Madame Self Pattern

I’m not a real designer; I just play one on the innerwebs. The following pattern has not been tested, so if you find a problem please let me know and I’ll fix it. You can leave a comment, contact me on Ravelry (I’m Stinkytinky).
The Madame Self Bag


Wisdom Yarns Poems, color #585, 4 skeins (436 yds)
Size 9 needles, or size needed to get gauge
Darning needle
Magnetic snap
One pretty button (mine is 1.25")
Hot glue gun

Gauge before felting: 14 st over 4” in garter stitch

I emphatically suggest knitting a swatch, measuring gauge, and then felting it to make sure you like the way it felts up. Also, Poems has sort of a reputation for having several knots which often disrupt the striping sequence. If you’re the persnickety sort, this is something to watch for. I think (while it’s still sort of a pain) that it adds character and didn’t worry about it.

Note that the measurements given on my sad, little schematic are approximate. It’s a lot easier in this case to just increase and decrease to the correct stitch count, as the size doesn’t need to be exact.

The bag is knit starting with the strap…


Cast on 10 s., knit every row for approx. 25” or 150 rows.

Begin increases*:
Row 1) Kfb, k to last st, kfb
Row 2) K

*I stuck a stitch marker through the fabric on the side facing me when it was time to increase or decrease, as a visual cue.

Repeat these two rows until there are 64 st, ending with Row 2.


Begin decreases:
Row 1) K2Tog, K to last 2 sts, K2Tog
Row 2) K

Repeat these two rows until there are 20 sts, ending with Row 2.


Increase:
Row 1) Kfb, k to last st, kfb
Row 2) K

Repeat these two rows until there are 64 st, ending with Row 2.


Add the button flap (I added a short row to give the flap a bit of a flare):

With the working yarn, CO 15 sts, and knit 8 rows even. Next row: knit 16 st, wrap stitch & turnª. K back to end of row. Knit 8 rows even. Cast off 15 sts.

ªTo wrap and turn: yarn forward as if to purl, slip next stitch purlwise, yarn back as if to knit, return slipped stitch to left needle, turn work.


Decrease:
Begin decreases:
Row 1) K2Tog, K to last 2 sts, K2Tog
Row 2) K

Repeat these two rows until there are 20 sts, ending with Row 2.


Increase:
Row 1) Kfb, k to last st, kfb
Row 2) K

Repeat these two rows until there are 64 st, ending with Row 2.


Decrease:
Begin decreases:
Row 1) K2Tog, K to last 2 sts, K2Tog
Row 2) K

Repeat these two rows until there are 10 sts, ending with Row 2. Bind off, leaving a tail long enough to seam the end of the strap (2-3 feet).


(sorry about my chicken scratch- along the right side, the measurements read 8.5", 7", 7", 3", 7", 7", 8.5")

Finishing:

Pick the side you want to be the outside. With right (outside) sides facing, whipstitch together edges A to A, B to B, and so forth, ending with attaching the strap end (E to E) with the yarn tail, being careful to make sure the strap isn’t twisted. Weave in ends on the inside. Felt the bag. I did it by hand at first, then when that proved to be rather tedious, put it in the machine. I then dried it in the drier to further shrink it. Watch it closely through the felting process to make sure it’s not felting in some renegade fashion.


Once dry, it’s time to add the snap and button! I followed the package directions on my magnetic snap to attach it the bag, using an Exacto knife to cut small holes where needed. Wind a bit of leftover yarn through the holes in the button**; this may require some creativity. My darning needle wouldn’t fit all the way through the little holes, so I used it to sort of smash the yarn through so I could pull it through the other side. It occurs to me now that a sewing needle threader might do the trick. Once the yarn is wound through the holes a few times, knot it on the back. Warm up your glue gun, and apply a glob of glue to the ugly side of the magnetic snap on the purse flap then quickly stick on the button. If necessary, add more glue to secure the button to the bag. Loudly proclaim, “I made it Madame Self!”

**The goal is not only to make it look like the button is sewn on, but also to fill up the holes a bit so that hot glue doesn’t ooze through or so people can’t see right through to the metal snap behind it. So you may need to wrap the yarn several times to accomplish this.


Use this pattern however you want, wherever you want; just don’t plagiarize!

Wheeee!

They're here!

My Phildar patterns! Straight from France! You know, I think I'm going to start ordering everything from Europe... it seems to get here so fast compared to stuff that just travels across the country (this order was placed on the 23rd!). If memory serves, the Bohus kit from Sweden got here in about a week too.

88 patterns in all, for about $28. Not bad considering more than half of that was shipping!

I started the Bohus, as promised, but am only a couple rows into the colorwork so far. No pictures yet, maybe by the end of the week.

Also, I should have a pattern for the bag up tomorrow. I'd have it up now, except that I forgot to email myself the schematic I drew and scanned at work. Thus, it remains trapped in the server until tomorrow!

