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.

On Your Toes Socks

So I've really gotten into Ravelry, a new online knitting and crotchet community. Call it the MySpace for knitters! It is in beta right now so you have to get on a waiting list in order to join. I signed up in July and got my invitation last week. So it was about a two 2 month wait.

My user name is RhondaB, so if you are already on, you could add me as a friend ;)
My designer page is http://www.ravelry.com/designers/rhonda-bell. All I have up on my designer page is the Wrist Warmer Generator I created. But now that I have a place to publish patterns to, I may get motivated to try out some designs I've been thinking about.

Anyway, one of the things you do is post all your projects to a notebook to keep track of them. You include the pattern source, yarn used, needle used, and comments. There are then links to other people who made the same pattern or used the same yarn.

You can also associate blog entries with each project. So that is the motivation for this post.

This is a first of a pair of socks I started in July. They are toe up socks from a pattern in the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave. The pattern is "On Your Toes Socks" by Ann Budd. I've started the second pair but I'm just past the toes.

I got distracted from them when the yarn for my Josephine Top came and I started knitting on that project.

I think they will be a great project to take to my knitting group meetings because they are small and a rather easy knit. I'll just have to work on the heel section at home because I need to concentrate when I do that part. But the rest of the sock is ribbing or stockinette, so I should be able to chat without messing up.

I can't remember the name of the yarn I'm using. I bought it at the Artisian store in Burnet before I left Texas. I'm hoping I'll see the same yarn at a store here so I can put it in my Ravelry notebook.

The thing about Ravelry though, is that I spend time on there when I could be knitting!