The Rolly Bag!

Yeah yeah, all I ever do here now is post patterns, but you don't want to listen to me blethering on about nothing all the time? Right? Any way, another free pattern for you, don't say I'm any thing but nice ;-)

Rolly Bag

Inspired by a bag I saw at a recent craft fair, this bag is made from a new yarn called Hoopla, made from selvedge material from t-shirt making. Its a very stretch jersey type material and is surprisingly easy to work with and lends its self to crochet very well!

Download the PDF version of this pattern here

You will need:

2 cones of Hoopla yarn (I used Key Lime Pie and Purple Nurple) or any bulky yarn (approx 200 yards) in two colours

8mm and 6mm crochet hooks.

Stitch marker.

Two safety pins

Instructions:

DC= Double crochet

(Please note this pattern uses British crochet terms (DC=SC in US terms))

Main body

Using the 8mm hook, chain 50 stitches in your main colour

Row 1) DC in 2^nd stitch from end and continue to end, chain one and turn

Row 2) DC in the back loop of the stitch (as you look at the V, dc in the leg furthest from you!) This will give the raised up edge you can see in the picture. Continue to the end, chain 1 and turn.

Repeat row 2 16 more times and fasten off at the end of the last row.

End pieces (make two)

Using the 8mm hook and your contrast colour, chain 4 and join to form a ring (use marker to note start of ring)

Round 1) 2DC in every stitch (8 stitches)

Round 2) *DC in next stitch, 2DC in the next stitch, repeat from * until end

Round 3) *DC in next 2 stitches, 2DC in the next stitch, repeat from * until end

Continue as set, increasing the space between the 2DCs until you have reached 6 spaces in between the 2DCs and fasten off.

Bag Handle

Using 6mm hook, chain 4 stitches

Row 1) DC in second space, and work unil the end, chain 1 and turn.

Repeat until bag handle is desired length and fasten off.

Making up

The main body piece has a natural curl, so we are going to exploit this some what! Roll your body piece to make a tube, leaving an overlap of about 3 inches (this is for your bag flap) and pin in place on both sides. Take one of your end pieces and your contrast colour, use slip stitch to join both pieces together, but leave the overlap hanging free.

One you have done one side, repeat on the other, attach the handle on either side of the tube in your desired place, weave in ends and you are done!

This is my first crochet pattern and the making up has been hard to explain, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please get in touch!

Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

Seed Stitch Socks

Hmm yes I know, we are now in to the New Year and I'm still not blogging much, but in my defence, I do home school three kids, and we got a dog, and my free time is taken up by knitting, so you know... I do want to blog, but its sitting down and doing it!
Any way, once again, I bring a new pattern to make up for it!

Seed Stitch Socks

I got the idea from an old pair of slipper socks (you know the kind that have grippy bits on the bottom?) and decided to see if I could make a pattern similar and this is what I came up with.

Download a PDF version of the pattern here

You will need:

Fingering/4ply sock yarn, 100g solid colour (A), 30g contrasting variegated colour (B)
(yarn I used isn't available any more, but its Middlearthknitter yarn, in Not Just for Goths (B) and Jet (A) )

2.5mm dpn needles

Waste Yarn

Tapestry needle

Pattern will assume that you basically know how to knit socks, but I'll link to any thing unusual!

Stitch pattern is in multiples of 8.


Cast on 64 stitches with colour B and divided over 3 dpns

Knit 2 purl 2 rib for desired length, I usually do approx 1inch

Switch to colour A

Row 1 K4, P1, K1 ,P1, K1. Repeat to end of round

Row 2 K5, P1,K1, P1

(I arranged my stitches so I wasn't purling a stitch at the start of a row, by splitting up a K4 in to two knit stitches over two needles, but this is personal preference, I just don't like purling at the start of a needle, I get ridiculous ladders! You do what is comfortable!)

Continue repeating Row 1&2 until leg length is desired length (pictured sock is 5inches.)

