Convertible Vest/Bag WIP

 

The first time I saw this pattern in Knit Tricks! by Rebecca Wat I was intrigued. I'm not into really boxy looking tops and I'm not into vests, but I love the idea of a vest that turns into a bag.

Basically, the pattern is 4 rectangles knit together. The long blacks ones make the front, back and sleeves on each side. And the multi-color ones are the sides.

I knit the black ones on my new Ultimate Sweater Machine which I'm getting better at using. I'm still dropping stitches, but not as often as at first.

I do like the speed of using the machine especially for endless stockinette, but I haven't quite figured out yet how to sit in front of it while being comfortable.

The thing is that there is a weighted hem that holds down the knitting so it doesn't come off the needles. However, you aren't supposed to let it land on your knees. So I have to back away more then I'd like.

But other then that I do like using the machine and I'm sure I'll be making lots more things with it in the future, especially if I figure out how to sit in front it comfortably.

I didn't knit the sides, which are in K2P2 using Noro Kureyon, because I figured it would be easier to hand knit then to try to manipulate the stitches on the machine. Plus I love knitting K2P2 much more then stockinette.

Now, I all have to do is the seaming and then find a zipper long enough to sew in. I hate seaming because it always looks so crappy. But I recently bought the Reader's Digest Knitter's Handbook by Montse Stanley for the TKGA Masters program I'm enrolled in. It has some diagrams and instruction on how to do mattress stitch that when I follow actually looks good.

Saturday Market Bag

Last night I was adding the few balls of yarn I brought with me from Texas to my stash on Ravelry when I ran across the pattern for Saturday Market Bag.

I have some Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton yarn and I was wondering what other people had made out of it. There were a lot of dishclothes but there were also several of these bags.

I'm just through the first pattern repeat. Several of the people who made the bag knit it in the round and one person posted about changing the straps to a set of two shorter ones rather then on long one.

So I've cast on 70 stitches to knit in the round rather then 47 for each side. I didn't do 90 because I don't want a bag as wide as the original. I'll probably make mine shorter too. And I'm going with the two shorter straps rather then the one long one.