I finished another Fat Bottom Bag. It is done with Classic Elite Imagine and Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille. I took the picture at night, so it is hard to see that the yarn colors compliment each other, but they do. I lined it with a rayon material that I had. It was really silky and hard to sew in, but once I did, it looks perfect for the bag. I made it for my sil for her birthday and she loves it.
I finished one of my socks for my Sockapalooza 4 pal.
I am lining my Larger than Life Bag:
Here is the inside with pockets, one wide one and one long skinny one.
Here is the outside, you can see I put the print on both sides, not sure I like that, but that is how it is going to be, I am not changing it.
I fixed his eye:
Don’t worry, he isn’t going to be a toy for the kids, though that is how his eye broke. Froggy is going to be a gift for someone’s new desk. Froggy will make a good paperweight, yes? I can’t say who he is going to.
Tomorrow we will be having a garage sale. Wish me luck as I am trying to make some money to reduce my medical expenses. Those bills are starting to hurt and are getting in the way of future fibery purchases.
Larger than Life Bag:
Side 1
Side 2
I need to buy some bright fabric to line the bag and am still contemplating on how I will work the handles. I took this picture at night in my house with the flash, so the colors aren’t exact, they are the old cotton-ease colors.
I crocheted the squares using dc, in red. For me, it was easier than sewing them together.
Sidewinders: (I was intrigued by this pattern by other knit bloggers and had to try it. I am going to try again, real soon…really, really soon.)
I worked the gauge swatch and was excited I got gauge. I cast-on on Friday and was addicted to this pattern. I had half of the sock done Saturday and decided to measure gauge, on a whim and wasn’t getting gauge, which is suppose to be 30st/4 inch and I was getting 26st/4 inch. Since I was knitting these for my sock-A partner, I decided I am going to frog this and look for another pattern. (I will post the pics, just so you can see how odd and cool the socks were looking before I realized I had to frog them.)
I want to use this yarn as my sock partner has purple shoes and green shoes. However, this yarn is so busy, it is hard to find a pattern that will work. I tried RPM, but they were coming out too large, too. Though I can easily change it. I might just cast on less stitches on the RPM and start over, I don’t know. I am so indecisive on this and the clock is ticking.
I casted on, and worked up a few inches and wasn’t getting gauge. The cast-on stitches are small, so I figured it wasn’t worth making a gauge swatch. I am this way. I think I need to work with size 9 needles, instead of 7
I finished Creole this weekend. Most of it I did on Friday and today. Although I was able to work on it a little bit on Saturday night.
Pattern: Creole from Berrocco There were some pattern errors (”what from Berrocco??? How could that be?” said in my most sarcastic tone “Why their patterns never have errors…hardy har har…”)
Seriously, what is up with their patterns? This one was obviously a knit translation into crochet as there was a part that says, “Thread end into tapestry needle and draw through all sts on needle” and well when you are hooking you only have one stitch on the hook, so that didn’t make sense. What I did though was sewed through the last stitches in the last row and then cinched them.
Pattern Correction:
Front and Back:
Row 12: wherever it says fpdc it should say bpdc
Row 15: add a fpdc before the last dc so you have 11 stitches….this is my preference to make the thing symetrical on each side.
Gussett:
Option A: If you want your gusset to be all one pattern (the “striped” pattern) then you need to add a row in between Row 11 & 12. I will name it row 11 1/2.
Row 11 1/2: work the pattern as it says in Row 12, but do bpdc instead of fpdc. Then work Row 12 as in the pattern.
Option B: If you want the part where the handle attaches onto the bag to be different than the underside of the bag, do as follows: Work pattern until you are done with Row 14. Add Row 15 as follws:
Row 15: Ch. 1, *bpdc,dc in next st, rep from * 5 times more, bpdc.
This will flip the pattern so the “striped look goes to the opposite side. Then, continue with the pattern and at the very end of the gusset
I added 2 more rows of the pattern so that it was the same length as the other side.
I did Option B on accident and in a way it was nice for two reason.
1. Is that it makes a natural curl so the end wants to curl over the D ring and back onto itself.
2. Is that you won’t need any place markers as you know exactly where the end of the bag is and where the strap part is for your strap.
Hook: Size G
Yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed - colorway Earthy Brown
**about the yarn…I LOVE it! I love this color. The brown is such a delicious chocolate brown and it has specks of “fall” in it. I wish I had a sweater in it, but chunky yarn on chunky gal…just doesn’t mix.
The strap is a cheap belt I bought at Walmart and cut. Oh…and the bag is rigged right now as I didn’t have D rings, so I used large safety pins and slip stitched it all together for pictures. I am very happy with it. Even though the pattern had some errors it is a nice pattern and I enjoyed it.
Here is a picture of the row counter that Kayt made for me. She used malachite. It is absolutely gorgeous. She has an Etsy store. Thanks Kayt! It is gorgeous!
***All pictures are clickable…
Both…I am fighting a sinus infection. My thyroid still isn’t making enough hormone so I just got a higher dosage and hopefully that will help increase my energy. I am up to 150mcg and that seems like a lot considering I still have a thyroid.
