Round up

My current project, the Scrunchable Scarf for the Red Scarf Project, is approximately half finished. It's slightly longer than three feet. Since the pattern doesn't have a lot of stretch in it, I'm debating making it longer than six feet. I may not have much choice in the matter, though. I've almost finished the first hank and took the second one back to the LYS today to have it wound. (They'd been busy the day I bought it, and I wasn't sure if I was going to need a second.) Considering that the scarf is relatively narrow, I'm surprised it's taken as much yarn as it has.

My next project remains undetermined. I've been thinking about doing something quick (and non-wearable) for one of my brothers, but am stumped as to what it might be. Suggestions?

My Everlasting Bagstoppers have a habit of calling attention to themselves when I go to the grocery. Because it's rare for me to be buying a lot at once, I almost always use the self-checkout lane. The problem is that the computer measuring the weight in the bagging area balks at the placement of something there before anything has been scanned. I have to get the attention of the cashier, who may or may not be nearby, before I can proceed.

I'm not sure if the presence of my bags throws the computer off in other ways, but I've never had an issue with the self-checkout machine not recognizing that I have indeed placed the item in the bag. Tonight it just didn't want to cooperate with each of the first three items. Maybe the cashier is entering an approximate weight for my bags that's throwing it off?

Bell lap sprint

Everlasting Bagstopper

Yarn: Lily The Original Sugar'n Cream (100% cotton; worsted weight)
Color: Bright Navy and Early American Ombre
Needles: US 5 and 10 1/2 circulars; US 5 dpns
Stitches: 44 for base, 116 for body

Per my understanding of the Ravelympics rules, I needed to have this project finished by the time the closing ceremony came to a conclusion in Beijing if I wanted it to count. Considering the Chinese city is twelve hours ahead, that didn't leave much time for Sunday knitting. Wisely or not, I stayed up until 4 a.m. putting the last touches on this market bag. I definitely wouldn't have done so without a deadline, but all that matters is that I'm done.

Having finished my first Everlasting Bagstopper a week ago, I knew that finishing (binding off, handle making, weaving in ends) was tedious, so it's a good thing that the Olympics were on to provide background accompaniment. Staying up through the late coverage even meant getting to see snippets of the javelin competition. Catching highlights of a classic but television-marginalized Olympic event was one bonus of burning the midnight oil.

As I plodded through the sewn bind off, I discovered what produced an extra stitch last time I was finishing the edge. The circular needle not being used would sometimes find its way into a stitch or the long tail of the yarn being used to bind off. If I hadn't noticed it getting in the way, I might have had a couple unwanted extra stitches again. In my effort to guard against any additional or loose stitches, I probably bound off too tightly, but I expect that some flexibility around the bound off edge will come as the bag gets used.

I-cord wasn't hard, although it was hard on my wrists. Trying to make sure that the stitches, particularly the first one, were tight meant keeping a lot of tension in the yarn and my hands. The three I-cords I knit turned out fine and took about an hour each to make them twenty inches long. That amount of time is in line, if not less overall, with what it took to do the linen stitch handle on the previous bag. The progress felt faster at least.

Accidentally dropping just knit stitches on the cords, a problem that arose more frequently as night bled into morning, presented a dilemma of its own. The cotton's splitty nature could make it tough to tell what had been a stitch and what wasn't.

I only had two stitch holders, so I kept the live stitches at the end of the I-cords on dpns. It wasn't the most elegant or manageable solution but one that met my needs. When it came time for the braiding of the I-cords, including one still attached to its ball of yarn, I had quite a mess on my hands. Tails tangled. Dpns dangled and fell out. I didn't have a clue how to braid the three cords, so I stuck with what seemed to be producing a sufficient result. By the time I'd nearly run out of cord length to braid and wrangled the live stitches onto a holder, good enough was acceptable for the handle.

There is some space between the braids on each side where the handle is attached. It seems like it's probably "wrong", but I think it looks all right and will be OK from a support standpoint. I might have made each I-cord longer--this handle might be a little short--but in the dead of the night, the thought of knitting more was not one to be followed.

