Nell Progress

I spent some quality time with my Nell sweater last night. A few months ago I set the goals of having my Felted Ravelry ID Bag and my Nell sweater done before I went to Las Vegas. Well, obviously, the bag is done. But I still have to finish the button bands and sew the sweater together. And I have a 7:30 am flight Tuesday. I might make it, I might not.
This pattern is from a Rowan pamphlet that was four Kim Hargreaves designs for Wool Cotton. (It is not in the Ravelry database.) And I love me some Rowan and some Kim Hargreaves. I bought the pattern and the yarn back in 2004 during my glorious month working at the Patternworks store in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.
I finally started working on it two Christmases ago. Knitting the body and sleeves was a breeze. It all came to a crashing halt when I got to the button band. Apparently, my definition of "slightly stretched" was wildly different from Kim and Rowan's. When I sewed the first one in place in relaxed and drew the front in. bleh.
I might have made an attempt to resew it and knit some more, but I seem to remember ending up knitting a few rows, sewing it in place, knitting a few more rows, etc. Then I realized that I sewed the left hand button band on to the right front side. The left hand band has the buttons, the right hand band has the holes. I briefly toyed with the idea of leaving it, but there is a definite, gender based fashion difference for which side the buttons and holes are on, so I pulled it off and resewed it.
The other night I finished sewing the back of the collar on. And there is yet another issue. I was supposed to work almost to the center back and then cast of some rows to make this step effect for unknown reasons. Well, the piece reaches to the center back and I didn't do any shaping. grrr. So I put it on a holder and started in on the right hand band. I'm through 4 holes, it has 5, and things seem fine. I think the next step will be sewing it on before I do the front shaping, just to make sure it is the correct length/stretch.
Of course, I didn't get any knitting done tonight since I didn't get home until 7:30

Arrgyles, ugh
Ok, I suppose that isn't entirely true. I had all that extra knitting time standing on the platform.
I'm almost done the chart for the instep. I'm not sure if it will be long enough since I haven't sewed the leg yet, so I can't try it on. But I already know that the next time I do an argyle sock I'm going to find an existing pattern/chart. I worked this chart up three times before I got it correct. And, as it turns out, is still isn't. I had to tweak it once already (I had a color in the wrong place, which caused a cascade effect I thought I could work around, but it was too confusing). Then the other day, when I divided for the heel, I realized I dropped 4 stitches from the instep, so that part is screwy. That hung me up on the platform today, but I was able to figure out where I had made my mistake dispite the chart (take that!).
Still, a decision will have to be made soon. Although I'm moving along quickly and happily, this pair won't count for the Summer of Socks 08 (since I started them before the deadline). So I'll either have to put them aside again, or go ahead and finish them and loose valuable time. Decisions, decisions.

Once More About The Bag
My finished bag arrived today. Yipee! Since hubby absconded with the camera, I cannot show you the lovely job my mom did lining it. The fabric has a pink background and green and white paisley. But big paisley, so things won't get lost. She divided the center down the middle, then put a tall pocket for needles or such, a scissor shaped pocket and a little square pocket for my stitch marker box on one side and a random square pocket (for keys or such) on the other. It's all very cool. I actually have to transfer my stuff from my backpack over to my new bag. I think it will be fine for the commute. The handles are long enough to go over my shoulder, so it should be easy to carry.
Oh, and she was also concerned about the size, so she took a whack at felting it a little more. It might be smaller, I haven't measured it yet.
I am toying with the idea of trying to put the pattern into a PDF so people can download and print it easily, rather than trying to pull it out of the blog post. I'm also toying with the idea of entering it into the Ravelry database as an official pattern. It's up to 68 favorites. If it's an official pattern I'd be able to easily see if anyone else actually makes one.

