The Value Of Having a Stash

I bought 2 metres of denim last week to use for lining these folded or origami bags. I made one using the denim, but realised that it is really too stiff for the job. I live a long way from the fabric shop, so I couldn't just go back there.  Luckily I could look through my stash to find other fabrics to line the bags.

I bought 1 metre each of the blue patterned and turquoise patterned fabric, thinking that each would make 4 bags. Not so, but far otherwise, as Rudyard Kipling would say. The blue fabric is very narrow, I could only cut 2 squares from it. The turquoise, on the other hand, is wide enough to cut 6 bags! Note to self: check the width of fabric when buying.  In the interests of variety, I used a similar fabric from my stash for one of the bags, and have managed to make the 5 bags going to one family different from each other.

Adding Beads

I can see why Diane's Ice drops are addictive. They don't take long to make, but have so many possibilities for variations.

Knitted Ball

Knitted Ball is the name of the pattern by Marleen Hartog on Ravelry, but it doesn't really do it justice. I'd call it 'woven ball' or something like that. When I saw a picture of it, I thought it would be just the thing to put in the baby bag. But it hasn't worked as well as I had hoped.  It doesn't feel firm enough; it seems as though my strips are a bit too long, or perhaps not wide enough.  I might put it in anyway, though I'm pretty sure the baby's older brothers will destroy it in minutes!

Little Bag

When I saw this bag on Pinterest, I thought it might be a good idea to use fabric bags instead of wrapping paper for gifts. I traced it back and found this tutorial by Paula Cheney for making them. It's clear and helpful, thanks Paula. The first one is for a baby shower I'm going to tomorrow. The bag is smaller than I visualised. In theory I could make the next one bigger, using the same principles, but I bought fabric with these dimensions in mind, so I'll have to see how it goes.

I also made a hat for  baby in matching fabric:

Ice Drops!

Yesterday we went into The Crazy Store to look for frivolous things to send to grandchildren. What did I find? 'Crystal accents', just right for making the Lace-lovin' Librarian's  ice drops:

There were different colours, but only one colour to a bag, so I chose the colour that looked most 'icy'. As soon as we got home, I looked up Diane's  pattern, and off I went. I'm delighted to be able to join the craze that has taken the tatting world by storm. Thanks Diane. Here's a picture of the back of the two I've made:

Ninetta's Radiant

I thought I'd try Ninetta's radiant pattern before I went back to the magic square. It seemed a bit fiddly to start with, but once I got the hang of adding the bugle beads, it was fine. I really like how the motif turned out. The stitch count is so perfect that it doesn't even need blocking. I used size 40 thread, it measures 8.5 cm across. Thanks Ninetta!

Cricket Knitting

Ok, so I may have missed the odd ball bowled or four hit, but I did knit two headbands at the cricket game, South Africa versus Bangladesh. I was sitting on a folding chair, I hasten to add, not on the ground. I finished the bands off when I got home:

I did some experimenting before we left, to get the increases and decreases right. To get the V rib look of the original, I had to increase 5 stitches in the centre on the first half and decrease 5 on the second half. I tried increasing 5 times in the centre stitch, but it creates a large hole:

The solution I eventually arrived at was to work to the centre stitch, pick up and purl the loop before the stitch, increase to three stitches from the centre stitch and then pick up and purl the following loop. 5 stitches increased without a hole. On the decrease side, I worked a slip one, knit one, pass slip stitch over decrease, purled the centre three stitches together and then knitted two together. I tried purling 5 stitches together, but it causes a horrible lump.

Here's a photo I took at the rugby to record the half time score, that shows why knitting at a rugby test match is not really an option:

PS. South Africa has just won the cricket game. The rugby game was a draw, 27 points each to South Africa and Australia.