I'm On a Roll

I've got another finished project! The felted bag is done. And it rocks my socks off. Here it is all sewn up, prior to felting (with 12" ruler for scale):

And here it is post felting:



Ok, granted it's a little impractical given that the middle is too shallow to hold very much, but it's super cute. And it will hold a phone, keys, sunglasses, and a small wallet, which is all you really need for quick trips to the store and whatnot. My big, everyday wallet won't fit (it's the type that holds everything you could possibly need in any situation), so I'm thinking of making a smaller little wallet to match with the leftover yarn- just a little pocket sized thing to hold an ID, some cash, and couple credit cards.

The button is merely decorative, and hides the back of a magnetic snap. I looped some extra yarn through the button hole, then hot glued it in place. In all honesty, I probably could have just skipped the snap, and sewed the button on so that it sewed the bag shut at that point. It's so shallow and open on both sides of the little flap, that I doubt I'll ever have to really use the snap.

Now that it's done, I suppose I should stick to my word and start the Bohus. Ok, deep breath... Here I go.

Can't Believe I Forgot This

One thing I forgot to mention in the last post... it starts with a goofy story.

At the last knit night, a Borders employee, Shawn, asked the group to knit him a scarf for his semester abroad- in Paris. Instantly, a fire sparked right under my ass. I took French my freshman year of high school, and again for a semester in college. I love the language, and have always wanted to go to France, blah blah blah. Anywho, every now and then I freak the shit out and listen to the French (technically Quebecois) channels on Sirius, and listen to French podcasts, and rent French films, and just generally obsess for a week or so until something else distracts me. But anytime I hear someone speak French, or just mention something about France, the interest is renewed.

Now go back a little further, to a few weeks ago. I was on Ravelry, and browsing through the new patterns. I saw a pattern, clicked, and instantly became dismayed. The pattern was from a Phildar pattern collection. Meaning it was in French, and likely not available in the states at all.

Back to present day: I've got all these Francophone thoughts bumping around in my head, and a lot of free time on my hands. So one day at work, I look up French knitting websites, and stumble upon Phildar's website. Long story short, it turns out I have retained just enough French to navigate a website and drop 20 Euros on patterns. I'm so excited I could pee a little.

And yes, I realize I'll have to translate the patterns. But even English patterns look like a new language when you first learn to knit, and I got through that okay. I looked at a couple free French patterns, and I think I can figure it out.

Also, yes Phildar has an English version of their site. But the English site will only let you purchase English patterns (of which there are 9 pattern books), whereas on the French site, there are 58 (!) pattern books to choose from.

My biggest problem now is that I'm dying to know what their yarn is like. I bet it's awesome. I also bet it won't be too long before I decide to find out.

Finally, a FO!

The Leaf Tee is done!

It came out quite well, but is a tiny bit bigger than I would prefer. But it's still great, and not so big that it looks terrible (I hope). I really like it.

I'm working on the Hedera's a little bit here and there, and I've gotten one gusset done, and am working on the other. Mainly, I've been working on my purse.


It's a little more than half done, I'm really excited to see how it will turn out.

Today I discovered that my knitting bag fits perfectly in one of my desk drawers. Open the drawer, knit knit knit... Oh! Here comes the boss man! Close the drawer. Problem solved. Mwah hahahaha. Stealth knitting FTW!

Still thinking about the Bohus, too. I think I'll start it when the purse is finished. That way, it can be my Project That Requires Thinking, and I'll have a couple of pairs of mindless socks on the side, to break up the monotony. I get the feeling that the colorwork will go quickly, and I'll stall on the body/sleeves. Hmm. I may need to come up with some sort of reward system to combat this. Or something punitive- that might work better. I respond well to threats.

Lastly, I'm still also screwing around with these socks, but I can't decide what I really want to do with them. Right now, I have a row of crossed stitches in the ribbing (a few rows from the needles), but I'm not sure they'll stay that way. It's hard to see, and I'm not sure I like that. Hell, maybe I'll just keep going. I am pretty lazy, and at worst they'll just look like plain ol' ribbed socks.

I'm still chugging along on the Leaf T-shirt, and it's getting close to being finished. In a stunning move of stupidity, I have yet to throw it on some waste yarn and try it on (which really should have been done when I cast off the arm holes or shortly thereafter). I really hope it won't be too big... If my math is right, it is 34.5" across the chest, which should be okay. At least this time I'm certain I have enough yarn!

The Hedera socks are sort of in limbo- I've gotten to the gusset on one, but that's it. Lazy daisy. In it's place I've started another project- a felted bag. I saw a pattern for a bag (Rav link) by Noro, and thought it looked pretty easy to reverse-engineer. So I got out some graph paper, did a little math, knit and felted a swatch, did some more math, and cast that sucker on. I'm doing it with Wisdom Yarns Poems. This yarn is giving me a minor headache with knots interrupting color repeats, but otherwise I like it.