I have made a few things, but can’t show them here…because you know, Christmas is around the corner. If you are part of the Fiber Freaks bulletin board I have been posting pictures there. Anyone who is a knitter, crocheter, weaver, or spinner is welcome to join. Our KAL’s and CAL’s are hopping!
I am almost done with Brea Bag. In fact, I am finished with the knitting, just need a button, a leather strap, and fabric for the lining. This bag really doesn’t need lining, but I think I am going to do it because I am getting better at lining and so the bag will last longer.
I used Cascade Sierra (cotton wool blend) double stranded and size 9 needles. It was hard to get good pictures of the deep navy blue color and the detailed cable and stitching. However, this yarn is perfect and the bag turned out way better than I had expected.
I didn’t do the reverse sc as the pattern suggested, instead did regular sc. I tried the crab stitch, but it didn’t look very good, kind of sloppy with this yarn. The regular sc border looks very neat.
I really enjoyed the pattern. It took me 3 days to make it. One day for each side and one day to knit the gusset, which is roughly 34 inches…or more, I don’t know, didn’t measure the final piece.
The socks are knit with Patons SWS in natural earth colorway. I really liked the socks that AJ made and so decided to make myself a pair. I used this pattern (warning, pdf) Easy Worsted Weight Socks. I used size 8 dpn’s.
The socks are a bit big, but I think of them as “slipper socks.” They will be perfect when I go visit my parents at the coast and need a warm fuzz pair of socks to put on. They are thick enough where walking around the house with them on will not put holes in them.
I am still trying to finish my Trekking socks, a drop stitched scarf and a few other random projects.
I am so happy with this. There are so many firsts with this bag. First time using Gentian violet as a yarn dye. First time lining a bag. First time putting grommets on anything. First time putting on a magnetic clasp.
I was going to take pictures as I went along my merry way with this bag, but really it was trial and error.
Error #1 was the first lining I sewed up was too small. I don't know how my measurements were off, but after closer realization, my bag was bigger than I had originally measure.
The second lining I sewed up was…of course…too big. I took in the seams of it by 1/4 inch on each seam and then it was just right. I felt like Goldilocks for a minute.
(Kind of like when I dyed it…first time (after fulling)…bad…second time, too red…third time, just right…)
I put the felted bag inside the inside out lining and then sewed around the top leaving about 3 inches open on the top. Boy, I could have used 5 inches. I had this "a ha" moment as I was wrestling a 1/4 inch thick felted bag through the tiny hole. Seams did rip, but in the end, it was okay. I admit I help my breath for a second.
What I then saw was wonderful purple bliss. I was so happy with the lining of the bag. I then had to go to Walmart to buy some of that plastic canvas stuff so I could fit the magnetic claps on to it, like this. I sewed the plastic canvas with some wool onto the inside of the felted bag, without popping out to the other side. It worked great and really is only enough for support.
Then, I top stitched around the top of the bag, closing the open seam. I used a long large knitting needle and some scissors to make holes along the side of the bag and then used grommets, the grommet tool, and a hammer to put in the grommets. This really was easier than it sounded. Of course, Tony had to do the hammer thing. You all know I can swing a hammer (I use to do some roofing jobs in college.) Just realize he felt he needed to be a part of that.
After the grommets, I cut the leather and braided it. Then, the little bag…I sewed ribbon to the top of the bag, making a casing and threaded another ribbon under it and added some beads to it, making it a little drawstring pouch.
This bag, though I really wish I could keep it, will be auctioned off on Friday at my mother's club to benefit the local children's crisis center. It will be done like a chinese auction, where people tickets and then they put their ticket with the item they want to win. Then there is a drawing for each item. So, the bag will not go for a specific dollar amount, but will still benefit the charity and I think that someone will really enjoy the bag. (Is it wrong for me to put my ticket to get drawn for the bag?)
Today was a great day. Thank you for all of your birthday wishes. I wore my birthday tie-dye, which is a bright tank top that I wear every year on my birthday. Tony made me an awesome dinner and a cake. Look at this cake! This is the first time he ever baked a cake.
Sierra helped with some of the decorations. I don’t know about you, but my first cake looked nothing like this. This is the first time in the 8 years that we have been together that he baked me a birthday cake. He really made today a special day for me.
I finished crocheting a bag. This time I got the straps on in the right spot. I really like the shape of this bag. 
Here it is fulled. I couldn’t get it to felt anymore and the strap is a little too long. I will try to felt it one more time. I made this for a friend, so am hoping that if she doesn’t like the strap she can cut it and then sew it back on so it is a good length for her. It is a belated baby gift and I thought would be a nice diaper bag…or in her case…carry her yarn and some diapers bag. Either way, I hope she likes it. It is from the yarn Deneen sent me and was dyed with easter egg dye. I noticed in the felting process the colors became lighter. This is the first time I have had that happen, but most of my dyeing has been with Kool-Aid, not food coloring. I still like the results.
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