Finished Object Friday

chocbox
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I poked at the picture with Photoshop Elements, but couldn't fix the color. It's a whole lot darker and more chocolate than this shows. One half is from Spindies (10 different chocolate-themed fibers) and the other is some alpaca that a friend gave me. I worked to have two similar groups of wool so I can eventually make socks out of this. The spinning's improved, but it might not be skinny enough for fingering. It's going into the stash and may reappear some day in sock form.

This is counts as done because it is. It has a brother that is in progress and the pair is going into the mail in the middle of next week.

Nothing new to show

Finished Object Friday. I finished a journal and two journal bags (previous post).

I was working away on a quilt, when the tension spring on the bobbin case broke. In plain English, it means the machine can't sew. Yay for the Internet! I found a place in San Diego that had the part in stock and I got it in two days. The machine works better than it has in years, so this was a Good Thing in the end. Maybe the quilt will appear here next week.

June is a month for my quarterly do-it-yourself sock club. I'm doing Cookie A's Twisted Flower socks. They are really pretty and fun.

Knitter's Brewing Company is doing another Knitalong. This one has one awareness ribbons on it. A portion of the kit price will be donated to breast cancer research, so I decided it'd be a good thing to do. Mine are going to be white to represent lung cancer and emphysema.

Journal Bag

I had several goals in mind for this project. First, I wanted to use up a bunch of recycled sari silk. Second, I wanted to have a bag that I could put the electronics for Knitty's Know It All Bag on. I wanted a bigger bag than that. Also, I don't think that the sari silk felts. Finally, I wanted a bag that would be the right size for one of my composition book journals. I crocheted it because I thought it would be more stable than knitting, it would be thicker than knitting (even felted), and I'd read that crocheted sari silk handled the fuzzy bits of thread better than knitting. Based on my experience, I agree with that last part.

I'm posting this here in case someone else might be thinking of a similar project. I have no doubt you could do a flashier job, but maybe this will help give you a launching point.

Journal Bag

Materials
Recycled sari silk in multicolor, about 1 1/2 skeins/250 yards total
Solid color, 50-75 yards total
Size H crochet hook

Front and Back
With multicolor, chain 25.
Row 1: Sc in 2nd chain from hook, sc in each chain across. 24 stitches
Row 2: Ch 2, dc in 2nd stitch, dc in each stitch across.
Row 3: Ch 1, sc in 2nd stitch, sc in each stitch across.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until the piece is about 9 1/2 " long. Finish with row 3.
For the front, end off.

For the back, make the same as the front to this point. Cut the multicolored yarn and switch to the solid color. Work row 3 only (only single crochet) until the solid color is about 5-6" long.
Border row: *sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, sl, *repeat until end.
Sc up the side to the point where the solid color turns to multicolor. Set aside.

Sides and Strap
With multicolor, chain 5.
Row 1: Sc in 2nd chain from hook, sc in remaining chains. 4 stitches.
Row 2: Ch 1, sc in 2nd stitch, sc in each stitch across.
Repeat row 2 until piece is around 60" long. Sew the ends together. It should be a loop without any twists in it.

Finishing
Back and sides: Hold the side/strap piece seam to the back piece at the point where you stopped. Slipping the hook through the edge of the strap and the edge of the back, sc around the side, bottom, second side of the back, and down the second side of the flap. Fasten off and weave the end in.

Front and sides: Work as for the back and sides. Sc across the top edge, too, if you'd like.

Lining
Note that the bags in the picture were unlined when I took the picture.
Cutting: A fat quarter (22" x 18") may be enough material to cut these pieces.
Add 1/2" to each measurement before cutting for seam allowances.
Front: measure height and width.
Back: same as front.
Sides: Height should be the same as the front. Measure the width.
Bottom: Width is the same as the front width. Length is the same as the side width.

Sewing: Using a 1/4" seam, sew front to sides and back to sides. Sew bottom to the bottom. Turn inside out. Turn top edge under 1/4". Slip lining into bag and slip stitch into place around the top inside of the bag.

I Like Spindies

spindiescoral
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

This came in the mail today from Spindies. It made me very happy. There are ten different batts/braids/rovings, all with a coral theme. This is my second sampler box from Spindies and like this one even better than the first one. They offer a different color each month. I'm going to see if I can squeeze the budget for $25 to get this again next month. The fibers are great.

I have some fiber that's close to the same color as the off-white fluff at the upper left. I think I'll use that and blend it with these. That will be my main project for Tour de Fleece next month. TdF is a thing that goes on concurrently with the Tour de France bicycle race. Spinning will occur daily.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some fiber to sniff and pet.

Blogoversary -362: the sidebar mysteries

It is not entirely my fault I missed my blogoversary this year. The little counter on the sidebar wasn't working the last time I checked the page.

The things in the sidebar don't always work, but they entertain me. I liked the little weather pixie girl and her cat. Apparently the computer that supplies the weather pixies is not behaving itself and the person who can fix it went off snowboarding several months ago. I'm following the main weather pixie person on Twitter, but haven't seen anything from her in a while. I'll leave my pixie alone for now. Maybe someday I'll click over here and she and the cat will be back.

I'm fascinated with where all the different people come from who drop by here. I like the little colored flags that show up on the list of locations. I can figure out why some end up here, likely people who Googled intarsia in the round and found my posting on that. What I don't understand is the rash of visitors to a posting I did on a swap package with a dragon theme. It was a great swap. LeiLani does an amazing job with the things she puts together. It was a couple of years ago, though, and I have no idea what is in it that a search engine might be supplying to people.

Finished

fireflybag
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I finished something that's made of fiber and it is Friday. There are little pictures of each of the 9 characters from the show Firefly on this project bag. If you open it up and look at the bottom, it says "I aim to misbehave" in machine embroidery. I've been going back and forth about whether it is good enough to send. My inner critic is screaming about how the little people don't line up as they should (poor Book nearly got a haircut). I think it'll be okay. The recipient will be getting some yarn that she'll love and some handmade socks, so maybe she won't mind.

In the semi-finished category, there are:

• quilt squares all cut out. 3 of 13 finished.
  
• a journal has been decorated. I like to make notes in these school composition books that I glue a bunch of things on and in. I've been planning on making a journal bag from some of the recycled sari silk I've got, so that's step one of that project. I'm planning on putting the electronics for the Know-it-all Bag on this bag instead of the one I felted for that project.
  
• started a pair of socks for the Firefly swap. It was insane: I had to go down to size 000 dpns to get gauge.
  
• started spinning some of the alpaca that'll be blended with the Spindies chocolate samples. I was very naughty and bought another sample box. The theme is Coral and the colors look wonderful.
  

Nothing finished, but lots started

simonmal
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

These cross-stitched pieces of Firefly crew members came from Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins. Aren't they cute? The remind me of what a Lego version of the crew might look like. They are part of a bigger project which is obviously not finished yet.

I'm about a third of the way through all the brown fiber for my Chocolate Box yarn. I should just wait until Tour de Fleece starts in July to work on this, but it's just so relaxing. That's 2/3 not finished yet.

The new quilt has all of the fabric picked out and most of the pieces cut out. The sewing hasn't started, so it isn't anywhere near finished. It has a name, though: Bloom Where You're Planted.

Remember when I was going to do a granny a day? Neither do I. A whole lot of things moved it back in the queue.

Knitting. I remember knitting, but haven't done any in a couple of weeks! The next project is a secret pair of socks. I actually need to buy yarn for these, so they haven't even been started. I have a pattern and know what color yarn I think I'll use, so that's something.