Ok, I think that's enough for now. I must finish my prep work so I can take the train tomorrow. I must have been lolly gagging a bit today. I pulled into the parking lot as the train was pulling up. But the conductor saw me and waited. Bit embarrassing. :-)

Dear Metro North

I know we are still at the beginning of our relationship. And the beginning of a relationship is a magical time where the participants are usually happy to ignore each others' quirks.
But you have really got to stop messing with my commute home. First the stinky bus on Tuesday and then the hour delay today. I mean, really, "The 5:54 is delayed due to mechanical errors, listen for announcements" for an hour? You can't give me more than that?
Didn't you realize my puppies needed to pee?! You are sooo lucky they are old enough to hold it.
I do appreciate that you took your responsibility seriously and fulfilled your end of the bargain by getting my home safely.
But at the same time, I just felt it was important to let you know, sooner rather than later, that this behavior is really unacceptable and I need you to shape up and show me that you're serious.
Yours,
Traveling Ann

KIP(T)

Which stands for Knitting In Public (Transportation).
On the ride in Tuesday I was sitting in the backwards seat facing the rest of the train car. I have been blasting along on my Arrgyle Socks. So although it's unclear still whether this public transportation business has saved us money vis-a-vis gas, it has fulfilled its potential of additional knitting time.
Anyway, I was argyling along and a man two rows in front of me commented that it looked good. So I held it up for a better view and he was properly impressed at the skill required and pointed it out to the woman next to him, who was also properly impressed.
Sadly, they initially thought the skulls were alien heads (but politely) , so I politely said "Jolly Rogers" and held the sides out flat for a better view. But their supposition might, unfortunately, mean there isn't quite enough contrast in the yarn. But it's too late to turn back now!
I have finished the leg and divided for the instep and heel. At which point I stalled because last night was a bit chaotic. (I have no pictures because I have once again lost control of the camera. But I've arranged to borrow Mom's for the Vegas trip.)

Speaking of the Joys of Public Transportation
On the ride home Monday our little three car train stopped dead on the tracks somewhere south of my station. Lights and air both went out. We must have been stuck for at least five minutes, it might have been longer, it was hard to tell (I read an article recently where researchers showed that people can estimate a wait accurately up to 5 minutes, after that our perception gets all screwy. I don't remember why that was), but it was long enough for it to get really stuffy because of the incredible heat and humidity the North East has been enjoying lately. (sarcasm? what sarcasm?) But they got it restarted, which is what counts. Still, I wasn't home until 7, so a good half hour was lost somewhere along the way.
That was nothing compared to Tuesday. Which was another scorcher weather-wise.
The ride in Tuesday was pleasant enough, but on the way home we were sure the little shuttle bus was going to breakdown and we were going to miss the 5:20 train. It didn't and our stress was unwarranted because the 5:20 was late. But the piece de resistance came when we got to my transfer station--and the train home was canceled! Never fear, they put us on buses.
On second thought...that is a reason to fear.
The buses were glorified MicroBirds, which might have been quite nice if they weren't packed full to standing room only with a bunch of overheated commuters at the end of a long, hot day. eeeww! Luckily I was one of the first people on and snagged a seat, and happily I was the first stop. Amazingly we got to the station earlier than the train is supposed to get in. Yipee! Then I had to go do the grocery shopping. All in all, not a good night for getting knitting done.
(And, let me take a moment to say that I'm totally aware that some people in the world don't have the good fortune of worrying about how to get to work, or having to do the grocery shopping. So I'm aware of what a princess I'm being. But for high princess form, don't get me started on the central air at home being on the fritz--of course that hissy-fit is all about concern for the puppies in their fur coats.)

The Bag That Ate the Blog
Oh, we thought we were done with it. It is still generating interest on Ravelry. yeah. Mom finished the lining the other night and sent it back. But it somehow ended up in the ground method of shipping, rather than the overnight/air method she had intended (pout) so I won't have it until tomorrow. Which is still plenty of time for my trip.

World Wide KIP
In case you were wondering, I have no plans for the official World Wide Knit in Public Day, which is apparently June 14. I figure I do enough of that on the train now. :-)