When you have reached your desired length, you need to take your waste yarn and knit 32 stitches with it (or approx half of your total number of stitches) This is for your afterthought heel. Do not break your working yarn (A) as you'll be using it again in a moment

The 32 stitches you have knitted with waste yarn, are now the bottom of your sock, you'll need to jig it a bit, but divide these 32 stitches up between two needles, whilst having the other 32 stitches on one needle. This is so you are keeping your pattern stitches and sole stitches separately, and makes decreasing at the toe stage easier!

Go back to your working yarn (A) and carry on knitting as follows

Needle 1 k16
Needle 2 k15, P1
Needle 3 Repeat rows as established in leg section

Repeat until desired foot length is reached (for my size 6 (US9) feet, this was 36rows)

Switch to colour B and start decreases for toes, continue until 28 stitches remain and graft toes using Kitchener stitch

Now for the heel. Lets call in the expert with pictures, the Yarn Harlot (in this she didn't use waste yarn and cuts the the yarn where she wants the heel, that scares me slightly and my waste yarn bit works just as well!)

Basically, you unpick your waste yarn, catching the now live stitches on two needles (one top one bottom) and then using colour B, you knit another toe! I decrease as for a toe until I had 30 stitches remaining and then grafted together.

Weave in ends, make another to match, and you are done!

Even now there are things I would change about the sock I did, the purl stitch on needle two is to seperate the pattern from the foot, if I thought about it more, I would have jigged the pattern round so it looked better, but thats hind sight etc

I do feel I could have written this a touch better, but if you come across any problems, please give me a shout and I'll do my best to help as much as I can.


Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

The Neala Hood

My second pattern! So as soon as I'd finished my Riverbanks, Neala decided she wanted one her self. Which brought out my creative skills again! Well I can't help it lol I do have another pattern in the works but that will have to wait!
So I give you....

The Neala Hood

This is designed to fit a 4/5 year old child, tho I did try it on my 6 year old and it fit him too, so it will fit a few, best thing is to try it on the recipient as you go along!
Download a PDF version of the pattern here

You will need:
100g Sirdar Click Chunky in Bloom

4.5mm 24inch circs (yes I know this is small for the yarn, it give a nice dense fabric and is actually quite a nice feel!)

1 Stitch marker

Tapestry needle

Spare circ for grafting

4.5mm Crochet hook (optional)

Gauge er... well I tend to knit loose, so if you are a tight knitter go up a needle size lol

The Pattern:

Cast on 80 stitches, place marker, join in the round, careful not to twist

Row 1 Knit

Row 2 Purl

Row 3 K2tog 3 times, K1 (YO K1) 6 times, K2tog 3 times, K1

Row 4 Knit

Repeat these 4 rows twice more (3 times in total)

Knit until piece measure 5inches from the cast on (from the bottom of a wave if you catch my drift lol)

Cast off 24 stitches and knit to the end of the row

You'll now be working the piece flat

Row 1 K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, purl to last 5 stitches, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1

Row 2 K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, knit to last 5 stitches, K1 P1, K1, P1, K1

Repeat these two rows until the piece measures 14inches in total from cast on edge

Place 28 stitches on a spare circ and graft the two sides together using Kitchener stitch

Weave in your ends and you are done!

For the sake of looking neat, on the cast off edge, I did two rows of double crochet (american single) with a 4.5 hook, to stop the edge from curling over and used a couple of stitches to attach it to the sides of the hood but this is entirely optional and purely for aesthetic reasons, if you don't mind the curling edge then leave it!

If there are any problems in the pattern or you have any questions, give me a shout and I'll do my best to sort it out!
Hope you enjoy the pattern!




Naturally this is a free pattern, and you are free to use it for your own personal use, but you are not allowed to sell any finished items, or distribute the pattern without prior permission or crediting the work to my self!

Must be time for another blog post!

