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A simple cabled hat also using magic looping.
Specs, quickly, since it only took me a three-four hours to knit.
Yarn: The same Shepherd Cynthia Helene that I won from Nona when she was giving away some of her stash last year. Still some left over, which I’m hoping will make some socks or booties or mittens.
Needles: Denise #8/5mm with magic loop from this site. Nothing to it! Cabling with a needle, not without.
Pattern: Hey Julie’s pattern, the one with 10 cables. I preferred how it looked to the 5 cable one.
Time: 3-4 hours.
Size: 8.5″around (about 19″ circumference, which makes it giant-baby-head size, but that’s okay, I think. My friend can wear it otherwise. 🙂
Extra: #1 Not much! Law & Order: SVU coming up, gotta run.
Here’s Teddy in the meantime.
Thank you everyone for your responses so far on my sappy (soppy? sloppy?) question in my last post. Let me be clear, I am not at all the sort of person to keep it all in, as those who have known me for any length of time will testify. Rather the opposite, frequently latching on to unsuspecting passersby to upchuck all my current troubles. Oops.
But sometimes no one is handy, or you feel you need to give your current recipient a break. Or sometimes it just feels as though things are the same, although troublesome. Then I feel like I need a Scream Room™. Do you have one? Or any personal space where you know you won’t be disturbed (intruded upon)? Let me know.
Meanwhile, here is a bag I rescued from UFO-dom and finished to send off to my Crochetville Notions Swap partner. This picture was taken with my last bookhaul in it. Amazingly, both of us have received our packages intact and promptly. Only, mine has gone to Hyderabad in anticipation of our moving from here. So no pics.
And guess what? The husband’s transfer has been deferred indefinitely for two months. The boss at the other place, who was on leave until a couple of days ago, returned to office and realised he’d lose his deputy if the transfer went through (the husband is too junior to fill that particular position). So they’ve asked for a postponement of the move until they figure out what to do about a deputy. Ha. Suspended animation. It’s nice, have you ever tried it? Anyhow, I present to you, The Frugal Bag.
This was a pattern from Frugalhaus.com, but I can’t find it there now. Googling produced a pdf link whose legality I’m not confident of.* Since I forgot to measure this before sending it off in the Crochetville Notions Swap, let’s get the details in an ugly format. The yarn was GUM and unknown (probably RHSS) purple, with Denise 10 1/2 circulars. I started this bag so long ago, I don’t even remember when. Some time last year. Nice and sturdy. For the bottom, instead of using the garter stitch recommended, I used linked dcs (US) (this link shows a linked treble (US) but the principle is the same). Also try this Crochet Me tutorial. The stitch produces fewer holes than simple dc (US).
You could use either of the bag’s sides (inside or out) and in fact the stockinette side looked interesting, like fairisle or something. However, the purl ridges defining the sides weren’t clear enough so I turned it this side out (according to the original pattern). And now the sides of the bag are well-defined. Ugly but functional. That’s me 😀
* ETA: Heather very nicely found me the link to the pattern from archive.org. Thank you, Heather!
Almost a year ago now, I inflicted myself on Secret Pal 8 (or was it 7?). I never heard from my downstream partner whether she even received the stuff I sent or if she liked it, but my upstream was a darling! I got lovely lovely things from her, which I still take out to pet and inhale, and finally decided to do something with (I have a UFO with some of the yarn she sent, but more of that some other time). This was some 50% silk, 50% wool yarn she hand-dyed just for me.
It occurred to me that this yarn might be nice for socks. So I wound it up and set off. I cast on 68 stitches (!!!, who, me swatch?) and found it was too big, so I frogged, and cast on 56 and went up to this:
The striping was fascinating, but the fit was unfortunately off, yet again. It was too big even for the husband. I was using dpns in size 3 mm because I have 4 of them and the only smaller size set I have (which seems pretty small) has only 3 needles. Waah! So, could I possibly knit socks on just 3 dpns? I do not have any implements smaller than this, unless you count crochet hooks, tapestry/sewing needles and safety pins. It appears I have the following options: (click to read the whole sorry tale)
Well, sort of. I took some very bad pictures (are there any other kind I can take?) of a cardigan I made for my niece when she was born, as well as a UFO I finished and gave her in my recent trip to Hyderabad. (Yes, I’m back now in Vizag.) First up, we have the cardigan:
And here are the details.
