/karen/

Bag learner (reprise)

Monday, 21 September, 2009

Remember that bag I was trying to make in June last year? It was to replace the little black bag I bought for $8 in 2005. At the moment, I'm in the middle of making the Oblique cardigan, but it was getting a little tedious, so I decided to take a break and make a few little quick projects. One was a phone sock for my mobile. (I think phone socks are sort of stupid, but having broken my third clear crystal case this year, I figured it was probably better than forking out more money for a fourth. And there was no way I was going to buy one!) I used the leftover yarn from the cardigan I made Cathy:

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I just knitted something simple—based on the same principle as the Booga bag pattern: you knit the base in garter stitch, pick up stitches around the edge and then knit in the round for as long as you want. This was the result:

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It's pretty boring, but I was hoping it would felt up into something nice.

Now, when you're felting something with the washing machine, it's best to have something a bit bigger than that, otherwise you're wasting all that water for not very much. I thought I should really do something about that bag, but obviously the one I initially made wasn't very good. My Booga bag worked excellently, though, and I've been using it as a handbag ever since I made it. It's just a little too large, though, and I'm not too fond of carrying it over the shoulder. I just missed the black one I had. So I thought I would knit something similar, only smaller and in black. The principle is really the same: garter stitch for the bottom, pick up stitches around the edge, knit in the round for as long as you want. The result:

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(Both of those were made with Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply 100% wool.)

Then you make the handles out of a long piece of i-cord. I wanted long straps so I made 240 cm worth.

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By Saturday night, I had finished these things but still wasn't ready to return to Oblique. I had this vague notion that it might be nice to make a felted flower to go with the felted bag (and felted phone sock). I found some of the yarn I used to use for plastic canvas stuff and it was in an attractive colour, so I made four of the petals using the fourth pattern in Plethora of petals. I only had enough yarn for four. Then I stitched them together:

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Then all the pieces went into a wash bag, and then into the washing machine with hot water and a pair of jeans:

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I put them through the agitation cycle four times. When I pulled them out, I was quite disappointed: the phone sock, the bag and the i-cord didn't felt at all. I should have checked that I could do felting with that particular yarn! Post-felting, they looked like this:

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The flower turned out great though!

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Feeling rather disappointed on Saturday night, I went to bed wondering what I could do with what I got. The phone sock was all right; sure, it didn't turn out how I wanted, but it would still do the job of protecting my phone. It was the bag that was the problem.

I woke up this morning and thought that perhaps the bag was salvageable—that I could still make it the same as the Booga Bag, even though it wasn't felted. So I folded up the bag at the sides and punched holes through it for the i-cord:

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Using the bigger needle was more helpful for this:

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I also chopped the i-cord in half (even though it would probably unravel; I figured that if it did, I could always unpick it a bit and cast off properly) and threaded it through.

Then I got some of that fabric I bought from Reverse Garbage last year, cut out the pieces and dusted off the sewing machine to sew them together. They didn't quite match (which shows how hopeless I am at sewing!) but, hey, it's the lining; no one's going to see it!

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Then I sewed the lining into the bag:

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I wanted to put the flower on the front as decoration, but it really needed a centre. Then I found the blue glass button I bought from the Sydney Vintage Clothing, Jewellery and Textiles Show:

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I sewed that on the flower, and then sewed the flower onto the bag. That's a lot of sewing for someone like me who hates sewing!

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The finished bag looked like this:

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Here it is with all my stuff in it (wallet, A6 journal, pens, lip balm, mobile phone, keys):

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I'm quite happy with how it turned out:

black-bag-closeup
black-bag-full-length

And I have my black bag back!

/Karen/ had a thought at 12:34 AM | Comments (1)
Posted in: Craft | Trackbacks (0)
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Comments

Well done with the sewing!
I think it looks good - very relaxed and spring-y.

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Current:

seen: Moon 15/10/2009

read: The Incredibles 11/10/2009

seen: She's the Man 05/10/2009

read: I Kill Giants (Joe Kelly and J. M. Ken Niimura) 04/10/2009

read: Astro City The Dark Ages Book 1: Brothers and Other Strangers (Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross) 04/10/2009

seen: Children of Men 02/10/2009

seen: Metric (The Metro) 30/09/2009

seen: 500 Days of Summer 25/09/2009

seen: The September Issue 18/09/2009

seen: Gilmore Girls: Season 1 17/09/2009

read: Flight (Volume 1) (edited by Kazu Kibuishi) 16/09/2009

seen: Ponyo 11/09/2009

read: Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert) 05/09/2009

heard: Aimee Mann (Enmore Theatre) 04/09/2009

heard: Ben Folds Solo (Opera House) 31/08/2009

read: Phonogram: Rue Britannia (Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie) 26/08/2009