Well at least I'm consistent with being infrequent! Its not too bad at the moment, one a month isn't a sin I'm sure!
I've actually been quite busy recently, I finished my wollmeise clapotis (which is going to be the subject of another blog post when I've actually taken decent photos of it, watch this space!), started another one involving beads (I swear its going to be worth it, even if it is lace weight and I have to stop every few stitches..) and done a bit of crochet for birthday pressies and my self, and done a pattern from the new Knitty!
The crochet first! Every few days I get one of those emails from Knitting Daily, most of the time I give it a cursory look over as mainly its patterns they are trying to sell, but some times it contains free patterns and useful hints and tips. This pattern caught my eye. Hmm stripy! And I decided I must give it ago, and made one for my lovely friend Kirsty for her birthday.

I never go hiking with out my knitting bag made in Patons sorbet

I really enjoyed doing it, and me being me and having a slight bag fetish, I stared at my sorbet yarn, wondering what colour combo to use, until it occurred to me, didn't have to follow their stripe pattern (yeah some times I'm not that quick off the mark!) and using the general bag construction, I made this:

I love it, its so cool and cute at the same time! And of course, the perfect size for an on the go knitting project (tho currently it holds my beaded clapotis for safe keeping!)

I mentioned knitting some thing from the new Knitty, now its not often I see some thing and I think omg I have to knit that right now this moment, but this one really inspired me!

Riverbanks from Knitty, in Noro vintage.
(and please meet my new model Martin hehe)

Callum wanted a go too..

The Riverbanks from Knitty just really made me want to knit it, it was just the idea of it, its basically a cowl with a hood, but it just looked so unique. Of course, I didn't do it in the same colours as the one on Knitty but I did use the same yarn, Noro Vintage, and despite a few usual Noro hiccups of knots and an entire colour missing from one place, it feels really nice and I'm glad I went with it.
A word about the pattern tho, the way it is written on Knitty is that you start with a provisional cast on and start on the upper neck and go back and do the bottom later, which is a huge faff, and ultimately pointless, luckily I had a look at other project on Ravelry before I started mine and noticed people mentioning not doing it the way it was written, so I took a closer look, and if you swap the two row patterns from the lower neck around and cast on the 78 stitches and knit those two rows, it makes no difference to the over all look, and saves much messing around later! Can't argue with that! My only problem is that Neala wants one, so I've got to work on scaling it down for her. I'm too good to my kids..

Oh oh and I've been fiddling with some script and came up with my finished object gallery! Check it out! Tis very cool :-D (obviously if you are viewing this from Facebook, you'll have to come and visit my actual blog to see it ;-) )

Crafting space

Growing up, I had a room to my self several times on and off, being one of 3, some times I shared a room with my sister, some times I had a room to my self, for a while, all three of us slept together! But naturally I never really had the chance to make it my own. Now I find my self as an adult with a very large room with a view, I can do as I please with it!
The room is very me, its full of little bits, trinkets, parts of my life, I recently had to hide a few things away after splitting up from Dave (his choice, not mine, and not a choice I would have made) and looking at these things just hurt to see, thats a problem of making the room part of my life I guess!
Thankfully it acts more as my little sanctuary, and because I'm such a crafty little soul, it looks like one big work room as well!


This is the main part of the room, all my gorgeous (mainly) sock and lace yarn is crammed in to the ikea shelves, when I bought them I had no idea I'd be eventually filling it! It does act as a bit awe inspiring tho, I like to sit on my couch and just stare some times, alot of the time I'll reach out and stroke a bit of yarn sticking out and it has been inspirational too!
Naturally you notice the overflowing box of fibre next to the shelves, I've been meaning to either get a bigger box, or at least another one to try and contain it, but so far I just add to the top of it, I do attempt to spin alot of it, looking at the table at the front of the picture, thats all the yarn I spun during the tour de fleece, that I haven't managed to make room for yet (back to the more boxes talk..) its catching no harm there in the mean time!
Another thing is I tend to have my finished objects lying around, my stripey star on the couch, my blue jeans shawl on the arm, you can't see it very well but my cherry clapotis is on the footstool on the left, well what else am I supposed to do with them lol
Its just a nice area, I like it very much.


