Size 13 to Size 1 Over the Holidays

US needle sizes that is -I've NEVER been a dress size one! Last fall, I knit myself a big blue sweater on size 13 needles and realized I LOVE bulky knitting, and decided my next project would also be on those very same needles. For my next bulky knitting project, I decided to knit my husband a sweater with a three ply lambswool I'd spun awhile ago and really like. There wasn't quite enough though, so I spun a contrast yarn using rovings from my ram, Paris. After spinning the yarn, I then chose a pattern, A Vogue classic Men's Ribbed Pullover. Of course, it was not designed for a bulky yarn.



I loath this step of the project: figuring out the math when adapting a pattern to a different yarn and needle size -which is usually the case when using handspun yarns. Measuring from a sweater that fits for a pattern and then knitting a gauge (or two or three) and crunching the numbers is essential for success, boring as it may be.



I like this step of the project: knitting happily along...



...until it's finished.



And I love this part: a sweater I've knit by hand finished, and worn by the person I made it for.



When I finished my husband's sweater mid-holiday, I downsized and knit myself a pair of (not technically fingerless, because they have fingers, but without the tips, so what are they called then, open-fingered?) gloves on US size 1 needles (I probably should have used needles one size smaller) using the yarn from the knitting guild's gift exchange, a baby blue alpaca-wool blend. And my current project? A handbag/backpack knit with a bulky single. I'm loving it!

It's Cold Outside

I love driving our 1970 VW bus around. Kids enthusiastically give it the peace sign and I drive it more mindfully than our other car. It is amazing how much stuff, or how many people, you can fit into one of these, and several bags of poultry feed or a bale of hay easily fit in the back. It is really, really fun for summer road trips, and for taking my booth stuff to the farmer's market -everything fits with tons of room to spare.



Yesterday, when I stepped outside to make a trip to the feed store in our trusty green machine, I noticed the cold was lingering past the usual morning chill and the reality, that driving a VW bus in the winter is exactly like driving a refrigerator down the road, hit me as it does every year at this time. Now, one of my few personal rules for here is no whining, ranting or venting, so I will simply note that it's cold outside -and not just in the mornings.

I went back inside and dug out my fingerless gloves from their warm weather storage. They are perfect for driving the VW bus around and keep my hands relatively warm, but they are not so good for feeding hay to the flock, as you can imagine. They are well received among the teen and young adults, if you are starting to think about knitting projects for gifts -tis the season after all. I've made half a dozen pair or so over the past few years, and will say on the plus side they use very little yarn, are very hip and are a very practical gift (my favorite kind). On the negative side, hands are like people, sizes and shapes vary, and I had to adjust and accommodate for mine to fit some vastly different ones. And then there are all those fingers to knit and join. That said, any glove pattern will work, I just add a bit of ribbing instead of finishing the fingertips.

Finished!

I just finished knitting my sweater and am quite pleased with myself. Paris, whose wool I spun for this, is one of the sheep in the background.

Knitting Project: From Inspiration to Handbag

Inspired by the compost bucket of all things (click here),



and having yarns in my stash I felt were close enough to those colors,



I started a knitting project to make a felted handbag using an adaptation of a basic pattern.



I knit the main color of the bag a lavender similar to the blue potato peelings and the flap a contrasting garden green, though not quite the same as the green of the leeks or tomatillo husks, with a seed stitch border.

I felted it in the washing machine then added carrot-colored embroidery and an earthy-looking button. It's an inspired NOT earth toned, earthy handbag -definitely NOT everyone's style- but I'm kinda liking the funkiness.

Knitting Project: A Little Bag

This is one of several little bags I've recently made from a pattern by Sara Swett in the all new Homespun Handknit, 25 Small Projects to Knit with Handspun Yarn, a book that I reviewed for the Black Sheep Newsletter a while back. Sara's pattern was designed for knitting cotton; I adapted it to use my farm-raised Corriedale handspun. My intent was to use up my odds and ends left over from various projects. I was hoping for serendipitous success with the design, as happened with this first bag...



...but not so much with this one. It looks like Easter with too much kitsch.



I'm currently using my very last skein of natural colored gray Corriedale blended with dyed mohair to knit yet another little bag. I think it looks like our Pacific Northwest skies this time of year. It is a really lovely yarn (if I do say so myself) and I wanted to use it to knit myself a little bag to hang on my spinning wheel to hold my 'stuff.' This little bag is simplicity itself. You knit a garter stitch square, pickup along its edges and knit in the round to form the body, make drawstring holes at the top, then knit 2 i-cords to thread through the holes. You can add any color design you want. The following is not so much a pattern for making these little bags but rather a basic guideline I use. You can do the math before picking up the stitches around the edges of the square if you want evenness and perfect divisibility when making the holes for the drawstring. I used a US size 8 circular needle.

Bottom:
CO 3 st
K1, M1, K end; repeat until it measures the size you want (4-7 inches)
K1 row (this is the diagonal across the bottom); change colors if needed or desired.
K1, K2tog, K end; repeat until 3 st. remain; leave stitches on needle.