Yarn: Acrylic from the Munirka market in Delhi. Look at my list of yarn stores in India for the exact address. The link is over on my sideboard.
Needles: Who remembers? I made it in 1998! Probably 3.75 or 4.00 mm
Pattern: Fleisher pattern book from the 1960s, it was my mom’s but I have had it now since 1998 (or earlier) since she stopped knitting.
Time: It was a labour of love. I don’t have the faintest idea now how long it took. As usual I didn’t have the time to find nice buttons for it.
Size: Totally forgot to measure it
Extra: #1 What a pathetic set of specifications I’ve given! Might as well not have written anything down. I have better (somewhat) specs for the next project, I promise!
#2 This was in the days when I used to twist my knit stitches (by knitting them through the back leg). I found the mini-cables hard going, I remember.
Next up we have the bag I finished from my mountain of UFOs.
Specs:
Yarn: Mainstays from Walmart (I don’t remember now who sent it to me). Two strands held together.
Needles: I am growing old. But perhaps they were my favourite size, 4.5 mm (or should that be 3.75?)
Pattern: Coats & Clark free pattern (Mine is supposed to be the blue bag)
Time: It was a UFO! The longest part was actually making the handles (strips of hdc) and deciding on and sewing the zip for closure. I’d actually bought the zip ages ago.
Size: 9″ x 9.5″
Extra: #1 I wish I had better options for handles than the tacky round plastic ones (or the tackier odd-shaped steel ones). I should have explored stores in Hyderabad, but what with the auto strike and the absent driver and various other distractions, I didn’t. Thankfully my niece isn’t very discriminating in her taste yet.
#2 The bag isn’t lined either.
#3 If you click through, you’ll find a couple more pictures of the bag in my Flickr photostream.
Right now I have no mojo. I badly want to have something going but have been in a sort of depressed state the past few days. Let’s see.
Next up, I’ll do another post rounding up the books I’ve read between my last book report and now.
Fun fur and four hours, and we have a purse for a feisty 3-year-old. That is why I never despise fun fur. HDC around a base chain without increasing, as long as you like it, then crochet on the handle. The yarn is from Vardhman (held together with Knit Ezee also from Vardhman and I picked up in Shillong) that Jaishree sent me. Simple closure with a loop and button. I gave her elder sister the blue bag I made last June. Girls are fun. You can actually make things for them.
Books
I’m still in Hyderabad and bingeing on books whenever I can. Finished Donna Leon‘s A Sea of Troubles (which I found less enjoyable, maybe a bit grim) and Ruth Rendell‘s End in Tears (no disappointment there, I actually watched the BBC(?) Wexford series before I ever read any of hers). I also finished Reginald Hill‘s On Beulah Height. I realised I’ve read Hill before, didn’t register at first. It was the book told in first person or has he written more than one?
Bought a Lawrence Sanders (not Archy McNally, but something else) The Case of Lucy Bending. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I’d been expecting and I’m leaving it unfinished. I do like the McNally ones, they seem like a combination of Wodehouse (Wooster-like character) and Blyton (food descriptions).
Yesterday I had to fall back on re-reading one of my favourite writers, Georgette Heyer, a hardback omnibus with Arabella, Bath Tangle and The Nonesuch. Most of my Heyers are secondhand paperbacks and in dire condition. But this one (although secondhand) is in good condition. Unfortunately, my hardback omnibus of Dick Francis got eaten by termites in Bombay 😦 All of his books are secondhand ones, too, picked up at the Abids Sunday market, Daryaganj on Sunday or Vasant Vihar any day in Delhi, Churchgate in Bombay (alas, the hawkers have been kicked out now) and any other likely place.