Caught Red Pawed

(Samson is on the left and Baru is on the right.)
Ok, I can't resist telling the puppy story.
When it comes to theft/destruction by the puppies we have long suspected that A) Samson was the ringleader, B) the theft/destruction occurs shortly after I leave the house.
Hubby saw pretty good confirmation of those theories this morning.
He didn't have to go to school today (commencement was Friday, this is exams week and his exam is tomorrow).
So I got up at 6, fed the pups, got ready, played fetch and gave them Milkbones as usual. I left at 7 to catch the train and Hubby was still sleeping.
When I got the station--10 minutes later--he called. He said he woke up when I left the house and could hear some rustling downstairs. Baru was in the bedroom with him. So they headed downstairs at a quick pace and...he caught Samson in the Green Room with his face buried in the Cheerios!
Now, it took us a while, but we finally learned to put tempting items away so the puppies couldn't steal. But I had a moment of brain freeze, and Hubby was just upstairs, and I left the box of Cheerios on the kitchen island. Hubby reported that the box was torn up, the bag was torn open and Samson looked like a raccoon with the bag between his paws.
Hubby says Samson also looked terribly shocked/surprised when he entered the room, so we think Samson must have forgotten Daddy was still home! (Usually Hubby leaves first.)
The good thing is there can be no doubt in Samson's mind why he was being yelled at.
Now, the only question that remains is whether Samson shares his spoils with Baru. Obviously he didn't in this case since Baru was upstairs. That question may never be answered.

Hi There!

Holy Smokes!
I was going to tell a funny puppy story, but I've changed my mind. If you stopped by for my Felted Ravelry ID Bag, it's in the next post down. :-)
Yeah, so majorknitter (www.majorknitter.typepad.com) found my finished bag in my projects. I was just letting it sit there quietly, but she pointed it out on the main board and on the Knitting Central board. (blush, giggle)
As of press time, 33 people have marked it a favorite and it's been viewed around 150 times in Ravelry--and my lame little blog has received almost 600 visits. Wow! I'm flattered. :-)
Almost makes me glad I was slacking with the updates, considering you've all been looking for the bag.
I just want to point a few things out that I didn't mention in the post with the bag pattern. At this point it might be too late, or it might not matter (since people might not read it here).
Anyway. The Ravelry Logo is protected by copyright, it belongs to Casey and Jess (the creators of Ravelry) and you should not run off and do commercial things with it for your own profit. Ravelr Phoenix got permission from Casey and Jess to make the chart and post it with Creative Commons coverage. I made up the structure of the bag from my own fevered imagination. It was a bear to make and I don't intend to make more. Frankly, now that the Ravelry store is open, it would probably be quicker and easier for you to buy an official canvas bag (although maybe not a fun since it would hold your knitting/crocheting but not require any).
Of course you shouldn't use the combination of my pattern and her charts to attempt to mass produce these bags. In addition to being wrong, it wouldn't be very nice. :-)
But despite all that, I hope you enjoy my pattern. It would be very amusing one day to run into someone who had made one too!
[Hey, since you're already here...leave me a comment! Please? :-) ]

