I’ve had my eye on the Ten Stitch Blanket (Rav link) (or the Ten Stitch Twist) by Frankie Brown (also Rav link) for a while now (and received a free copy of the magazine it was published in when I asked, although it is now free on Rav), but I want to make it in cotton, rather than wool. I’ve been looking to see if there are any nice cotton yarns with long enough colour lengths for it not to look weird too busy. There’s one yarn I found called Ty-Dy, but it retails at almost $16 per ball, which, if I buy 4 balls and then ship them to India, I’d end up with a really pricey baby blanket.

I didn’t particularly want to use kitchen cotton as I had the last time I made a knit blanket, but I realised on making a Rav search that most variegated/ombre yarns seem to be kitchen ones. Finally this evening I remembered I had a giant skein of Lily Sugar’n’Cream Confectionary Colors in various shades of brown (a RAK from a kind Raveller)…and went stash diving for it. Oh the tragedy. I’d totally forgotten that I used most of it to make this:

Boxy lady bag

Which, while it scratched the itch I had to make the bag and use the yarn, totally devastates me now. I feel sure that the yarn would have been ideal for the baby blanket. Sighhhhhhh.

Anyway, since I’m here now, let me give you the details.

Pattern: Boxy Lady by Dawne Evans (pdxWoman on Rav). I don’t think this is available elsewhere, sorry. This is one of those patterns which draw you in with their photographs and prototypes. The original orange appealed to me immensely and the bag has been on my queue since it was published. It was only after I made it that I realised it is a shape I wouldn’t really use. 😦 My crochet/knitting life is full of such inappropriate choices. Ah well.

Yarn: The aforementioned (and now sorely lamented) Sugar’n’Cream Confectionary Colors. The skein had some 340gm, I think of which a third or so is left. Perhaps I can use it to swatch and see if my idea for the blanket will actually work. Then I might look for it on an ISO group or the RAK forum.

Hook: 4.5mm. Despite the fairly tight gauge, the bag is floppy. The stiffness comes from the lining, I suppose. Which, if you read further, you will see was a flop in mine.

Size: About 9″ square and high.

Time: About a week. I took longer to attach the lining (such as it is) than to make the bag itself.

Extra (from my Rav notes):

Easy to make, I almost took longer to sew the lining than the bag itself. I did 33 rows on the bottom and 33 rnds on the sides. A bit floppier than I expected. I intend adding a magnetic closure and seeing how well it will serve me as a handbag. I’m not very confident of the shape. Even the small pocket I made inside is flopping. Ah well, what can you expect from a satin nightie?
I used two sheets of plastic canvas and a sheet of sponge taken from a shirt insert for the bottom, but it is still quite floppy.
I had to rip about 8 rnds on the sides when I realised I was going around in a spiral when I should have joined and turned each time.

For the handle I used a parallel chain cord instruction and made miles of it. I initially thought I’d use it doubled, but even that seemed flimsy so I made enough to create a 4-ply length. I held the yarn doubled, with one strand from inside and one from outside the skein and though I took the trouble to match the colours, after a bit they went out of synch anyway.

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Recently I was sent some magnetic closures by a friend, and interfacing as well. I’m wondering if I should unsew the lining and fuse the interfacing and put in the closures. Then maybe I can find someone who’ll like it better than I do.

The funny thing is, just the other day I was thinking I had made a crochet cord for something but couldn’t for the life of me remember what! The mind, it is going.