seen: Northanger Abbey 20/08/2009

read: The Princess Diaries (Meg Cabot) 18/08/2009

seen: The Phantom of the Opera 17/08/2009

seen: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 10/08/2009

seen: District 9 10/08/2009

read: Shortcomings (Adrian Tomine) 02/08/2009

read: AIR Volume 1: Letters from Lost Countries (Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker) 28/07/2009

seen: Persepolis 25/07/2009

seen: Ghost Town 25/07/2009

heard: Gutter Twins (Seymour Centre) 23/07/2009

seen: Coco Avant Chanel 20/07/2009

seen: Gutenberg! The Musical (Seymour Centre) 16/07/2009

seen: So You Think You Can Dance? Australia Live Tour (Sydney Entertainment Centre) 11/07/2009

seen: Every Little Step 07/07/2009

seen: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen 03/07/2009

seen: Synecdoche, New York 30/06/2009

seen: Charlie's Angels 27/06/2009

seen: Penelope 26/06/2009

seen: Coraline 10/06/2009

seen: The Sky Crawlers 08/06/2009

seen: The Bourne Ultimatum 07/06/2009

seen: The Bourne Supremacy 07/06/2009

seen: The Bourne Identity 06/06/2009

seen: Stick it 05/06/2009

Comment:

Kathleen said in Beilharzen:

Congratulations again smile

Elsie said in Beilharzen:

Don’t laminate your ultrasound picture smile That is my advice.

Diane Lovell said in Beilharzen:

Congratulations! This is so fantastic! smile

Little said in Beilharzen:

Thanks so much for sharing all of this… people swap engagement stories but rarely pregnancy stories! And it’s kind of similar don’t you think, all this excitement leading up to a big day!

So happy for you guys! Actually never been more excited for anyone except my sister! I think it’s because I think that you will both be amazing parents and love the idea that someone could grow up in your family.

Looking forward to many more posts on the topic. smile

Jan said in Beilharzen:

Lovely news, Karen.

/Karen/ said in Beilharzen:

Thanks everyone! I will be sure to ask for help when I need it!

sammi said in Beilharzen:

Great pic!! Peanut is cute! :D
Praying for you all!
xx

Sarah said in Beilharzen:

:D
I had a similar sort of morning sickness.. except I threw up! I’m suitably impressed that you coped OS.. that must have been tough.
It sounds like you’re doing marvelously otherwise!
Book recommendation on something a bit less technical and a bit more human: ‘Birth’ http://www.birthnet.com.au/

Bec said in Beilharzen:

Praise be to God indeed!  Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Ben A said in Beilharzen:

Congratulations, Beilharzen! Welcome to the slightly-bewildering world of pregnancy (and birth...and children...). God has blessed you greatly with this new life. We’ll be praying for Peanut’s growth and development, and for you guys as you prepare.

I’m sure you’re surrounded by baby veterans, but always happy to help with books/advice/recommendations/listening.

B&L;

Fi said in Oblique:

Excellent job Karen! You SHOULD be pleased with yourself!

Have you discovered http://www.ravelry.com ? It is an excellent site with thousands of free patterns in its database, lots of support, tips, forums etc and of course - friends like me? Look me up when you get there - fionag77

PS Are you just wearing a bulky dress or are you sporting a bump under that dress?

sammi said in Oblique:

oooh.... It’s done and it looks great on you! xxx

Bec said in Oblique:

Well done on all that hard work!  It looks great and will be very snuggly come winter!

/Karen/ said in Fashioning (part 2):

Thanks for letting me know, Timo!

Timo Rissanen said in Fashioning (part 2):

Hi there,
Thanks for pointing out the shortcoming on our website. I’ll pass it on to my colleagues and hopefully it will be rectified soon.

The documentary at Fashioning Now was by Holly Kaye-Smith; I’d be more than happy to put you in touch with her if you’d like.

Again, thanks for the comment, much appreciate it!

Kind regards,
Timo Rissanen

/Karen/ said in Fashioning (part 1):

Thanks Mark! Much appreciated!

Mark Crean said in Fashioning (part 1):

Rich survey, Karen. Particularly I was struck by the notion of Jesus being clothed with our sins. I heard recently somebody suggest the crown of thorns was a kings crown but it was made of the symbol of the curse in the Garden - thorns. I would like to read your thoughts about Joseph’s coat of many colours.
Looking forward to the next installment. Regards,Mark

Kathleen said in Yvonne (Part 3):

It is lovely - and looks great on you.

You’ve made me want to read it - though I may need an interpreter at times!