Body:
PU stitches all around 4 edges of bottom square using 3 or 4 dpn or circular needles (this is 60 st, 54 st or 66 would be better). Join stitches. Purl one round. Change yarn if desired or as needed. K in round to make body. Purl each round of 1st yarn before switching to a new yarn, then K when 1-2 inches less than desired height (4-5 inches total). I often have to adjust stitch numbers (K2tog as needed) to make divisible by 6 st to make drawstring holes.

Drawstring:
K3, BO 3, repeat to create holes. Next round, K3 above K3, CO 3 above BO st. P one round, K one round until desired height (1-2 more inches).

I-cord:
Make two I-cords of two contrast colors. CO 3 st and K each same length (15-21 inches, or at last as long as the bags circumference), or make one length to double and thread through of one color. Thread both I-cords through drawstring holes. Sew each to its own end to make two continuous loops. Pull alternate loops from two opposite sides (more or less depending on how even your hole numbers come out) to close. Turn the bag inside out and felt it by washing in hot wash/cold rinse in machine with a pair of very faded denim jeans.



I was feeling really inspired with my knitting this morning, making the I-cord for my latest bag while drinking my second cup of coffee. Last night I attended my first Snohomish Knitter's Guild meeting and joined as a new member -I think its going to be so much fun! I was knitting this little bag at the meeting and couldn't help but feel like I was making a stone-ground whole-grain bread amidst other's who were making croissants, souffles, and eclairs. Not that there is anything wrong with whole grain bread mind you, or that anyone was anything other than friendly, encouraging and welcoming to me, its just that the array of fibers, artistry and craft skills of the knitters present there was so amazing, I couldn't help noticing the contrast. Personally, I like knitting projects that require as little math and mental focus as possible. I also prefer knitting with handspun rustic yarns and find immense satisfaction in using yarn that is only a few steps of processing away from the animals in the barn.



In yarn and knitting (as well as in everything else), both beauty and art are in the eyes of the beholder; both are also often found in the most unexpected places. While cooking yesterday, I was struck by how really lovely these colors looked and just had to take a picture. Don't laugh -it's our compost bucket! Kitchen waste discarded and layered while I was cooking: leeks and tomatillo husks, then blue (lavender) potato and carrot peelings.

I'm inspired to create a bag with the colors in the compost bucket, or at least the yarns in my stash that are pretty close. I'm envisioning a felted handbag of greens and lavender with carrot-colored embroidery. We'll see where the inspiration actually leads me.

Knitting Project: A Felted Backpack

All knitters know that if you are going on a trip, you need to take a knitting project, something small and not too complicated, enough yarn so you don't run out, and the correct needles. For our trip last week, I decided to knit a backpack-type bag to felt, inspired by a conversation with my oldest daughter -the one who keeps leaving her wallet in her sister's or my handbags when we go out together -who she said she likes backpacks better than handbags.



I am not much of a knitter, so I adapted a pattern that was designed as a child's knitting project. I was hoping that would reduce the number of problems I encountered, but since my math and spatial skills are less than limited, I still made a key mistake (there is a reason the drawstring holes were an uneven number). I had to change the design a bit for it to work out but I am actually pleased with the end result.



Make sure and use a fiber that felts easily. For this project I used handspun Corriedale yarn made from Kia's wool which felts beautifully.



I just finished it last night and here are the directions for anyone wanting a REALLY easy project.

A Felted Backpack
Adapted from Kids knitting by Melanie Falick
300 yards Main Color (MC) -8 wpi Kia dyed Teal
100 yards Contrast Color (CC) -8 wpi Natural Colored Kia with dyed Red and Purple
24 inch US 10 1/2 circular needles

CO 48 st MC and K in garter stitch until it measured 5 inches. This is the bottom of the backpack.

PU end, other side and other end, 105 st and then K in the round to make the body of the backpack. Continue knitting in round until it measures 9-10 inches.

To make drawstring holes, BO 5 st, K 5 st for one round. Knit next round, CO 5 st above the BO 5 of previous row. K 2 rounds. BO 60 st leaving 45 st to make the flap.

Change to CC yarn for flap (I knit both yarns for one row). Continue knitting in garter stitch until flap measures 4 1/2 inches (6 inches if you want a longer flap and have enough yarn). To make buttonhole, K 20 st, BO 5 st, K 20 st. Continue knitting in garter stitch for 1-2 inches more. BO all stitches.

CO 5 st using the CC yarn and knit I-cord until measured 50 -60 inches. I is for idiot but I always have to look up the directions on how to knit one. You pull the needle through and then knit, pulling the yarn from the opposite side to make a tube. Kids Knitting has good pictures and directions.

Thread I-cord through drawstring holes. Crossover or overlap in back so the ends come out and can be drawn down to attach to bottom corners of backpack. Sew cord to bottom corners very securely.

To felt, wash hot and rinse cold in washing machine with detergent and a faded pair of denim jeans (to aid in felting). Dry flat. Sew on button.