A Slew of Sock Hop

Well, so much for getting caught up with my blogging in two weeks!

Back when I ripped my first try at the Pacific Waves Shawl, I found myself with lots of unused Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop yarn. Since I had bought several of the skeins as remnants, and all the one I used were now in tiny little balls ...



... I decided I would look for stash-busting patterns to use up the yarn. My first project was the Turn-a-Square Hat by Jared Flood. By holding two strands of Sock Hop together, I was able to achieve heavy worsted weight, and adjusted for gauge accordingly. I ended up knitting this hat three times with different colorways before I finally called it good. The first attempt may have been the most photogenic while knitting ...



but I didn't like how I looked with white yarn right by my face. I tried a three-color combination, and finally settled on one colorway (San Francisco) where I let the striping in the handspun show off the square shape of the hat. It's much more subtle. My three attempts are the top row of this mosaic of Sock Hop projects:



I then knit a set of Maine Morning Mitts in the same Sock Hop colorway (though a different lot) to match (pictures #6 and #8). I love fingerless mitts, and expect this set will be the first of many. I wanted a cowl that would match the mitts, and couldn't find one on Ravelry that was just right, so I created my own easy-peasy pattern - the Two-One Cowl, pattern available for free download right here (as well as on the sidebar). Pictures are the second row of the mosaic.

I also knit a new little sunglasses case with leftovers - picture #9. Let me tell you, it's a joy to pull it out and use my handknitting on a regular basis! And last, but not least, I started a set of mini sweaters (picture #7) which will decorate my holiday tree this winter, and are a great way to use up tiny bits of yarn.

My First Pattern

I have a few pattern ideas rolling around in my head - several of them lovely lacy things - but I thought I'd start simple. Introducing Sidekick:



A simple bag, just big enough for wallet, keys, and sunglasses. It comes with a long i-cord strap, making it just perfect for running about town on those summer days when you find yourself without pockets.

The pattern can be adjusted for any yarn as long as the resulting fabric is pretty tight. A great use for scraps from your stash.

Skills used: Provisional cast on, knitting in the round, double-pointed needles, three-needle bind off, picking up stitches, i-cord. Magic loop for knitting in the round is optional.



I'm in the process of adding it to Ravelry, but it's also available as a link in the bar to the right. I can't wait to see what others do with it. Enjoy!

Knitted Utility Bags

I finished these some time ago, but since I've been using them, I hadn't gotten around to photographing them until over this past weekend.


A sunglasses case, a radio face plate case, and a little camera bag. I was inspired by this gorgeous bag (without knowing she had made the pattern available online - I had only seen the picture on Flickr). Of course, the yarn I wanted to use was much bigger.

I knit them in the round on US size 9 DPNs with a three-way bind off. I used three strands of Silk City Perle 3/2 Cotton in different blue-purple colors, knit tripled. I love the way the three strands of yarn make a beautiful heathered fabric. (It kind of reminds me of the Artfibers Coat that Amy R. Singer is knitting, except of course the fibers are very different.)


Sunglasses case: I lost my sunglasses case, so knit myself one. It's a little big for the glasses and the things that go over your ears (what are they called?) have a tendency to get stuck, but I lurve it. I stuck a couple yarnovers a few rows down from the cast-on edge to run the drawstring through.


Face plate case: I got a new radio for my car, which came without a face plate case. So I took half of the old one (which had fallen apart) and knit a little bag to fit around the whole contraption.


Camera case: I began with some ribbing, but it totally failed in the cotton yarn and size 9 needles. When closed, I tie the strap around the end to hide the terrible ribbing. (I started this bag about 7 times, so was unwilling to frog and try again.)


Each project only took a couple of hours, but I only knit them when I wasn't interested in knitting anything else, which was rare, so it took a while to finish them.

I used the yarn from the cabled baby blanket that I frogged, and still have a small yarn cake left over.

Aran-style bag

I bought the yarn for this baby over a year ago.


Tahki Donegal Tweed, 100 % wool


I really love the color, the tweediness, and the slubiness of this yarn.

I really like to knit cables, and the more they look like old Celtic or Viking knotwork, the better. I love Aran sweaters, but I live in the Pacific Northwest, where sweaters are not really needed, and well, I don't feel ready to knit a sweater yet. So I decided I would make a bag in the Aran style, something big enough to carry a book and a wallet for when I wanted to take a walk or go read in a coffee shop for a little while.

I tried out many different cable patterns (see how handy that sampler blanket project is?) and settled on the patterns I would use. Swatching commenced. I first tried US size 7 needles, a little smaller than the recommended 8s because I want a tight fabric, but found the cabling too hard to work. I frogged the swatch and tried again in 8s.





I found the yarn a little hard to work with. It's fairly scratchy and the homespun style means it's one ply, without the sproinginess of plied yarn. The yarn itself tends to curl up in corkscrews as I pull it out of the wound ball, which is a bit annoying. The kicker, though, is that I can't get all the stitches I want in the pattern I've designed and keep it to the 16 inch circumference I'm headed for. The swatch pictured above is 17 inches, but I don't have quite all the elements I want in the piece.

I'm afraid this yarn may be destined to become something else. Any suggestions for 100 g of worsted weight 100% wool? It's 183 yards...

Felted Diaper Bag

Okay, now we're up to fall 2006. At the time, I had a pregnant friend (actually, I had about six pregnant friends, but this particular lady is one of my bestest friends) who I'm going to call Mama J, since she now is a mama. I wanted to knit something a little different, something useful, something which would show how much I appreciated her and how excited I was about becoming an auntie.

I settled on a diaper bag in her favorite colors. The pattern is from Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas, knit in Valley Yarn's Berkshire Bulky 85% wool/15% alpaca Amethyst and Lime. I loved this yarn, and the price was quite reasonable. The alpaca made it a little on the soft side, and it felted beautifully.


Here are all the pieces in a nice little pile, ready to sew together.


After sewing together all the pieces of the bag, with a skein of the yarn for scale.


The bag after felting, with the same skein of yarn for scale.

Mama J loves it and takes it everywhere her daughter goes.