Newest Projects

Since Mr. Binnig's Aunt in New Jersey had the winning bid for our Knit Knacks Messenger Bag, I decided that I needed to make one for myself!

This time, I was able to continue the "zig-zag" pattern of the varigated yarn throughout the round body of the bag, but woops! I ran out of yarn when I was making the strap. Humm... what to do? We ran out to Jo-Ann's to see if we could get another skein of yarn, but darn! They didn't carry the correct color. I'd have to order it online - which I did. Impatient as I am though, I couldn't wait for it to arrive. So... I undid the flap and started kitting the strap from the flap. See, that's the beauty of yarn. If you want to change the way something looks, you can just unravel what you've done and use the yarn somewhere else. I completed the strap using the varigated yarn and then I redid the flap in a solid green (which was a skein I already had). I ran out of that too, but I had enough unraveled varigated flap yarn to put a small stripe of the varigated yarn at the bottom of the flap.







Once it was done, into the washer it went - 2 times. Then, I finished the piece off and personalized it by machine embroidering my favorite "Peace" symbol on a patch. Way cool!
















Then, on to the next project....

I love clogs. I have a pair of Haflinger Felted Clogs that I love, but they are seriously falling apart - particularly the right foot. I don't know why. Anyway, I found a really cool pattern for felted clog slippers. I just HAD to make some felted clog slippers (that's what the green skein was for!)

The clogs are knitted and they are really strange! The pattern tells you to knit and then switch directions and knit some more and do some m1 things (M1 means Make 1 - aka make a new stitch). It's pretty crazy and seems pretty random, but after a little while, one looks at the knitted stuff on the needle and it all starts to make sense.

I was finished with my clog slippers in a weekend. Into the wash they went. Now... I think this is where a top-loading washing machine would come in handy as clogs get all balled up during the felting. It would be better if one could stop the cycle and unball the clogs every once in a while in order to get the felting a little more even. I'll have to play around with that. But even so, I LOVE my clogs and they fit my little feet just perfectly!

Here are some pictures of JP the Penguin watching in amazement as the clogs transform from big huge clown clogs to cute little fuzzy clogs right in front of his eyes!

Wash Time!

It's important for adults to realize that they can learn a great deal from kids. This week in knit knacks, I showed our 4th grade knit knackers our pre-felted bag which was nearly complete. They had lots of questions about the felting process. I told them that the next step was that I was going to knit a small swatch and try felting that first. I explained that a lot of time and effort (not to mention yarn!) went into the bag and I didn't want to take the risk of ruining the bag by trying to felt it without first knowing a little bit about how it would turn out. The kids asked me how much the bag would shrink and I said I had absolutely NO idea, but I hoped it would shrink a lot because the bag was huge? How huge, you ask? We all thought that our 5 year old buddy Parker could easily curl up and take a nap in it. That's how big it was. Then, one of my knit knackers, who apparently has more forsight than her mentor, says to me... "Maybe you should have knit your swatch and felted it before you knit the bag." These kids don't miss a thing! YES! I should have tried felting a swatch before I knitted the bag. This is one of those simple rules of life that we so often ignore and end up with a lot of frustration in exchange. Check your gauge, felt a test swatch, measure twice cut once, righty tighty-lefty loosey.... When will we ever learn.

Well, despite the fact that I lived dangerously and knit before I tested my felting, I think I lucked out this time.

I took my chances and ran my swatch through the laundry - in my front-loader along with some jeans and other items. I washed in hot water with a little detergent and used a slow spin cycle. The end result was quite a bit of shrinkage and a dramatic change in texture! I don't think Parker could fit in it anymore!

Here are some pictures of the changes:

March into the Home Stretch!

A few updates for all the Knit-Knackers. First, due to snow days, book fair carry-overs, and the fact that we still have several projects unfinished, Knit Knacks will continue to meet in March. I'm sure some of the kids will be happy to hear that since they were unhappy with me for my original plan to end Knit Knacks in February. Unfortunately, this actually means we'll only be able to meet twice - on March 3rd and on March 17th. I have some meetings on the 10th, so we will not be able to meet that day.