I tried the suggestion to weave in the ends and then splitt the plies and knot them to keep the ends from reappearing. The process was time-consuming but provided relief that the whole bag won't fall apart when carrying something with a little weight.

Overall, I'm satisfied with this project's final result. After adding the upper border in navy the preponderance of white in the variegated yarn bothered me less. The overall effect is pleasing to the eye. (For some reason it reminds me of a sweater.) Because it won't stretch as much, I prefer this handle to the one I made on the first market bag. My novice attempt at braiding isn't bad considering I didn't know what I was doing and was bleary-eyed. (Note to Karen, per her comment: I don't have any nieces--or nephews, for that matter--so there are no cool uncle points to be earned.)

So, Ravelympics comes to an end and were quite successful on my end. I made two FOs and learned some new techniques that I can use. And, oh yeah, I'm ready to knit something that doesn't use cotton.

So the I is for idiot, eh?

Binding off, knitting a handle, and weaving in ends are all that remain on my second Everlasting Bagstopper. I don't know how this one was knitted as fast as it has been, but I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm pleased that I've found that groove I had back when I was learning the basics and knitting scarves just about every other day.

The big news is that I'm going to try Donna's braided I-cord handle suggestion. I took another look at Knitting Help's "How to Make I-cord" tutorial and understood it. I have no idea why it didn't click for me when I watched it before. The best I can guess is that it seemed like a new thing to learn, which caused my brain to rebel and refuse to absorb the lesson. And I didn't want to add dpns to the mix.

Assuming I don't break my hands in the next twenty-four hours, I think it's safe to say that I'll have a new FO to show off tomorrow and a second Ravelympics medal to claim. It'll be a nice way to cap my long vacation too.

In the round

Between my second and third films of the day I found time to knit in The Oval at Ohio State. There was bench in a nice, cool spot under a tree, so I set up shop for awhile and continued on the market bag. Can't say that I got a lot done--less than I expected to do this afternoon, actually--but it was a welcome pause in the day nonetheless.

I'm not sure what I think of the variegated yarn's look now that I've knitted one ball of it. There's more white in it than I would prefer. I don't know what I expected, except that it isn't exactly what I'm making. I'm not dissatisfied with what I've done, just uncertain if I like it or not. I can be weird this way, but I'll probably come around.

Well, if I'm to get this finished by the time the closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics ends, I better stop blogging and start knitting.

Citius, Altius, Fortius?

I've placed no expectations upon myself regarding my second Everlasting Bagstopper and the Ravelympics. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to finish it by Sunday night, and anyway, I've already marched to the top of the podium. Completing this market bag in the next few days would be all bonus.

After ripping through one skein during knit night, though, I'm inclined to believe that I might be able to get it done by the deadline. A quick measurement shows that the body of the bag is halfway finished, although I'm not sure how accurate my measuring is. Regardless, I made terrific progress tonight.

I have a love/hate relationship with deadlines, which I suppose is the same for most people. I know that my motivation is stronger when deadlines are in place, even if that motivation sometimes doesn't kick in until near the zero hour. One of the reasons I wanted to participate in Ravelympics was the extra incentive it provides to accomplish a task. It pushes me a little more to discover what I can do. Will I be up to the challenge over the next three days? We'll see.

On second thought

So I'm knitting another market bag and get to the part where I need to turn the work. It took me a couple moments to remember how the needle can get in a position to pick up stitches. It's not rocket science, but I'm still learning.

I also came to the realization that I didn't need to knit another row to get the needle in place to do this, which is what I did the first time. I could have just turned the knitting around and gone from there. Again, not exactly a genius level observation but a worthwhile one for me.

Picking up stitches is not the easiest thing to do, especially when it comes to determining how much space to leave in between them. I have more rows with the available edge than I need. For instance, I need to pick up fourteen stitches on the short sides, but I could pick up more. I did OK with this on the first short side, but on the second short side I was picking up too many on one half and had to leave larger gaps between the last ones so I could reach the turn that marks the start of the round.

