India bag is done and packed!

Just in the nick of time. I got all the facing stitched down this afternoon. I opted to just stitch the strap onto the bag rather than use some hardware to make it adjustable. I am so pleased, it is roomy with lots of pockets inside and a soft cushy strap.
So Bon voyage my knitty friends. I'll blog when I get back. I wonder if there are yarn shops in India?

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India bag 2

I'm making progress. The front piece is done. The back piece with flap has just a few more inches. And my good buddy and faithful reader, Char is pitching by knitting the gusset. Wonder what I should use to line the bag? Khaki? Maybe some old jeans that already have pockets to fit with the whole recycle theme?

Am getting very excited about the trip. The passports with visa stamps arrived. We are taking our doses of Typhoid vaccine. And I ordered the adapter for my iPhone charger. I'm taking my sock club socks to knit, and a thick book for the plane.

Departure in 9 days. :D

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India bag

Joe and I are making a trip to India in a couple of weeks and I've been trying to figure out what bag to take with me. I have a large backpack and many totebags but none of them seems quite right. I plan to take my big camera, my knitting, my iPhone and a moneybelt. I'm not taking the laptop (aaaahhh). I'm told there are many Internet cafes around. Anyway, I had these balls of yarn made from recycled saris that I bought at stitches LAST year. It would make a perfect messenger bag. So I started searching for a pattern. There are lots of patterns for felted bags but not much for what I have in mind. So I am making it up. I started with the strap 12 stitches on size 7 needles in garter stitch gave me a 3 inch wide strap. Then I used that guage to figure that 60 stiches ought to give me a 15 inch wide bag. So here is what I have so far. I like the density of the fabric. It seems sturdy. I plan to line the bag and put pockets on the inside. Now the question is, do I have enough time between now and our departure to get the bag done. Or will I be at REI on the last day franically looking for something that fits my idea.
Stay tuned

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Rose gets slippers

I have knit a couple pair of felted slippers for Brian. I knit three more pair before I got one to come out right for Joe.  (luckily one of those pair fit me, so I got some too) And now finally I finished some felt slippers for Rose.  She didn't want the clogs that I have been making so I had to search for a more stylish pattern. I found one at French Press Knits that are just like the flats she wears to school every day. Rose picked out some hot pink yarn for her slippers.  They are knit in sections, two soles, four uppers and two flaps. The soles and uppers are sewn together before they are felted except for the flaps.  They are felted separately and sewn on later with the buttons. Here are the prefelted slippers. It never ceases to amaze me that these huge ugly pieces of knitting turn into something adorable after being felted!

I have had good luck felting in my front loading washing machine, set for a hot wash with no spin.  I throw in a pair of old sneakers for a little wool abuse, then squeeze out the excess water with a rolled up towel. Then I let them dry overnight on the stove (off, of course!). Our old gas stove has pilots that put out a fair amount of heat for drying dishes and felting projects.

 

That blue thing in the back is a small envelope purse I made for an evening bag. I want to decorate it with needle felting and beads as soon as I can get around to it. More photos of that when I get to it.

I went through my old button jar with Rose and we picked out some cute leather buttons. Voila! Here are her happy feet in nice warm slippers.

 

Next a pair for Pat. I may have to make them look like Birkenstocks to get him to wear them!

Pot scrubbie

For years we have used the pot scrubbers from Trader Joe's that have a sponge inside a wirey plastic cloth. They have gone the way of so many of my favorite things, no longer available. Since I already make our kitchen dishrags I was mulling over how to knit a scrubber from old plastic bags. We don't have many of those any more, we carry our own bags. But it suddenly occurred to me to try plastic lanyard.
Here is my test swatch I whipped out before dinner. I knit it with plastic lanyard held with a strand of sugar and cream cotton. I had to piece together a few lengths of the lanyard since our craft box only had scraps. The family will test it on the dishes for awhile and see how it works and holds up. I will keep you all posted.

I'm a Ravelry Designer

Not that this is a huge deal, it looks like there are over 500 pages of designers.  But I think I am the only one with a design for a stethoscope cozy!  Here is the pattern.

Stethoscope Cozy
Yarn: Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille
Needle size:  6 (4.0mm) either long circular or double points
Gauge:   4 stitches = 1 inch,  5 rows = 1 inch
Skill level: beginner


Cast on 16 stitches, divide among dp or ends of circular
Join without twisting.
Knit rounds evenly until piece measures 18”
(or long enough to cover the straight length of your stethoscope)
Bind off.
Weave in ends.
Remove bell of stethoscope, slide cozy on, replace bell.


For those of you who read my blog and are not knitters, Ravelry is a community site for knitters, kind of like FB but with more useful information and connections.  You have a name and a page there where you can keep track of all of your projects, patterns, and stash (that is what we call the yarn we own that is not being knit). Other Ravelers can look at these and this way we can see what other knitters are making. We can share ideas and tips, there are chat rooms and groups. And you can get patterns from other designers that either have them for sale or up for free downloads.  My designs so far are free, they are pretty simple, but maybe over time I will come up with some that are more unique and worth selling.  It took me a while to figure out the process of setting up my design site and uploading my patterns even though I consider myself pretty web savvy, it took me a while.  So come see me on Ravelry, my name, of course is knitwitmama.