We ditched cable a couple of weeks ago, so I've been trying to find new things to watch or listen to while knitting. Movies are one choice, but I've seen everything we own a zillion times, and renting would probably wind up being more expensive than cable was (although I am looking into Netflix). So mostly I've been using interweb resources, and it's great. iTunes has been my favorite source- they have several classic radio stations, with old-timey crime and drama and such, which I love. And of course there are endless podcasts. I'm subscribed to a several knitting podcasts, and I also poke around the paranormal and ghosty ones too. Then there's also Hulu.com, which has free TV and movies. It seems like most TV shows are on the internet for free somewhere, which is fantastic.

I joined a Bohus group on Ravelry, and I'm hoping it will inspire me to finally get started on my sweater. I don't know why it scares me so much. Probably just a fear of failure. Horrible, humiliating, demoralizing, failure. Yeah, maybe that's it.

My Name is Amanda...

...and I think I have a problem. A knitting problem. Not the dropped stitch type of problem, but the omg I can't stop kind. Yesterday I decided I need a new pair of shoes to better show off hand knit socks this fall. Last night I stayed up well past my bedtime to start another pair of socks, just to see how the yarn would knit up. And today, well, today a red flag went up. I was in my office (really half an office, divided by a cubical wall-type-partition), when the CEO came in the lab. Now, my boss doesn't mind all that much if I knit while it's slow- so long as my work gets done. But there is sort of an unspoken agreement that I do not brazenly knit out in the open (except for at lunch) as to not make waves, or make either of us look bad. But today, when the CEO came in, I kept knitting, hidden by the partition. If he had taken a step inside the office, or even looked from the right angle at the doorway, he could have caught me knitting. But I couldn't stop. Truth be told, I don't know that I would have even gotten in trouble- maybe he wouldn't have cared? But it was a risky move... One that floated the realization that I care more about knitting than employment from subconscious to conscious.

The worst part is that I've never been reprimanded in any way for knitting while at work... so it's like accidental positive reinforcement. Today I brought my ball winder, and frogged the whole Leaf Tee, then started it over. I'm only 4 or 5 rounds into it, but so far so good. I showed my boss the ball winder, but he was less impressed than I expected. I guess it's hard to be impressed with a ball winder unless you've spent countless hours winding balls of yarn by hand. But he does enjoy discovering all the funny little parallels between knitting and winding fiber optic coils. He says next time we need to hire another winder, he's going to start with knitting groups and LYSs, haha.

I'm making decent progress on the Hedera socks. The heel flap is done on one, and halfway there on the other. The pattern calls for ridiculously long heel flaps though (48 rows long!), so I just went until I had a nice square like I usually do (about 34 rows). I love these socks. The lace pattern was easy to memorize, and they're so pretty.

The other pair of socks is in Red Heart Heart and Sole, and the colorway reminds me of Tropical Skittles. I've barely started, and I'm dying to know if/how the colors will pool.

Scott and I have been stocking up on art supplies for his new job, and naturally while we're at various craft stores, I drift to the yarn section. I got the Red Heart and some Bernat Sox to see what it's like. The Bernat is an acrylic/nylon blend, for anyone interested in a non-wool sock yarn (*coughKymcough*). I also picked up a skein of the new Michaels line, Impeccable. With that, I made a little coaster for my desk, and it isn't the most awesome thing to work with, but it doesn't suck either. If the knit up samples are a good indicator, it seemed to be softer than everything but the Vanna's Choice. But I liked knitting with the Impeccable better than Vanna's- Vanna's seemed more plasticy in my hands. I'm curious to see what the Bernat will be like.

Needed: Brains

Something is amiss lately... Not sure what it is, but my mind feels a bit moldy. Take my Leaf Tee for instance. Last week, I noticed I was down to my last ball of yarn, yet the top was only a couple inches past my boobs. There is no way that one ball would make more than 4" or so of the top, but I kept going. I should not have. I should have thought about it more, and decided that maybe knitting a bit too tight had become a big problem. A big yarn consumption problem.

When I started, I didn't even check my gauge because it was a top-down raglan, and I thought it wouldn't really matter. I must have been stressed out when I started the project, because my stitches were pretty tight. Of course, I didn't even notice for a week or so (when less stressed), and by then I thought it was easier to just keep going tightly, rather that rip it out. MISTAKE! I now have a shirt that barely reaches my belly-button, and I'm all out of yarn. And to make this worse (and actually quite embarrassing), I thought I could fix it. Yup. When I got to that last ball, I thought, "Maybe if I loosen up a little, the yarn will stretch further and it'll be okay." So what I actually have is a top that barely reaches my belly-button, and flares out considerably in the last few inches. Very flattering indeed!

There are no pictures of my shame. It is condemned to a cheap plastic bag, where it will remain until my memory fades. Then I will frog the whole thing, and redo it. I really liked the pattern and yarn, and dammit I'm going to finish this thing if it kills me. And hopefully next time I won't also botch the lace panel in two places- I blame that on the half-empty bottle of amaretto in my kitchen. Lucky for me, looser gauge = less stitches = will go faster this time.

But for now, I'm turning back to the Hedera socks, on the lovely signature needles. I've got the cuff of this one done, and about half the cuff on the second. I love them.

I'm going to go work on them right now...