Saturday Market Bag
This project went so quickly!
(Pattern)I used 1 1/2 skeins of Lily Sugar n' Cream 100% cotton. I'd love to say that the lilac stripe at the bottom was part of a grand plan, but it was only because I ran out of the grape yarn. Since there needed to be a band at the top of the bag anyway, it really wasn't such a big crisis! I think it looks rather cool.
A close up of the stitches:
The lace stitch was a little frustrating to get used to - psso's are not my most favourite things. But eventually I realised the rows of this stitch were over practically the minute they began, so I tried not to let it get to me. Alterations - I didn't seam the two sides together, I crocheted them. It was miles quicker than fumbling with a needle and yarn. I also put two more rows of garter stitch at the top to even out the look of the stripe on the bottom. Oh, and instead of working the handle from both sides and grafting them together at the top, I made one long handle and grafted it at the other side.
I think I would make another one of these - this way if I go market shopping I can have plenty of room. At the moment, I think I'll have it function as a beach bag. I should take a photo of something in it because it really S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-S when you put stuff in it.
Yes, I've been very lax in my posting these days. It's a sorrowful thing. My computer and card reader have been living in different rooms, and generally when they're in the same room the computer is pretending to be a region 2 DVD player. I will endeavour to be more conscientious!
Anyway, here is my latest project on the needles:
(Blimey, that looks washed out...)
It's Rowan All-Seasons Cotton in the Dusky colourway, and that is a crossed-stitch basketweave stitch...they look like mini cables, but they're not really. It's a lot of fun, although time consuming. It was going to be the bolero on the cover of Simply Knitting from two months ago, but since I swatched the yarn in garter stitch and ended up using this stitch, the gauge is way off. By about one third. Yeah.
New plan! So, as it does fit nicely around my waist and I'd hate to rip out all that work, I'm going to make my own version of a bolero from the waist-up instead of neck-down. I want to do the one in SK as well, but I'm worried about having enough of this yarn so I'm just going to change tracks. I don't expect it will be too hard to make a pattern...I don't want it to fit like a proper cardigan, rather, something that you throw on over a vest or a t-shirt when you just want to be a little warmer...but not a shrug. And open-front cardigan. Am I repeating myself? Anyway...I'm excited.
Here is the only problem....look at the left side. It's beautiful. A perfect straight line. It's not even curling. Only, on the right side....
...we have horrible loopiness. I didn't see it becoming a problem until I got too far in.
The reason for this, I think, is that on the left side, I'm finishing on a purl stitch. On the right side, I start by knitting the second stitch first. So, the first is never properly anchored. I'll hide this by picking up stitches to do a border, but in the future I know to alter the pattern to include a selvedge. Live and learn. It's a really nice stitch, and I think it will look fantastic when it's blocked (I hope).
In other knitting news, I made two more Shining Star hats...to be photographed imminently. Oh yeah, and I want to play with my blog layout soon. Too much pink on this one.