I washed some stuff I made for my sister’s kids yesterday and might have one or two previously unseen objects over the next few days.
I’ve come to Hyderabad and am going to meet some friends. There’s a kid’s birthday party today, so I finally added buttons to the spike stitch cardigan, as well as a bottom and seams to the self-lined purse that was mostly done last year, begun in June! That’s a couple more UFOs down. I’ve promised myself my luggage going back to Vizag will be lighter (got a few more things to make on my list).
Pattern details:
Yarn: Local acrylic, partly from Begum Bazaar in Hyderabad (purple), and partly from Shillong (white).
Hook: Dang. Crystalite orange…5.50 mm
Pattern: Bernat
Time: Not too long, actually, might add up to a couple of days.
Size: 28″ around and 14″ long. I’m hoping it will fit my friend’s toddler.
Extra: #1 The pattern has you make the back and the front pieces separately. I started off that way, but decided to frog and redo the entire body in one piece up to the armholes, then finish the back and fronts individually. That sort of ensured I’d actually finish the thing. I just added the different stitch counts together.
Now the other UFO (this is more of a UFO than the cardigan, really). The self-lined bag had been finished bar the seaming and sewing the button. So naturally I dawdled. Now I want to give this to the same friend with the birthday kid, so I finished it last night. I hope she likes it. It looks a bit homemade…
Pattern details:
Yarn: Unknown acrylic, probably RH or Mainstays, that I got in a recycling contest from Crochet Partners.
Needles: 3.75 mm Pony circulars
Pattern: Lion Brand
Time: Six months? (ouch!)
Size: 6.5″ x 3″ x 10″ Pretty much close to the size in the pattern. Wow!
Extra: #1 Used plastic canvas to line the bottom.
#2 Seaming is horrible, as usual.
#3 In a masochistic mood, I decided to do the I-cord on DPNs as recommended by the pattern, rather than use my trusty knitting knobby. Shudder. Unsurprisingly, it took me ages to reach the target of 20 miles 45″.
In book news (I always go berserk reading when I come here), I bought myself Alexander McCall Smith’s The Sunday Philosophy Club, my first Isabel Dalhousie book. I’ve read his 44 Scotland Street and The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and liked both. But I’m saving this book up to read on the journey back or in Vizag. Instead, I’ve been reading some books borrowed from the British Council Library.
I read Donna Leon‘s Uniform Justice and found a gem in it about mothers-in-law. Unfortunately, I forgot to jot it down, but it seemed so apt. I find the attitudes of the Italians as described by Leon very similar to Indian attitudes. The way corruption is tolerated, accepted as a fact of life, the view taken of policemen and politicians and the inter-city prejudices. I’ve always liked the Italians for the two-governments-per-year policy they appear to have 😀 They’re fun and goodlooking! And I found Italian easiest to learn of all the foreign languages I’ve learnt. Plus I admire the ancient Romans, too (for their engineering and architecture). No idea why an American writer living in Italy has books in the British Library, though.
I finished Ruth Rendell‘s To Fear a Painted Devil, which is a murder mystery (as opposed to some of the psychological thrillers Rendell has written). Vintage, although not an Inspector Wexford story. Nobody can beat British women writers of mystery. In English, anyway.
Now I’m reading another Leon, Death at La Fenice. It’s taking me somewhat longer to read these books than it used to, because of so many diversions and the crafting and shopping and things in the background (like kids being shouted at, the TV and radio). Ah well. It isn’t a race 🙂
Yes! I’ve actually started a sock!!!! I’m using Wendy Johnson‘s Generic Toe-up pattern with Paton’s Kroy yarn and Pony 2.75 mm dpns (set of 4). The reason I’m showing it here is because I don’t know if I will ever finish it. It is a bit loose on my foot, apparently I should have cast on 56 stitches, not 64 for my foot size. But I’m thrilled to see it looking like a sock. Also, the pattern calls for 5 dpns and I’m fudging it by cramming half the stitches on one instead of two dpns.
