Reversible Box Tote

The sewing machine came out this week! I saw the most gorgeous knitting bag on instagram. It was made by Truly Myrtle (I don’t usually like podcasts but she’s very interesting to listen to). Here’s the link to her bag.

It’s a shape I haven’t tried before. The pattern for the tote is a free one from Very Shannon. - the Reversible Box Tote.

I bought some gorgeous fabric from The Little Fabric Store. It’s a sweet, little shop and worth a visit, if you’re near. Helen is very lovely and helpful. I got some new Cloud9 fabric and linen to line the bag.

I bought another Clover tape measure too. They are really nice quality. I’ve found with the cheaper retractable tape measures that the tape will stretch and warp with use. I’ve had one for over a year (with daily use) and it is still as straight as the day I bought it. So I bought another because well…you can never have enough tape measures!

You can see the tape measure in the picture below.

The fabric that I chose happened to be what I'd used as inspiration for a stitch pattern that I'd created.

I used some cheap fusible fleece that I had in my stash – so it’s not got as much form as I’d like. Next time, I’ll use better quality.

I love my new bag anyway and have been carrying it around with me!

I haven’t finished any knitting projects this week. The two I’ve been working on are an Artemisia jumper from the latest Rowan Magazine 57. I’m using the yarn from the pattern which is Rowan Softknit Cotton and amazingly I have spot-on gauge with the same size needles for the pattern, which makes a nice change. Though I have altered the pattern and the shaping to make it a few inches longer.

I bought Designer Knitting Magazine 2014/15 and there was an interesting article by Meg Swansen about different increases – including a few that I hadn’t done before. I’ve tried out one that she names kibosirb (knit into the back of stitch in row below) for this jumper and it’s quite a neat increase. Can you see it on the left hand side?

I started a selfish knitting project which is an Epistropheid by Kate Davies but this didn’t go particularly well the first time. I went up 2 needle sizes and hoped for the best, as I didn’t do a swatch (swatches are nearly as big as the hat so it’s sometimes easier to gamble). I did a couple of inches and it wasn’t looking hopeful – so I steamed blocked what I had and instead of 24 sts in 4 inches, I had 27. It was going to be way too small.

So I frogged it. The gauge was as loose as I wanted to go with this yarn, so instead of trying to meet gauge. I’ve added a repeat of the pattern instead. It’s looking ok so far. (I’m electing to forget about the fiasco of forgetting to change to the larger needle for the body of the hat). I fear that this is going to be one of the ill-fated projects, where nothing goes right!

Garden Song

Oooooo, pretty knitting goodies. 

Fell in love with this fabric recently and Nicsknots made me some lovely bags with it.

They've already been out and about with me and it's really nice to be able to separate my projects - stops a big jumble of yarn! Thanks Nic.

Miya Miya Bag

Small drawstring bag

Zipped purse

Freeform

What a fabulous day! I spent yesterday at A Good Yarn, Cleethorpes; being taught by the wonderful Heike Gittins. It was a Freeform Madness workshop and I spent it alongside my fellow knitters and crocheters, such as Faded Reverie. Here are some photos of the creativity going on. (Apologies for the not so great photos; taken on my mobile).

The bags at the top are Heike's creations and very inspiring indeed and the photos don't do them justice. I love all the lovely little details on it. Lots of buttons and ribbons....

I found it very creative and a fabulous idea to use up all my oddments.

I need a new swimming bag so I'm going to try and build it up quite a bit and make a large bag.

Below is what I have made so far: I got carried away with the crocheting. I love the contrast between the textures of the knitted and crochet fabrics.

African Flowers Bucket Bag

I love the African Flower motif and suddenly just had the desire to make a bag for my knitting. Took a bit of playing around to figure out how to make the shape I wanted.

I wanted a bucket shaped bag. I ended up breaking the shapes down - I made a tube from the hexagons and then a circle for the base. I used half hexagons to give the tube a straight edge. I used Littleberry’s half hexagon pattern - though I restarted the yarn on the right hand side every round.

I used the magic circle technique for the centres and crocheted over the ends of the yarn and connected the hexagons as I went.

I managed to find some fabric in my stash that matched the colours of the cotton and used this for the lining. I made twisted cord from the cotton for the drawstring.

There was a bit of yarn leftover so I made a little drawstring pouch for my stitch markers.

Bag Construction

Make a tube with the hexagons, eight across and 4 high. Make 8 half hexagons for the top and bottoms to make the edge straight. I found it easiest to attach the motifs as I went. This tutorial is good for making the hexagons

Complete a round of sc (UK dc) around the top and bottom of the bag. Now at the top of the bag make the section where the drawstring will be. Work a round of dc (UK tr), turn, and work another round of dc (UK tr). It is important to turn to make a gap for the drawstring. See the photo below. Continue in this manner until this is about 1 inch deep. Fasten off

Using a bit of geometry I worked out how big the base circle wanted to be ( I measured the width of the tube and multiplied it by 2 to find the perimeter - then divide it by pi (3.14) this should  give the diameter of the circle)

Base

For my bag I had to make a base 17.5 cm in diameter.


Using a magic circle or chain 4 and slip stitch to make a ring. 
Round 1:    8hdc (UK htr) in the ring
Round 2:    Ch3 and dc in same stitch, *2dc (UK tr) in each dc, repeat from *
Round 3:    Ch3 and dc in same stitch, 1dc *2dc in next stitch, 1 dc repeat from *
Round 4:   Ch3 and dc in same stitch, 2dc *2dc in next stitch, 2 dc repeat from *
Continue in this manner until you reach the desired size. For me, my final round was Ch3 and dc in same stitch, *2dc in next stitch, 10 dc repeat from *


I changed colours on my base to use up some of the oddments of colour.

Lining

To make the lining, cut a rectangle and a circle the same size as the bag (plus seam allowances). Make these into a bag shape. I attached the base of the lining to the base of the bag so it can't be pulled out when you are taking your knitting out or other goodies!. Fold over the top of the lining and sew down to the top of the inside of the bag. I used monofilament to do this as it doesn't show if your sewing is messy. If not using monofilament make sure you use blind hemstitch so it looks neat.

I made a twisted cord for the drawstring - using two different colours. Cut 2 pieces of yarn twice the length of the final length of the drawstring. Knot them together and put this end over something solid (like a door handle). Keep twisting this until you can't twist it easily much more. Place a weight in the centre of the cord - like your sewing scissors and fold the cord together. The cord should twist together.

Fold over the crocheted edge and sew the edge of this to the inside of the bag. To make life easier I put the drawstring inside before sewing it up so I didn't have to lace it through. I put beads on the end and a toggle on the drawstring. Voila, one bucket bag.