grocery sack

my first design ever-finished! i know, this one kinda snuck in out of the blue. chad and i have this problem with plastic grocery bags piling up like crazy in our kitchen. we first started saving them for picking up claire's #2's; but (and i hate to admit it) for about the past 2 months, she's been going in the ivy under the tree, and i can never find 'em when she's done! so, i just leave the little tootsie rolls in there. what person walks in the ivy anyway, right? never the less, we now have a build up of plastic bags that we feel too guilty to throw out; but week after week we forget to take them to the store to the plastic bag drop off thing. that's when i decided to make my own grocery sack so as to avoid this whole dilemma all together.

i looked all over the internet for a pattern that i liked; but seeing as how i'm pretty particular, i just didn't find any that encompassed all that i was wanting. many of the market bags i saw were completely netting all the way up to the opening of the bag. i thought there should be a little something at the mouth. also, almost every bag used just an i-cord for the strap. ouch! you know when you fill the plastic bag up and it's heavy and it cuts into your hand or arm? that really sucks! so, i decided my bag must have a wide comfy strap. also, for some reason i really hate sewing seams. plus an item such as this seems like it'd be sturdier if it were done in one piece. sadly, almost everything out there is knit like a rectangle, folded, seamed, and handle attached separately. too many pieces. i wanted mine to be knit in the round with handle and all. behold, my grocery sack!

wip

finished product

first, i'll de-brief on how this one was knit, then i'll talk about what i'm gonna do with the next ones, since obviously i'm gonna need more than just one grocery sack, and this one needs improvements.

i knit this all in one piece using size 11 circular needles. i used cotton, cream 'n sugar yarn two strands held tog. i started with the strap which i did in rib stitch. at the the end of the strap i cast on additional stitches to make one side of the sack, then picked up stitches from the other end of the strap. then i cast on stitches for the other side. after that it's all knitting in the round! i started the mouth of the sack with rib stitch, then after a few rows changed to stockinette stitch. then i began the lace pattern. i used the lace pattern from elisa's nest tote and it worked wonderfully. after knitting the lace pattern for a while, i did some math and decreased on the remaining knit rows of the lace pattern until there were only 10 stitches left. then, i thread the tail yarn through, tied off, and it was done!

improvements: first of all, this one is a great template. for my first ever design project, i think it's pretty good. but, there are quite a few things that need to be improved: the strap is a great width; but needs to be about 4 inches shorter. also, the sack itself needs to be deeper. a little over double the length i think. the mouth of the bag is ok, but if i get ambitious i may try to keep it smaller, increase from the mouth, then decrease at the end. i'll get back to ya with the new improved version.

note: i actually used this bag to get groceries today. it's very sturdy. i put sacks of apples, oranges, caned food, and cheese in it. i walked the 4 blocks home and the strap was comfy. even with the modified strap length, it should still be able to cross the chest (if you don't want it on your shoulder) which worked well today.

meathead hat

for the past week or so i've been slowly banging out a clover lace caplet-of my own design. it's been slow going and i really needed some relief. so, since it was chilly out today, i decided to knit up these quick meathead hats. i used lion's brand extra bulky weight yarn and size 15 needles. the pattern called for bulky weight held tog; so i figured single strand would be fine. you have child, small/med, or large size choices and the first one i made was the sm/md. it ended up being way too big even for chad (he's wearing it). so i quickly did another in the child size which fit me like a glove! it only took about 30 min to do and it's just so darn cute! i also knit the flower which was quick as well. it was on a pattern for house slippers as an embellishment, and i thought it would be a nice touch. i attached it to a safety pin, so it's removable and can be used on anything else you choose. this hat was exactly what i needed, what a nice break!

i had to post these because they're beautiful. it's the sunset view from our window.

lush and lacy cardigan: finished

well, my lush and lacy cardigan is finally finished. actually, it was done about a week and a half ago; i just never got around to having chad help me get pics. so, here they are. overall i think it turned out pretty well for my first big project. though, i haven't put buttons on it yet. i decided i will definitely do this one again in the near future (while the pattern's still fresh in my mind) and when i do i'll: do it an a brighter color-yellow?, do it in a small instead of medium (it's kinda big for me), and be more careful of the arm and arm hole decreases (i kinda botched 'em and had to frog a lot)! overall i'd say this project was: fun for the first half then i wanted it over with-i'm sure this was because i had to frog a lot, the pattern was pretty simple and easy to follow, and the design is super cute! i'm actually excited to do it again. thanks sweater babe!

not such good color w/o the flash; but the lace is a bit more obvious.

shrugin' it

in between figuring out my lush and lacy cardigan dilemma and working on my market bag design, i've decided to post some pics of my recently finished chunky bell sleeve shrug. it's super cute and perfect for spring. i bought the pattern from ficklefiberdiva on etsy. it only took me one day to knit it and shizam, a perfect little piece to throw over anything. in fact, i wore it to sushi last night!

isn't it cute?!

of course claire had to be there. camera diva.