The evening's activity

[jwgh]

Watched 'Ghost World' and finished knitting my BAG:







Tomorrow evening's activity: Go to the laundromat and felt the bag. I will take more pictures then, probably, unless I manage to completely destroy the bag at that point (never having felted something before -- or at least not on purpose).

The pattern is a mutated version of a pattern my sister and her husband found on Knitty.

Comments

[killerwolf.livejournal.com]

Whoa! It turned out fan-fucking-tastic. Will you teach me sometime how to do this intarsia/colored pattern/whatever thing? I haven't ventured into it yet because I want to be taught in person instead of figuring it out on my own.

[jwgh]

Sure, perhaps that's what I can do with my scarf next.

That pattern was pretty much improvised up on the fly (although I did work a little with graph paper at a couple of points) so I'm pleased with how nice it looks!

[samantha2074.livejournal.com]

Wow, Jake, that looks awesome. I definitely need to get some pointers the next time I see you.

[yong-mi.livejournal.com]

Wow, that looks awesome!
Was the pattern done using Fair Isle-type two color knitting or slipping stitches?

[jwgh]

I'm not so good on terminology, but I think that the technique I used is called Intarsia. Fair Isle is similar, and looks like what I use when I'm working on, say, one of my circular-needle scarfs (because all of the loose yarn strands will end up inside the scarf where nobody will see it), but I don't think it would work as well for a bag as the loose strands would catch on whatever I put in the bag and might make a mess when I do the felting (not that I've felted anything before, so I might have this wrong).

The slipping stitch method looks neat. I haven't tried it before but will have to give it a whirl at some point. I like geometrical patterns!

[yong-mi.livejournal.com]

Looking at your user image I am inspired to make a little stuffed happy Mac - do you think I should use cotton or wool? Or a wool-cotton blend?

[jwgh]

I would be tempted to use wool because I'm tempted by the whole felting thing, which is supposed to hide the boundaries between stitches somewhat. Either would be nice, though. I'll see if my sister (who knows more about these things than I) has any suggestions.

If you use the '1 pixel = 1 stitch' approach the pattern gets stretched somewhat (as you can see from my user icons) ... it's still usually recognizable though.

I'm going to be working on a little stuffed bear soon (the first project of that kind that I've made).

[jwgh]

My sister responds:

My suggestion would be to use wool, as it's easier to knit tightly, and for stuffed things you want a tight knit (so the stuffing doesn't poke through). Whatever the recommended needle size is for the yarn, I would go down 2 sizes. (So if it calls for 8, use 6). However, if your friend has some cotton or a blend he or she is dying to use, it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world. I don't remember what the macs look like from the side or back. I think the easiest thing to do would be to use two colors (or more) to do the styling of the screen and disk drive, etc on a flat piece (knit a rectangle). And then knit the other pieces individually, and sew it all together. If your friend wants to felt the little Mac, use wool, and sew it all together except for a little space for the stuffing, felt it, and then stuff it. (This is what the patterns say to do, though I'm tempted to try to stuff it first, loosely, and then felt it. Maybe I'll try it out on a little felted ball for Ezra. Or if the advice people are giving is right, a horribly misshapen weird little wool thing for Ezra. Regardless, I'm sure he'd love it.).

I'm trying REALLY, um, intensely

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

not to FNARR any of that.

Wow, that's cool

[tigresse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for showing the pics of the bag. I really need to get back to my knitting projects and seeing your success gives me some much needed enthusiasm.

Re: Wow, that's cool

[jwgh]

Hurrah!

[schwa242.livejournal.com]

My my... that is a bag!