I’m always in awe of the sockknitters who seem to borrow a toe from here, a heel from there, a stitch pattern from elsewhere and a yarn at random and then magically produce beautiful, perfectly fitting masterpieces. Amazing. And as someone I know would say, “Awwwwwwwesommmmmme”!
Being of uncertain fate, here are a few more pictures of the selfsame sock:
Enjoy them, you may never see the finished product!
Well, at least the purse he designed 😉
I needed quick gratification, and have been dying to try my hand on this purse ever since Drew unveiled it a few days ago. Although I had promised myself that I would finish some other stuff first, I couldn’t resist this and cast on for it two nights ago. Finished it yesterday. Very nice and easy. The yarn is so nice and soft and probably deserved to be made into something worn next the skin (it is 50% merino and 50% acrylic and so soft!) but woolly things being little required in these parts, purse it became.
For the cord I used the Lobster stitch, and it is a bit too thick for the purpose, so I am now making the Parallel Chain cord found at the same tutorial for a thinner cord. The handle was supposed to be a knitted I-cord, but I cheated and used my trusty I-cord maker instead and whipped it up much faster than I would have on needles.
Here are the details:
Yarn: GGH Aspen in shade 39, mauve. The colour is showing correctly on my monitor. I used a bit less than one skein for the purse body. The Icord and the lobster stitch cord used up much of the second skein. The yarn was a gift from my SP, Ruth. I have another skein left (in UFO form, more of that later).
Needles & Hook: Boye aluminium circulars, size 6.50 mm/10.5 I think. There’s no marking on the needle, but from the colour (dark green) and my knitting needle gauge, I’m thinking that’s the size. It was sent me by Heide. Surprisingly light. Too long for this project of course, but I used my version of the Magic Loop or whatever. Also a Boye 6.5 mm/K/10.5 hook, which supports my guestimate of the knitting needle size.
Pattern: Drew Emborsky‘s Purl McBigBottom
Time: 2 days
Size: 6″ x 10″ approx
Extra: #1 The pattern calls for 110 yds of the yarn, but one skein of my yarn was only about 57m. Maybe if you take the Icord and the eyelet cord, it adds up.
#2 The yarn is really yummy and soft.
#3 I’m proud to have mastered the lobster stitch. The finished cord looks like a golden lanyard seen on some naval uniforms. Here’s a closeup:
This is again for the CAT PAC I’m donating. Skip said she likes green, so hopefully she’ll like this.
Don’t you like it when you can make something which is of practical use and not merely beautiful? I love it. (Perhaps that’s why most of my FOs are plain ugly-I’m looking to make something functional fast and don’t care what colours I throw together, or about the finishing so much :()
Here are the specs:
Yarn: Acrylic from Hyderabad. Not very nice.
Hook: Boye G/6/4.25 mm metal
Pattern: Natalie’s Econoshopper Mesh bag
Time: 3-4 hours (should take less but you try to surf blogs and edit stories and crochet all at once)
Size: Hmm, didn’t actually measure it. It isn’t crucial I think.
Extra: #1 For this pattern, it would be helpful if you marked your corners before embarking on the bag-shaping bit. Otherwise, it’s a nice toddle.
#2 I made another of these almost a year ago (and gushed about its practicality) and bought this green yarn at the same time! How’s that for coincidence? :-O
WordPress now has a “HTML” tab to its editor for the geeks, I presume.
I need your advice, please. That up there is a bag I’m knitting with Debbie Bliss Maya on Denise #13s. The lone ball you see next to it is all I have left of the wool. So I need to be working a closure for the bag as well as thinking of handles. I’m just winging it here, no particular pattern.
Having never made a bag for felting before, I don’t have the faintest idea what sort of closure I should make (i.e. flap, loop, zipper, whatever). Also what kind of handles should I do? I have some tacky plastic one and some tackier steel ones, but would obviously prefer something classier looking.
Please, please, please help me! If there are any lurkers in the woodwork, this is your chance to come out 😉
swakrta.com 