I suppose you could call this the main focal point of the room, its the first thing you see when you walk in my door, my shelves with some of my fav books on there, cds, knitting needles, my sheepy money tin, Sims house and of course my knitting books! Its a strange arrangement I know, but it looks nice and nothing falls off the ends!
Underneath is my coat hooks, currently housing my booga bag, my general little knitting bag (complete with domiknitrix badge) and my woolfest bag, plus a few coats that just adorn my wall.


Ah my bed, best place in the world! Before you ask, yes I've read all the books in that pile, I just keep adding to it instead of putting away, naughty!
But as you can see, the yarn is spreading here as well, I have two of the same size tubs that holds my fibre full to the brim with assorted yarn underneath there, one is my "cheap" yarn and the other is the yarn that doesn't fit on my shelves, or assorted odd balls, great for quick projects type yarn! Also you see my blocking boards (need more of them £4 from tesco..) my sewing box and yarn that I haven't put in a box. I will do one day..


And finally, just to make sure every part of my room is crafty, this is where my swift and ball winder live! Teddies on the rocking chair I've had since I was a dot and they are looking after my Forest canopy shawl. I've actually tided the table up a bit as I've got several labels and yarn ends lying around on it, plus it could do with a dust! Its in a good place as I plonk my self down on the end of the bed and wind till my heart is content!

So that was a brief whistle stop tour of my room! You really needed to see all that didn't you lol Well I think you can indulge me, I'm going through a very rough time at the moment, as I mentioned before I split up from my partner of 5 years which was extremely distressing, it wasn't through choice, and I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I don't have any choice but to live with whats happened. Daft thing is I still love him very much and the thought of starting all over again with some one else fills me with a cold horror. We have resolved to remain close friends, and I'm hoping that means more than the occasional chat on msn!
I'll be ok eventually, we actually spoke for the first time properly since it happened, and it made me feel alot better, probably more than he realises!
Oops I'm now going personal on my knitting blog, well I guess as long as I don't make a habit out of it! In the mean time, send love!

Tour de Fleece finale!

Not bad for some one who flaked out half way thru!
Yes I did manage my final yarn, it was being plyed as Mark Cavandish crossed the finish line to win his 6th stage of the tour (Go Mark!) and was all done and dusted as Alberto did his speech on the podium.


I love this alpaca silk, it bloody sheds every where, but is really soft! Still got a 50g bag left that I've yet to spin but felt I'd done enough with it (plus I was getting tired of scrapping hairs off every thing).

So what am I going to do with all my newly spun yarn? Well with my shiney purple one (the fyberspates alpaca silk or at least thats what I think it is!) I see a pair of gloves with that, the jacobs humbug isn't really next to skin wearable so that will prob make a nice little bag, as for the rest of it, well it looks nice of my shelf for now, I'll think of some thing!
Now what to spin next...

So we had a bit of a TDF fail...

I tried! Honest I did, that pesky thing called life got in the way during week two, I felt like I didn't sit still for 5 mins and then this week, I felt "guilty" for not spinning last week and just didn't get round to doing much, but having said that, I'm pretty happy with what I've achieved over all, it wasn't about doing the most, it was about creating lovely yarn and to me, I've done just that!



This is all that I've spun and finished, my fav has got to be the bottom one, the shine is just wonderful! My second fav is the one in the middle, as when it is knit up, it will have a complete colour change which will be cool!

I have got one, possible two yarns I could finish by tomorrow, the one on my spindle from the previous post and this one

<

Which is a natural alpaca and silk, its really nice to spin with, but the alpaca hairs get every where! Does not help when I wear predominately black... But I'm hoping I can get in a last minute push and finish this yarn (and maybe the other one!) in time for the race finish tomorrow!
Watch this space..