Felted Raverly ID Bag Recap

The bag, she is done! Well, the knitting and felting are done. Now I have to send it off to Mom to be lined. She says it will only take an evening, so it looks like I'll be able to take it to Las Vegas after all. Yipee!
To recap, I knit it with a single strand of Cascade 220. I used 3 skeins of Celery, 2 skeins of White and 1 each of Black and Ruby. I used a US10 needles and achieved a gauge of 4.5 sts/inch and 5 rows/inch. Pre-felting the bag was 25 inches wide, 23 inches tall and 3 1/2 inches deep. Post-Felting it was 21 inches wide, 17 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches deep. As advertised, the white did felt a little less than the green, which might account for the slight flaring at the top (or that might be from me yanking on it trying to stretch it taller).
The logo chart was created by Toni Blye and you can find it at http://phoenixpcd.wordpress.com/patterns/ or on Ravelry—her ID is phoenix. Of course you can also see my project entry on Ravelry, my ID is agm.
If you feel a burning desire to make one for yourself, I would like to offer some thoughts before I plunge into my "pattern" which might help guide some of your decisions.
I started knitting with out really planning it out, so the bag ended up being rather larger than I had originally planned and was also coming out wider than it was tall. I ended up picking up stitches around the top and going up to gain some height, so you might want to make it taller to begin with. (I have accounted for this in the suggested pattern.)
If you want to make a smaller bag, you can be subtle and just do the ball. Or Toni also did an upright logo with the ball over the word raverly, which should make for a narrower bag. In either case you are on your own stitch count wise, since I don't intend to make another one . :-)
(Vogue Knitting included for scale.) As for working the logo. I worked the red part of the ball in intarsia. The black and white details and all the lettering I worked in duplicate stitch. I have since decided most of the black details on the ball are large enough to also work in intarsia. I would still suggest doing the lettering in duplicate stitch as there is only one row of background color between letters, which could come out wonky in intarsia. Likewise, the white details are one stitch wide and easy enough to duplicate on. (There are pink parts on the chart for shading, which I blew off as I didn't want to buy pink yarn.) I'm not a big felter, but I understand that stranded knitting for felting isn't such a good idea as your work could end up puckered when the floats felt.
So, here we go:
Felted Ravelry ID Bag Pattern The front and bottom of the bag are worked flat. Then you pick up for the sides and back and attach them to the front as you knit.
Using Celery, CO 100 stitches.
Slip the first stitch of every row.
Work 3 rows in garter stitch (knit every row).
Work 12 rows in stockinette stitch (st st) (knit on RS, purl on WS).
Break Celery, switch to White and work 15 rows in st st.
Break White, switch to Celery and work 30 rows in st st. [or work 24 row and on the next RS row start the black part of the chart on the 28th st.]
Break Celery, switch to White work 4 rows in st st.
Next row: [This should be a Right Side Row, if it isn't work one more row (which is a hazard of adjusting the pattern after the fact.)] Begin chart on 27th stitch [if you are only working the red in intarsia. If you are going to work the black you will need to start six rows sooner on the 28th sts. (which is why you should always read the entire pattern before you start knitting)]
Continue in st st, working from chart and maintaining 30 row stripe pattern.
Work 5 more rows after the chart is complete (making final Celery block 35 rows total). Drop green yarn (do not break).
Switch to Black and work 20 rows st st. Break yarn, leaving last row live on a spare needle.
Stop! Do all your duplicate stitching now while you have this nice flat canvas to work on. (I think the duplicate stitch felted up beautifully.)
Return to dropped Celery yarn. With wrong side facing and using Celery pick up and knit 10 rows down the side of the bottom of the bag, Knit across the 100 live stitch on the spare needle, pick up and knit 10 stitches down the other side. (120 sts total)
Working in st st, turn and knit across all sts. [you might want to purl at the two corners of the back of the bag to add some definition. I can't help you with stitch count as I messed up my stitch count when attempting to knit the sides to the front. But it should be roughly stitch 10 and stitch 100. You're smart, you'll figure it out.]
You will now attach the sides and front of bag to the back of the bag in the manner you would knit on a button band. Check your big Vogue Knitting book, it has nice pictures and a clearer explanation than I'm about to give. Alternately, work it all flat and seam it when you're done. You've been slipping the first stitch of every row to facilitate this next part. Don't slip any more stitches.
Place one stitch from the front of the bag onto your left hand needle. Purl (or knit as appropriate) this edge stitch together with the first/next stitch on the needle. [I have an early blog post about this where I attempted to take pictures. But trust me, it's cool you should try it.]
Continue in this manner, working in st st and maintaining stripe pattern. At the end, work 3 rows garter stitch to match the front and bind off.
Weave in ends.
Handles (make 2)
[I should mention that I'm not thrilled with the handles, I think they are a little thin for the size of the bag. I'll see what Mom thinks. My current thought is maybe she can braid or twist them together with a strip of the lining fabric to bulk them up a bit. Anyway, you might want to make yours wider.]
Using US10 DPN and Black CO 8 Sts. Work in I-Cord [knit the stitches. Without turning work, slide stitches to the other end of the dpn, pull the working yarn across the back of the stitches and knit. Continue in this manner for every row, after a few rows the work will pull into a tube] for 24 inches. Switch to Celery and continue in I-Cord for 30 inches. Switch to Black and continue for another 24 inches.
The idea is to have the handles long enough to start in the middle bottom of the bag and offer extra support. I used black for the ends because I thought I would run out of Celery. Only the Celery should show when the handles are sewn on. Feel free to make them longer, shorter, or wider. Or use commercial handles.
Finishing
Get your Mom to attach the handles and make a neat lining. Enjoy.