And now a little green bag...

...K-BILLY's "super sounds of the seventies" weekend
Just keeps on coming with this little ditty.
They reached up to twenty one in may of nineteen seventy.
The George Baker Selection: Little green bag...


I resisted the urge to bung on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack and start bopping along with Walter to The Goerge Baker Selection as I finished putting the kit together and photographing it last night.

There were some coordinated goodies inside- a needle book and crochet hook holder.


And the kit includes everything needed by a fledgling Agurimuri creator (actually I just realised I didn't include any stuffing, but I think my pal has a good supply of stuffing from the prolific softies she makes). I had fun rummaging through the yarn stash and winding a rainbow of mini balls of wool and cotton yarns for her to play with.

There's a couple of other pics at Flickr.

I'm heading to the post office later today to hand the goodies over to the postman, and also to thank him for being so nice to me this week- yesterday I received some afternoon tea from Nichola (which I'm planning on enjoying for afternoon tea today) and my backtack goodies arrived from Stephanie this morning- ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! I won't have a chance to gush appropriately (ahhhh.... the colours- so divine and perfectly coordinated!) until I get back from my travels, but if you want a peek you should look here! As the Manolo would say, The Diana, she is super excited...

The Husky operative.

I'm still strugging to shed the virus and cough that put me out of action for over a week, but I am feeling much better now, especially since I have my trusty Husky back from the repair man!

I grew up using my mum's Husqvarna sewing machine (circa 1970. It lived for about 30 years, and had an array of mechanical keys that needed to be inserted in the back to create various pattern stitches), and she bought me this one when I moved out of home (I think- I can't remember exactly, but I think it was then). I bought him a friend a couple of years ago- a Husqvarna overlocker, which gets alot of use in dressmaking. With my machine back all ship-shape, and the onset of summer weather, I'd really like to get back into sewing (it gets way too hot to handle yarn down here) in the coming months. But with the deadline and a trip interstate fast approaching, first on the sewing agenda is Backtack.


Sketching, measuring, cutting and piecing- decisions, decisions. I found this really hard. After much deliberating, I tossed out my idea for a big tote in favor of a small briefcase bag just big enough for the kit of goodies that are going inside. I based the construction on the same method I use to make quilted box bags (aside from the handle, which was a bit of an experiment), so this may give you some ideas for your own bag making. My pal told me her favorite colour at the moment is green. Can you tell?


When I make my bags, I assemble the entire outside as one piece, and baste it to a piece of wadding, before inserting the zip (This is a bit different from other methods).


The zip is put in by seaming the zipper tape to the seam allowance of the pieces. (ie, not topstitching it in place. The cream stitching you can see is the basting)


And after sewing together the ends and removing some basting, the bag is assembled- ready for hand quilting embelishments and lining. I assemble the lining in a similar way, with an added pocket and no zip, and then handstitch it in place.

Stay tuned: Tomorrow I'll show off the finished bag and the kit, and after I get back from another work trip interstate (which is going to include catching up with crafty gals Al and Belinda) I'll have some box bags for sale, I promise!

It's a pair of lovelies

My lovely socks of engagement were finished at some stage last weekend have been worn a great deal already, just wandering around the house (strangely Scott didn't take to Jane's suggestion that we wear one each). They’re already desperate for a wash (perhaps that reflects the fact we haven’t cleaned recently), but regardless I took them out to the front porch for a quick photo shoot yesterday.


The vital statistics:
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM Shade P511L (from Al)
Needles: Bamboo 2.5mm DPN's
Pattern: Go with the Flow from Interweave knits
Pattern modifications: I knitted them toe up. And a few other things (read on)

Other comments:
The socks were a process of discovery. I’ve been pondering the process and decided it’s a little like life.

Why? It involved trial and error, experimentation, acceptance of shortcomings and errors, impatience and doubts, ultimately discovering pleasure and satisfaction and a desire to learn more and try again.

They were my first pair of toe up socks, my first provisional cast on (I had to wrestle with the crochet hook because I hadn’t used one for years) and I managed to finish one sock before I realised I was using SSK's where I should have used K2Tog's and vice versa (and unintentional new pattern?).

To convert “Go with the Flow” to toe up, I rummaged through toe up sock patterns that I had to hand, and for sock 1 I tried a YO short row toe from John Anderson’s Kilt Hose and the wrapped stitch heel from that bible of toe-up, wendy’s toe up sock pattern. At the time I wasn’t near an internet connection so I didn’t have an opportunity to review the excellent tutorials from Knitty or Purly.

One side of the heel looked great, so I decided to use the wrap stitch technique for toe and heel of sock 2, to see if I could perfect the fine art of picking up those little wrapped stitches. Sadly, I really struggled with them- it seems like there’s a number of ways you can try to pick them up (back loop, front loop, twist the stitch or somthing), and the knit pickups look looser and sloppier than the purl pickups (which I much prefer). By experimenting I made the occasional knit pickup sit much tighter and flatter, but I'm not sure how I did it.

