I have allocated an hour a day to work on my socks - that enables me to get something done on them every day but doesn’t annoy my hands and fingers too much. I love, love,love this yarn to look at; these are going to be such fun to wear. How the yarn performs over time is something I won’t know for a while yet. In working with it, I’ve noticed that the red is just lying on top of the white, that is the color doesn’t extend all the way through the yarn. I hope this doesn’t mean it will disappear after a while. I guess we’ll see.
I have started a little bag as well. Yes, another one, LOL! I seem to have a thing for them and they can come in handy :) This is a new experience for me in another way though:
Think this would work for soup?
It’s the number of needles. The yarn is Classic Elite Flash and it’s a light, worsted weight cotton. The ball band recommends a size 7 (US) needle but I went down to a size 6. As this is going to be a bag, I wanted the knitting to be fairly snug. Unfortunately I don’t have a size 6 circular that’s short enough to handle the stitches and try as I might, putting the work on only three needles wasn’t feasible - there just wasn’t enough room :( So I put it on four needles and am working it with a fifth. Thank goodness Brittany’s DPNs come 5 to a set.
It’s awkward. Not so bad now as it was initially, but not real comfortable either. I kept at it because I remember when knitting around on three needles seemed uncomfortable to me. Over time, I got used to it. I suppose I’ll get used to this too. It seem to be the only way to manage this and I plug away at it thinking longingly of how much easier it would be if I only had the right size circular. On the other hand, it makes this really cute little bowl….
What saves it is the pattern. I sat down a couple of nights ago and played with various ideas, combinations of things and the necessary math to make it all work. I like discrete panels set into a background and while stockinette is acceptable as background, it’s very bland, isn’t it? Having discovered how beautiful moss stitch was while working the Landscape shawl, my mind was running in that direction. Since it makes an emphatically textured stitch, what kind of panel would really stand out from that background? Cables! But not just cables - cables with bobbles!
Cable, bobble and moss
I, immodestly, think this is gorgeous. The pattern is rich, the cable more than holds its own and the color is splendid. (At this point, my mother would have told me to be careful not to break my arm patting myself on the back.) The bag should wind up being about 25” in circumference and I think I’ll probably make it 7 or 8 inches deep. There’s a possibility of a ruffle around the bottom; I’ve certainly got enough yarn an it’s pleasant to consider what shape that might take. The ties will be monk’s cord (because I love the look of it) and probably heavily tasseled :) I need to find something appropriate to line it with but I don’t anticipate any real difficulty there.
We wound up getting about 8 inches of snow yesterday but today is sunny - bright and clear as a bell. I caught the tail end of sunrise this morning when Jade got me up, pleading starvation :)
Forgive the spotty window :)
Oh, and one more thing! Something to play with over the weekend! I’m a jigsaw puzzle fan but haven’t done any in a long time both because I have nowhere to store puzzles and because I can’t keep a puzzle-in-progress safe from the cats. A week ago I bought an inexpensive piece of software that promised hours of fun plus the ability to import my own pictures to make puzzles out of. Sadly, the puzzle software was an absolute fizzle. It only created a small image which is fine if you only wanted a 20 or 30 piece puzzle, but was disastrous if you wanted, say, 500 pieces. I set it up for that just to see what would happen. The pieces were about molecular sized and the process slowed the system down to a crawl. Poop - no fun there.
Then, Myria called my attention to Jigsaw Puzzle Lite and suggested that I have a look. I did and it was wonderful! Did all the things the purchased software promised but did them right! The best thing is that the puzzle engine is free - not even shareware. I like - even prefer - to use my own images for puzzles so this is perfect for me. You can, of course, buy additional picture packs from the software’s author at about $15.00 each - but you could also grab your digital camera and take pictures of whatever pleases you (or scan pictures you may already have).
Miss Amelia Peabody
This is a picture of my teddy bear rendered into a simple puzzle so you can see what the interface looks like. It’s very simple and intuitive and I’m having a blast with it!
Have a great weekend!
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mmmmmmmmmmm yummy bag….
Hi, the bag is gorgeous. Pat yourself on the back all you want. I suggest you try using two circulars instead of the dpns. It also feels awkward at first, but once you get used to it, it’s way better than all those points.
Elka - LOL! Thanks :)
Becca - You know, I tried that with socks and hated it but maybe on a larger scale it wouldn’t be such an issue. Thanks for mentioning it - that might be something to try!
I love the look of cables but hate the work. I especially love cables with bobbles. Nice work. Since getting the Denise needles, I’ve been knitting with one long circular using the magic loop method. I usually don’t mind using dpns, but the magic loop is a nice change. Easier to work with the cables without having the dpns in the way. The puzzle software looks neat. My family loves puzzles. If I had a decent colour printer, it might actually be feasible for me. Cheryl. P.S. I forgot to tell you that your new blog layout looks great!
eleanor, who has become a ‘true texan,’ trumpets greetings to miss amelia (who is looking fine even all broken up) and confesses to a newly discovered affinity for tony lama boots and stetson hats-
i think you are the ‘cable queen’- that does look good against the seed stitch- i like seed stitch and prefer to use it when things call for garter stitch most of the time-
you might end up with pink candy cane socks, but they will be nice too- umm, ‘set’ the colors with a very cold water bath when you finish them, and see if that will help- i’ve never used the brand you are using, but i do that with the confetti sock yarn and it’s been ‘sock’cessful so far-
sty happy-
well, barb cannot type, proofread, or edit today- that’s ‘stay’ happy-
Chery - This isn’y a print-it-out kind of puzzle, this is a do it on the computer kind of puzzle. You direct it to whatever picture you want to use and it will ask you how many pieces you want the puzzle to have. Then it will break the picture up and you use the mouse to move them into position. Unfortunately you can’t save an incomplete puzzle - it’s my only real beef with the software.
Barb - Good gracious - Tony Lama boots for Eleanor would put you in the poorhouse! Tell her she can settle for sneakers like everyone else!
THanks for the cold wash tip re: the socks. I will definitely give that a try as I would like to keep them looking nice for as long as possible :)
No need to be modest. That is gorgeous! And you get way more props than me because I can’t be bothered to do moss stitch. That’s almost like work! haha
Laura - First, thanks. But you do do work. Making a sweater - for yourself or Dobby is work! Me, I just fiddle sround with little bags :)
Lovely pink cables & bobbles. That moss stitch looks so good. I have been wanting to knit a bag with cotton yarn, beacuse wool is just too warm for the weather here, but a stockinette stitch bag would just stretch, so I have been thinking of how to get around that problem. I will try the moss stitch, it’s so lovely and will probably make a firmer fabric. Thanks again for showing your projects, they always inspire me.
Very Victorian, dearie. I love the idea of lush tassels & such at the bottom. Great cable - we’re both getting our cabley fix these days, eh?
I’m SO tempted by the puzzle generator….like I need another way to pass the time! However, the boys might like it, so thanks for passing along the link!
Here’a a smilie just because. 
Erin - I don’t really know how the moss stitch will or won’t stretch. I confess that my decision was based soley on how it looks :) But this bag is only slated for very light duty so I don’t think it will be a problem.
Bron - Victorian to the point that I was wondering if I should do the cord and any adornments in black rather than the fuchsia? A moot point since I would have to buy black where I already have tons of fuschia :) I do have some cream though…
Hope the boys enjoy the puzzle thing :) It’s quite a nice little toy.
Love the little bag. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of four needles, you just need to grow an extra hand ;)
Pam - Gee, thanks - that’s useful :) LOL! I’m clumsy enough with two hands - three hands would make me a national disaster - Heheh…