It occurs to me now that a simple solution would have been to drop the stitches I picked up on that side and started over, but this didn't cross my mind at the time. I have another idea for this problem when making a third bag, though. I should pick up more stitches than I need but which correspond to the number of rows or close to it. The next time around I can knit two together at the corners. (I'm thinking I need more along the lines of sixteen or eighteen stitches on the short sides.) This way I'll still be working with the suggested number of stitches and make cleaner corners where I've picked them up.

As it stands, two of the corners look pretty good. They're definite improvements from the last time I did this. One looks kind of wonky but is acceptable. The last corner has more of a hole than I'd like, but I knew I had to cover more ground with the last six picked up stitches. Weaving in the ends should cover it up sufficiently.

Improving on past and current mistakes is one of the benefits of knitting the same thing over and over, something I do that may be alarming to anyone who looks at my projects on Ravelry.

Cotton matters

In a gesture of magnanimity, those on Mount Ravelry decided to permit sign-up slackers like me to participate in the Ravelympics fun after all. This afternoon I strode to the podium and received my medal for completing the Bag-n-Tote Backstroke. Scroll down the sidebar to see what Bobicus Maximus honored me with.

Obviously I was going to knit the bag despite not making the initial cut in time for the knit-along, yet there's something about being allowed in after the fact that pleases me a great deal. I can't explain it. It's like being a grade school kid who does well on an assignment but is more in thrall of the scratch-and-sniff sticker the teacher put on it than the grade.

Fresh off the podium, I was energized to find a new project. I was tempted to aim for a better result on the Everlasting Bagstopper, but the thought of entering a different Ravelympics event was enticing as well. I debated trying my hand at the 4-Corners Dishcloth, but learning the invisible cast on, using waste yarn, and grafting like mad seems slightly too dangerous to attempt for now.

For now I'm going to turn my attention to making another market bag. If I get it done in time for the end of Ravelympics, fantastic. If not, that's OK too. I left the apartment in pursuit of yarn and color inspiration for the second bag. The closest JoAnn's had a limited selection of Sugar'n Cream that didn't do anything for me. Michael's had even less. Hobby Lobby came through again as the best stocker of cotton brand, although at first I was sure if any of the colors were jumping out at me.

I settled on Early American Ombre for the bag's body and Bright Navy for the base, garter stitch edging, and handle. I'm considering doing something crazy and knitting the half of the top edging and handle in Bright Navy and half in Wine. (And when I say half, I mean half of each row, not half of the rounds.) Wine doesn't exactly match up with the similar color in the yarn, so I'm undetermined on that stylistic component for now.

I thought that the balls of variegated yarn were lighter than the single color balls, and sure enough, there's only two ounces versus two and a half. There's probably a good reason why the variegated is more expensive--you get less for the same cost--but it's beyond me. Anyway, I'm restocked and ready to start knitting again.

Podium worthy

Everlasting Bagstopper

Yarn: Lily The Original Sugar'n Cream (100% cotton; worsted weight)
Colors: Dark pine and Jute
Needles: US 5 and US 10 1/2 circulars
Stitches: 44 for base, 116 for body

Since I was too late to the Ravelympics party, I'll have to give myself a medal for making this during the Beijing Olympics. I've knit it in the spirit of the Ravelry knit-along. I started during the opening ceremony and have worked on it diligently while watching (or listening, as the case may be) the Summer Games. So cue up my anthem as I take my spot. I believe I've earned it.

The handle gave me all I could, err, handle. I'm not sure how long I worked on it last night--possibly an hour--but it took around three hours this afternoon to finish it off. I wasn't expecting that. Then there was another hour-plus to graft the handle onto the stitches on a holder and weave in the ends. I've done the Kitchener stitch before, but it's been a year. As I was almost done, I saw that I should have been pulling the yarn tighter while grafting. I tried to hide the problem and strengthen the graft when weaving in the end. I think it'll work.

The color change and a couple extra strands, the remnants of a surprise knot in the middle of the ball, gave me plenty of ends to hide. Due to the nature of the bag's body, I was a bit perplexed as to how to sew them in without them showing and keeping them there. Time will tell if they reappear.

Linen stitch made a nice, firm handle that isn't as stretchy as, say, garter stitch. It will loudly announce every mistake you make. I committed a couple but am still pretty pleased with how the handle looks. I regularly debated the final length and decided to go a couple inches longer than the approximate width of the bag, settling on eighteen inches. As I would discover, the handle is stretchier than I expected and could have been shorter, but that's just something for me to note for the next time.