It frustrated me as I was knitting them, but I decided it didn’t matter (I’m trying to be less of a perfectionist about things that aren’t that important) and kept on going. These socks are totally frog free!



Close inspection of the divine Sockapal2za socks that Siri made me seems to indicate that the difference between the two sides may be normal, and my annoyance perhaps unreasonable.

However I’m searching for other options and techniques to use on the lace-knee highs that I want to knit with the mocha Regia Silk my BP sent me- I may even try knitting them on two circs, inspired by Purly and Nicole, with a figure 8 cast on.

Consider this an invitation for information and references and alternatives to toe-up with short rows!

mailbag

I think I've mentioned that I love the mailman before. I'm particularly fond of him/her this week.

Exhibit 1

From my telepathic BTPYK buddy. How else did she know that shade #84 is my favorite shade of Noro Silk Garden? The cult Dr Bronner Magic Soap (with peppermint) is divine (I'll be using it on more than just my handknit socks!), and she also included a CD which is off shuffling with the other CD's in the collection (or whatever it is CD's do when they get together).

Exhibit 2

Afternoon tea from Kathreen. Such good timing! I'm now convinced that home-made cookies are a vital part of the flu/head cold recovery process, although I'm still far from my usual healthy self. I'm convinced Kath spent the ENTIRE day baking these- so many varieties. The recipie is here. I've already picked out what I'd like to make in return (just as soon as I find some time!)...

Scott's Jumper

I started knitting a jumper for Scott some time ago. It was an illfated foray into my first knitalong- the Manalong hosted by Knit-o-rama. I joined the knitalong on 15th October 2004, and the jumper was finished on 13th October 2005.

Now, many of you out there in knit-blog land are much more fabulously focused in your knitting and I have noted a tendancy for people to whip up lace shawls in a matter of a month or so. I feel no shame in the fact that this jumper took me a year (including the false start with an inapropriate pattern for the yarn), and this is how long I mentally program a large 8ply/DK weight garment to take me. I'm just too busy getting distracted by too many other pursuits to knit more than a couple of large projects per year. If you want more prolific jumper/sweater production you'll just have to go and visit some more productive knitters*.

Although it was finished well past the knitalong completion date of 1 January 2005, it was just in time for a photo session late this afternooon:



The Vital Statistics:

Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, in colour "Emporio"

Needles: 4mm Bamboo straights

Base pattern: Jo Sharp "Sandalwood"

Pattern modifications: Basically I used the pattern for the main stitch and the shaping of the neck (neck and body width were based on Medium size) and sleeve cap and armhole (based on Large size). Length of sleeves and body were adjusted to suit Scott's size and eliminate the feature bands in the original pattern. The original pattern, a massively oversized women's jumper (I wish Jo could design other shapes!), is essentially a straight body with slightly set in sleeves. By fastidious (some may say anally retentive?) swatching and measuring and calcualting I worked out the pattern sizes I needed to follow, and I'm really pleased with the resulting fit- definitely worth the effort!

Other comments:
1. I need to get some better stitch markers. I used stitch markers between each 11 stitch pattern repeat all the way through the project, until the last couple of inches on the back (by this stage, I was really really sick of them, and thought I should be familiar enough with the 11 stitch count to avoid screwing the pattern up too many times.
2. I'm also a bit of a rebel when it comes to blocking: This hasn't been blocked, although the edges had a light steam press before seaming. I consider every wash to be a blocking process.
3. He likes it. Very much. He wore it to work today.
4. Curse? What curse?

*With apologies for linking to the Harlot on such at such a sad time for her.

The Sock of Engagement

I present to you The Sock of Engagement:


Knitted with Koigu Kpppm in shade P511L (a gift from Al), this sock started life out about 2 weeks ago as some late night craftiness in a hotel in Perth, where it coordinated frighteningly well with the apricot tones of the ugly bed linen. But it soon moved up in the style stakes, heading to the Brisbane Hotel for some people watching and posing


while I enjoyed lunch and a gossip with some blogging friends Nicole, Kate and Alison M (who doesn't blog but I won't hold that against her)


Thankfully Scott didn't take my rudeness in dropping him at the railway station in a strange city with the instructions "Catch the train to Fremantle- there's a motor museum there" (while I was enjoying my lunch and gossip) completely to heart.

The next day as we admired the view (complete with bunnies frollicking in the shrubbery and cows in the field) from thedivine little hideaway we'd found near Margaret River, Scott asked me to marry him and I said yes. Big smiles all round.

I was part way through a row on the instep. I certainly hope I don't get second sock syndrome with this pair!

More holiday pics to follow when I have a spare moment.