I will be making up a parcel at the weekend for my secret swap pal :)

I also have to Flash my Stash for a challenge on Dublin Knit Collective So there it is, although it does include a few yarn shade cards. :)

Pay It Forward

I've been reading about the Pay It Forward exchange on a few blogs, and finally decided to sign up on Dreamcatcher's blog. Here's the deal:

It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based on the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. You all know I’m already a PIF type of person. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I will send to anywhere in the World as long as it doesn't involve space travel ;)

I have 2 lovely takers Sussexyorkie and Rachel One to go...........:)

WiP......................last kitchener to do........

One more Kitchener row to do...................:)

I won a prize on Dreamcatcher's Blog. What a lovely surprise after a hard day at work! :) Thank you so much :)

A little progress all round.................

Firstly I am almost finished my 2nd sock for the Monkey Sock Swap3 pal. :)




Secondly I completed the i-cords and felted the Cherry B4 Bag which is now 'blocking'



And finally I also managed a couple of lines on my Mobius-wrap....................

I am hoping to finish at least one of these this week :)

YPF.................Skein Queen

I had this Yarn seller pointed out to me by the lovely Piglottie who shares my passion for the Cashmere/lambswool/angora blend that Dee at Posh Yarns uses for Emily. Skein Queen uses the same blend as Dee and dyes up some lovely yarn with cute names. This colourway is called sugared almonds, and I bought on my 14th wedding anniversary with it reminding me of the little bags of sugared almonds we placed on the wedding reception table. I have ordered another colourway from the recent sale too. Remember wearing socks make with this blend is like having your feet kissed and Skein Queen also does custom orders for her colourways :)

WiP..........The Wollmeise Möbius-wrap

I jusr couldn't wait to cast on this, it is now half way through completion at the time of posting this.

The yarn is Wollmeise Merino-Lammdochtwolle. The pattern calls for 3 skeins in Red Hot chillis, Dornröschen and Granatapfel (I am using Brombeere (light) at Claudia suggestion instead. :)

From October Claudia's New online Wollmeise store will open here. In the meantime you can look at the daily increasing number of pictures of the wonderful yarns and colours :)

B4 Bag pre-felting

Held down by my 3 year old, "in case it flies away Mum!". How sweet.....

I've the first of 4 i-cords completed, then I can felt this and think about whether I want to line it or not :)

Monkey sock is at the heel and hopefully the heel will be knit tonight. :) Hi Monkey pals (up and down!!!) :D

Monkey Sock Swap 3 ......progress report

I've got a bit more of these done and have reached the top of the B4Bag. A bump to do and the i-cords and I'm finished the bag ready for felting.

YPF.............Suzanne

This Wollmeise Suzanne Superwash sock yarn.

Wollmeise is opening an new online store in October. They are adding lots of pictures of their yarn in different intensities of dyes as well as all their colours :)

More B4Bag progress

On the last legs of this now :)

B4Bag is ready for beads................

And my beads arrived today courtesy of Creativebeadcraft.co.uk. The yarn is SWTC Karaoke Wild Cherry from GetKnitted.

I do knit, not just accumulate sock yarn :)

Finished one and started on the second sock. :)

Sunday......................Little Bunny Foo Foo

One more to complete the week :)

STR Lightweight in Little Bunny Foo Foo (?a pink version of Lucy? )