I had put off going to the grocery store for a couple days because I was determined to make my next visit with this bag. I didn't need to get a lot, although I purchased more than one plastic bag would accommodate. The market bag easily held it all. Next time the orange juice will go in its own bag as I sweated carrying this all the way to the car. I had visions of the handle ripping off and the bag's sides splitting. That would not have been cool.

Overall, knitting this bag was a positive experience. I was reminded how to pick up stitches and do the Kitchener stitch. There are some less than beautiful picked up stitches on the base, but they're go virtually unseen. Plus, I know how to do it better in the future. I learned the linen stitch and sewn bind off.

OK, so all of that's basic stuff, but I think it's safe to say I'm more comfortable making incremental advances than enormous leaps in my knitting. This FO may not be worth a gold medal, but like plenty of athletes in the Olympics, I'm thrilled with a bronze. Thanks for being the teammates cheering me on, providing advice, and pushing me to do something I wasn't entirely convinced I could do.

Hard to handle

I've been stuck on binding off and the handle for the better part of the week. Now that I've started knitting it, I don't think it will be much longer until the bag is finished. I spent too much time this afternoon writing a review and finally posting a new one on my other site that I don't have the patience to knit the nine stitch pattern the rest of this evening.

I followed Karen's advice and checked out a Ravelry project that described a simpler handle. The linen stitch is easy, if a bit slow due to switching the position of the yarn after every stitch. Working with smaller needles (and the circs' cable getting in the way) is responsible for taking me longer to knit the handle, but I'm making a dense piece that won't be coming apart. In retrospect I should have made this twelve stitches wide instead of nine, but the narrower strap will work just fine.

That pesky and mysterious extra stitch will be pinned down/woven in when all that remains is sewing in the ends. Success is near!

Finishing moves

After kicking around some ideas and doing some exploring, I decided that the best way to bind off for the market bag was to use Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind off. With 116 total stitches, it was tedious but appears to be effective.

After 49 stitches I broke the yarn and slipped the next nine onto a stitch holder. Since I was wondering how I'd connect the yarn without having the strand hanging down, I decided to do the sewn bind off through the stitches on the holder but not remove them from it (obviously). I bound off a few more and then reconnected the yarn.

Everything seemed to be going well until I got near the end. As you see above, there's a gap after the beginning/end of the round followed by what looks like an extra stitch or inadvertent yarn over. I'm not sure what the best way is to deal with it. I think it's too far away to treat it like something that could be knit together with the true last stitch. If I drop it from the needle, it'll just be hanging out there waiting to get snagged on something.

I'm thinking that my only solution is to drop it and figure out some way to weave the end over it and then in. Yes? No? Any clue what I did?

As for the handle, I think I'm going to try the linen stitch. It sounds like it won't stretch as much. Since I'm not planning on slinging this around my shoulder, that's a desirable handle quality.

I'll be returning to knitting flat, so the right side/wrong side business is important. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my first row will be a right side row, won't it?

I should point out that the picture at the top of this post is the right side. The garter stitch "border" came when I joined the new color and did the first row of garter stitch in the round by purling. That's what the directions said to do, although the directions were for something the same color. I don't know that it's a "mistake"--it looks OK--but I've since realized that I probably would have been fine if I'd knit the first row and purled the next.

On hold

I read and appreciate everyone's advice regarding my market bag handle problem. I did not do anything else with it today, though. I'm not sure how since I didn't really do anything--no, I wasn't parked in front of the TV all day--but the day slipped away from me without this becoming the center of attention. (It didn't help that Ravelry was inaccessible when I might have tried to solve this conundrum. It's too late now to put my mind on it.)

I still don't follow it all. Should I break the yarn for each one of the places where I'd make an I-cord? I don't see where else there'd be a place to attach yarn or any to work with. I haven't a clue what I-cord is--I know, look it up--so that's something else to figure out. Stupid as it is, I don't know what's an appropriate length for a handle. I don't know how to graft, and I'm spooked about trying out a different bind off.