Second update is on our bag! This picture in no way shows the size of the bag. It's REALLY BIG! It measures about 24 inches wide and about 20 inches tall. That's big. I've now completed the bag and flap and have moved on to the strap - remember those stitches I put on the big safety pin holders? I put them back on my needles and am knitting away at them for the strap. The strap is actually knit in two pieces from the two sides of the bag and joined by a special stich called the Kitchener stitch. I have no idea why it is called the Kitchener stitch and I have no idea how to do a Kitchener stitch, but that's what instructions are for. I'll read the instructions, picture it in my head, maybe look on the internet and find some more instructions, and then give it a try. If it looks terrible - no problem because I can just take it apart and start over. See, if one can read and follow directions, there's no CAN'T in knitting. We just keep reading and trying until it looks right!

Just a reminder that for the Arts Auction, I'm asking my fellow Knit Knackers to donate some knitting supplies to put in the bag. Please send these items to school marked "For Knit Knacks Bag."

And Finally!!!

I went around and around and around and finally stopped when the bag reached 20 1/2 inches tall. Then, the instructions told me to BO (bind off) one of the long sides of the bag. After that the instructions said to knit a short side and transfer those stitches to a holder. The next long side was knit, and then the remaining short side stitches were transferred to a holder. The stitches on the holder will later be knit to form the handle. The long side will be knitted and purled to form a flap. Since the flap is knitted back and forth the knitting on one row and the purling on the next row will actually continue the same stitch look that knitting in the round produced. Why? Because a purl is kind of a reverse knit stitch!

In the pictures you can see a couple of handy tools for knitting. Look for the blue end cap on the needle holding the flap stitches. This little rubber cap slips on the end of the needle so that the stitches don't fall off when the piece isn't being worked on. The next thing to look for are the stitch holders on the ends of the bag. These are like BIG safety pins. They can hold a set of stitches in place until you are ready to work on them. Very handy!

Growing and Growing...

The bag is getting really big now. Actually it looks more like a sweater than a bag at this point. Right now it measures about 15" x 24". We want it to approximate a square when finished, so I still have about 9 inches to go! I'm on the 4th skein of yarn, so I'm thinking I'll need 2-3 more skeins to finish.

Several of the kids asked me about the pattern on the bag. Believe it or not, the entire bag is knitted from one long continuous strand of the same type of yarn using only one type of knitting stitch. The bottom texture and pattern are created by knitting back and forth in rows. The sides are knitted around and around - one long spiral. Kind of like a slinky! This changes not only the texture of the stitch, but also changes the pattern of the colors. It's a varigated yarn, so it changes color and repeats the color changes along it's length. Next question... why does the pattern change as the bag gets longer? The reason for this is because each skein of yarn has a slightly different rate of color change. The skeins toward the top of the bag change colors in a shorter amount of space than the skeins at the bottom part of the bag. This gives the pattern a whole different appearance.

Felted Bag Progress

I've been working diligently on our bag. The final dimensions before felting will be 21 1/2 inches x 20 inches so roughly a square. Seems a little odd that it might finish as a rectangle, but I guess this will be an experiement and we'll see if the rows really do shrink up more than the columns of stitches. If they do, then that's probably something important to remember when felting!!!

Hanby Knit Knacks for 2008

Knit Knacks is finally underway this year! I'm happy to report that the switch to the lunchtime club has been a very positive change. The groups are divided by age and are smaller than our previous after school club, so the kids are able to receive more instruction on their projects.

First & Second Graders started off with finger-knitting and have moved on to loom knitting and making out pom pom dolls.

The Third Graders have also decided they'd like to make pom pom dolls. So far we've made heads, hands, & feet. At our next session, we'll move on to the body of the doll.

The 4th & 5th Graders have been meeting together even though they have separate lunches. These kids are doing a wide variety of activities! We have some pom pom dolls in the works, lots of looms, and some kids are working diligently on needle knitting projects such as a back pack and poncho. We've also checked out a knitting machine. Way cool!

For this year's Arts Auction, we are going to put together a knitting bag. I'd like all of the Knit Knack kids to donate some knitting supplies to put in the bag. I'm knitting the bag, which will be felted once it is finished. The kids will be following the progress of the bag and will learn about felting in the process. We're also learning how a single strand of varigated yarn can change appearance when it is knitted with different techniques. Check out our bag in the picture above!