Kathleen said in Bag learner (reprise):

Well done with the sewing!
I think it looks good - very relaxed and spring-y.

/Karen/ said in Creative endeavour:

Hey Sandra! Thanks for the tip! I read it yesterday, but I struggled a bit because Lewis doesn’t start from the Bible. I wasn’t convinced by his argument. What did you think?

Interesting post Karen - Thanks smile
I like the ending too! :D
xxx

Fantastic post, Karen. Just great. Thanks!

Thanks Bec! Eternal life just keeps getting better and better ...

I do like the way you ended this post - excellent thought.

Personally I don’t feel that way. Maybe that’s something you should blog about?

Wow. Lots of things to pick up on there. It’s been interesting to see the changes to your blog these last 6-12 months: Twitter is certainly more immediate, but are there (gasp) downsides to having its constant buzz in the ear?

Is our (already fractured) ability to concentrate on a single relationship at a time further jeapordised by the regular buzz of tweetdeck (and worse yet, by the imagined sense of loss that goes with being off the grid)?

Or am I just projecting my own fears?

sandra j said in Creative endeavour:

Hi Karen!
If you’re still thinking about this… I just read CS Lewis’s essay “Learning in War-time” which exactly addresses this issue (ie. how can we justify cultural & aesthetic pursuits when people are going to hell around us?).  Have you read it?  i’d be interested to hear what you think..
(i have it in his little volume “Transposition and other Addresses”, but it’s easily findable online)

Sarah said in Creative endeavour:

I’m doing my own series on the trials and tribulations of writing on my own blog here http://sedshed.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Head%20to%20Hand
It’s coming along slowly smile

Coincidentily, I stumbled upon the above Phonogram vs. the Fans cover when digging around for ID concepts for Salt. A disturbingly brilliant image.

Thanks Karen. At the very least, this post gives some context to your myriad of phonogram tweets. At best, it has reinvigorated my stagnated appreciation of comics.

Seriously, though 4,549 words. Is that the best you can do? I say, longer!

Hey @RodeoClown! Yes, I neglected to mention Gillen writes about gaming. Guan said once he had the ideal job: writing, comics and games.

As far as I know, McKelvie doesn’t trace photos; he just draws (so talented ...)

You should give Phonogram a try. Be warned, though: series 1 is a little different to series 2—still clever but there are some things that are a bit strange in it if you’re not used to the fantastic.

RodeoClown said in Phonogram: A fangirl's tribute:

Whoops, I stuffed up that link, sorry.
It was to Rock Paper Shotgun where he writes (he also has a standalone blog as well.

RodeoClown said in Phonogram: A fangirl's tribute:

I didn’t know Gillen wrote comics until I saw the last phongram reference you made on here. It’s odd as I only knew of him as a videogame jounalist (which he is also really good at).

I read the sample issue of phonogram they have up at the Image comics (I think) site.

It looked pretty interesting - I like the subtlety involved in telling the story - the references aren’t all forciby thrust into your brain by the writer.

Do you know if the art is done by tracing photos or just dtawn?

I certainly don’t understand enough about pop music to really get that comic series, but I’m glad you’ve shared how you came to appreciate comics.

I’d say go and make some short comics. Seems like it will make the longer stuff easier to put together.

You’re right. I don’t really understand. But I do so love reading your writing. It’s like you’re speaking inside my head and excitedly telling me something.

/Karen/ said in Creative endeavour:

Thanks Sarah! Feel free to share your own thoughts on the subject.

Sarah said in Creative endeavour:

I’m a Christian, I’m a writer (well, I’m working on my first novel which is nearing completion) and I felt your post so PERFECTLY captured the dilemmas I’ve been thinking about.

yvonne said in Yvonne (Part 3):

KAREN!!!! it looks so amazing!!! i cant believe how beautiful it is. Everyone at work is just amazed at how talented you are. I’ll get in contact with you soon xx

JC said in Yvonne (Part 2):

I love it, Karen. You must teach me how to do this.

Blinks:

Showing her daughter that women are great by doing tours and walking in the footsteps of famous women. I like that this article is about engagement.

Jordan White, editor for Marvel, answers questions.

Jamie McKelvie answers questions.

Vision therapy as a treatment for ADHD, learning disabilities and even autism. The scientific community's opinion. The results of concentrated therapy.

Kieron Gillen on Phonogram, Siege, Ares, Loki and his collaborative relationship with Jamie McKelvie.

Superheroes and how they have changed the way we see urban landscape. Their attraction to New York.

Kieron Gillen talking about Phonogram's run and the effect it had on its audience.

Guy Gavriel Kay's official website.

ESV in MP3 form: complete BIble is USD 30.00.

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