If you're shaking your head and rolling your eyes, yeah, I understand that this is exceptionally obnoxious. It's a confidence issue. I stomp my feet and mutter, "I'm stupid. I can't do it," which I believe and don't believe. I have this strange way of expecting a lot from myself and expecting little or nothing. I know it's not terribly productive or becoming. So let me carry on until it's out of my system, point me in the right way if you can see what's tripping me up, and ignore the rest.

Q & Q

The body of the market bag is finished, but now I'm stuck, stuck, stuck. It's time for a handle, and I'm completely and utterly confused.

Donna was kind enough to leave some instructions in the comments to yesterday's post, but I'm afraid that this help needs some major translation before it gets through my thick skull. Maybe it would be better handled via e-mail, but I figure the collective wisdom out there might crack the code that I can't.

-"Knit halfway round the last round of the top border, put 9 stitches on one side of the bag on a stitch holder, knit the other half to the last 9 stitches, put the first 6 on a holder."

And the questions begin... I assume that I'm not knitting those stitches on the stitch holder. If not, am I able to get around those first nine without making some weird, misshapen thing at that spot? And where it says knit, should that mean bind off? If so, what's a stretchier bind off, per the pattern's instructions?

-"Then I made I-cord from those last three stitches (fairly long -- probably too long -- remember braiding will shorten it by about a third)."

I-cord? Any idea on length? I don't feel like I have any clue to make a guess.

-"Put stitches on holder at the end, break yarn with nice long tail (at least 6 inches)."

So I need three stitch holders?

-"Attach yarn at second three stitches beside where you started the I-cord, do the same; then the same again for the last 3 stitches."

Here's where I'm totally mystified. Where am I attaching the yarn? If it's just stitches on a stitch holder, I don't understand where there's anything to attach to.

-"Braid the three I-cords together. Then graft them to the 9 live stitches on the other side."

Here's where my gender gets in the way. I've never braided anything. Tips? As for grafting...???

I will say that this part of the bag is a major reason why I considered not knitting it in the first place. There's a lot of stuff I haven't done before, which I don't see so much as a challenge but as something to run away from shrieking.

Bag of tricks

Having been on the go in recent weeks, it's been nice to take it easy yesterday and today. My Sunday schedule so far: church, knit, nap, knit, exercise, blog. More knitting is to come, I'm sure.

Depending how I measure, I've finished around seven inches of the bag's body. Unless I do some major slacking, I'll be ready to knit a handle (or handles) tomorrow or Tuesday. Suggestions?

I continue to search my mind for why this color combination seems so familiar. Maybe it resembles an old lawn chair. For some reason I also think of tackle boxes. The bag's body reminds me of a planter holder, perhaps due to the ropey color and pattern. Is this some kind of Proustian madeleine? Do I need to develop an auteur theory for knitting?

Of course I've been soaking up Olympics coverage all day. I'm already sick of the McCain attack ad and the payday lending industry's deceptive spot trying to get enough petition signatures in an effort to overturn the state's recent legislation to rein in their usury. And what's with the creepy public service announcement (WMV file) the state is running repeatedly to warn us about pandemic flu? "It will happen again." Talk about killing the Olympic spirit.

In the bag

With some much appreciated help in the comments and the light over my head turning on, the Everlasting Bagstopper is coming along quite nicely. For awhile I was befuddled how to pick up stitches. I was trying to pick them up clockwise. I could only do one, and even that took quite a bit of maneuvering to pull it through the edge. Eventually I realized that I needed to go counterclockwise. That made my efforts significantly easier, although picking up stitches can still be a challenge.

Thanks to Karen--who I originally thought was this Karen--I had a set number of rounds of stockinette to knit. Of course, if I weren't blind or something, I would have seen that this information is, in fact, in the pattern. I guess I stopped reading the sentence after it talks about the marker for the start of the round.

The next ordeal was getting the stitches to move on the needles when I swapped out the US 5s for the US 10 1/2s. I pushed and pushed and pushed, practically to the point of piercing my hand, but couldn't get them to budge. And then a revelation! If I replace just the needle doing the knitting until the first round is done, then I can actually do something with the stitches. Sometimes it takes me awhile...

As I've knitted the body of the bag I've learned to do the yarn overs and k2togs with less tension. If I knit them as tightly as I ordinarily would, I'll go mad before I'm done with the project.

I have some time until I have to figure out how to put handles on this thing. For now I'll enjoy the knitting and not worry about it. The color combination seems like it's something for tennis or golf equipment in the 1970s. It has an odd pull on me, as though it reminds me of something from my past that I can't quite recall.

I can see myself making several of these bags. I could certainly use a couple to take care of my small grocery store purchases, and I imagine they could come in handy for just about anyone. We'll see how long it takes me to finish one, though.

I've been knitting the bag off and on all day--there's more done than what you see in the photo--while watching the Olympics. I have three HD channels providing coverage and stayed up until nearly 3 a.m. to see the first events. Having taken a couple of fencing classes in high school, it was fun to watch women's sabre, although the action is so fast that it's almost impossible to tell for myself who earned the touches.

Also, good for NBC Universal showing events and match-ups that ordinarily don't get the TV time: France vs. Angola in women's handball, singles badminton matches without US athletes. Sure, I'm interested in watching Michael Phelps and gymnastics, but I like getting a broad view of the Summer Games. There's more available than I could ever watch, but I like having the choice.

On the sidelines

Due to an oversight on my part, I did not qualify at the Ravelympic Trials and thus am not participating in Ravelympics. (In other words, I thought I could sign up today. Nope.) I'll have to pretend I'm playing alongside the big kids while I knit during these Games.

I've decided to go ahead and try my hand at the Everlasting Bagstopper, although I'm not sure what I'll do when it comes to making handles or knitting the stockinette portion on the base. (The pattern doesn't specify how much of that to knit, thus my confusion and potential stopping point.)

I'm doing the base, top border, and handles in Sugar'n Cream's dark pine and will do the body in jute. Hopefully I have enough yarn. I cleaned out Hobby Lobby's stash of the latter color, so anything else I get will likely have a different dye lot.

I've knit about two inches of the base while watching the Olympics' stunning opening ceremonies. I'm a fan of director Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers--Curse of the Golden Flower looked great but left me a little cold--so I'm not surprised that he's been able to put together a visually dynamic program. Zhang knows how to do things on a big scale, and boy does this ceremony have that.

For those about to Ravelympic

OK, I need some help and the sooner, the better. I've been running around like the proverbial headless chicken, so I've neglected to find a project for Ravelympics. I think I know what I want to do, but I have a few too many questions to dive right in. Doing so would be like performing a belly flop from the high platform. So I need some answers before I commit.

I'm planning to knit the Everlasting Bagstopper. I know I've freaked out about the pattern before, but there are some things I'm still not sure about. I understand that the base is knit flat, but after picking up the stitches, how much do you knit in stockinette? The pattern jumps from picking up the stitches to the bag body.

If I'm not messing around with the ribbon handle--actually there's no if about it--how much more additional yarn should I plan to need for that part, and how long should it be?

Is it reasonable to think I can complete this during the Olympics?

I could have sworn I had more questions when I looked at this pattern earlier today, but maybe some of them were resolved in looking at comments addressing my initial irrationality.

Buy or sell?

So I've done a little research into market bags as a next project, and I've gotta say that I'm becoming less and less convinced. It may be my default mode of seeing something and determining I can't do it or that I'm thick after a long couple of days at the grindstone.

Take, for instance, the Everlasting Bagstopper. At first glance it seems easy enough to knit, but the questions come fast and furious. For instance, what's a wrong side row if you're knitting in garter stitch? Is it just whichever side you choose? This "turn the corner" business loses me. And, oh yeah, that seems like an awful lot of stitches to pick up, and where are they being picked up from in the first place?

But these questions have nothing on the bigger problems I foresee if I undertake this project. Handles? Sewing? DRAWSTRING?! That's enough to put the kibosh on it for me right there...except this wouldn't be unique to this market bag but all of them. (There's another option, but the directions for the handle makes my head hurt.)

I was joking yesterday with my comment about being intimidated once I looked at patterns, but I fear I know myself too well in matters such as these.