Contrary to what you may think from the lack of posting I have actually been knitting this week. But there is only so much you can say about market bags in one two month period. I think I have said most of it already and the pictures would be so not thrilling that they aren’t even worth taking… Also I have been somewhat preoccupied with endless appointments for ultrasounds, specialist opinions and precision timed jabs in the butt…

The most note worthy thing that has happened this week is that we finally seem to have found a new sleep schedule for Isabelle and it is WONDERFUL. She is currently sleeping (roughly speaking) from 6:40pm to 6:10am and subsequently not napping. I don’t think she has ever gone to bed this early or slept this long. It adds a lot of flexibility to our days to dispense with the nap, and removes all that angst about timing the nap just right to ensure a reasonable bedtime (reasonable used to be 8:30 - still SO late!). Knowing she will go to sleep easily, on time and sleep well makes some crabbiness in the afternoon absolutely tolerable, though mostly she has actually been in a better mood than usual, just tired. Keep your fingers crossed for us that lasts…

Yesterday I cast on for a third market bag. This one is actually for me! I am using the left over yarn from the Booga Bags I made as christmas gifts. I am doing this one with the same alterations as the blue and brown bag I made for mum, i.e. with a rectangular base. Tonight I seamed up hole in the base. I forgot to photograph the seaming of the first rectangular base I made, and did a rather clumsy job of explaining it as I recall, so here are some pics.

Pattern: based on the Knitty French Market Bag
Yarn: Jo Sharp DK in Orient (MC) and Khaki (CC)
Needles: 7mm Addi Turbos (60 and 80 cm)

After much attention with a hairdryer, my last christmas gift made it into a box just in time for mum to arrive and take it back out again. This bag was based on the French Market Bag from Knitty with some modifications to make it more like the shopping baskets my mother bought in Vietnam 10 years ago and still uses to do her shopping every week. 10 years ago they were wonderfully unique, today you can get them everywhere, you know the ones - brightly coloured plastic baskets woven from packing tape (the stuff they use to bind palettes). Mum loves this shape of bag so I based the ratios of the sides on her 10 year old shopping baskets, consulted Montse Standley’s The Knitters Handbook for how to knit a rectangle from the centre out, cast on and prayed. I cannot tell you how relieved I am that it worked. For the record:

Cast on 2 stitches, pm, cst on 42 stitches, pm, cast on 2 stitches, pm, cast on 42 stitches.
Work as for the base knitted in the round in the original pattern.
When you have enough stitches to be able to flatten the base, seam the cast on edge together (the two 42 stitch sides should meet up nicely creating a rectangular base once sewn together).
Place the handles centered on the long sides with 4 stitches between the two sides of each handle.

The Jo Sharp DK was lovely to work with but really didn’t feel like wool at all. Not long after starting the first ball I felt compelled to go check that I hadn’t somehow made an awful mistake and bought DK cotton. The yarn was stretchy and easy on the hands like wool but not at all scratchy, it really did feel more like cotton sliding through my fingers. Unfortunately the colours bled a bit during the felting process and the blue that I was so in love with is no longer quite as vibrant but Mum is happy and that was, after all, the point…

Progress on all fronts - my first French Market Bag is done and there are now gifts wrapped and under my tree. If only the tree was actually decorated - that will have to wait for tomorrow, when Robyn arrives with our decorations, which are currently in a box in Adelaide.

Pattern: French Market Bag
Yarn: Cold Harbour Mill Aran in Devon Green (MC) and Tartan Green (CC)
Needles: 7mm DPNs, 7mm Addi Turbos

That is today’s photo and I can now say I am happy with the result. Below is a photo I took yesterday straight after removing it from my makeshift blocking device. I was not happy with the result, the sides puckered dramatically under the handles, my blocking object had been a bit too tall and left slight dents in the handles and I was worried I should have blocked it to have a slightly narrower base and taller sides. The light yesterday really accentuated all of these problems.

What happened between today and yesterday? Well I left it out in the sun to ensure it was well and truly dry and went to the beach. Then a thunder storm happened. And rain. And hail. The storm was of the dramatic, but short and sweet summer variety, so the bag was left damp but not sodden. I set it to dry over a slightly smaller and softer shaped blocking device and today the bag was basically the same and yet much improved.

I was worried about the bag loosing it’s shape and going all saggy so the finishing touch was to cut a square of plastic (aka Ikea flexible chopping board) and cover it in matching fabric. The base will definitely help the bag hold it’s shape but it is flexible enough to move with the bag and not damage the felt by cutting in at the edges.

And finally one last perspective shot - this is Isabelle’s interpretation of “stand by the fence and face me”.

It’s one ball of yarn bigger than it was 24 hrs ago, approximately 3 balls to go.

Jesse brought this home today, it’s about twice the size of the one I had been eyeing off during the week and is FAR too big for our house - Isabelle is VERY impressed.

There were many possible contenders as title for this post. for example all of the following crossed my mind:

“Perhaps I was a little too enthusiastic”
“Perhaps I should felt a swatch next time”
“oh my god it SHRANK!!!!!”

But they all convey a certain sense of distress or panic that I am not actually feeling. This was not what I was expecting, in more ways than one. This is not what I expected the end result to be and I most certainly would not have expected to be so happy about it, should I have had even the faintest inkling of what was to come. Life, it seems, is full of little surprises. In short I finished and felted the French Market Bag and it is now blocking.

And I could leave this post at that. But the thing is that I think everyone really needs to get a bit of perspective here. First of all the felted bag is pretty much 9 inches cubed, if you need to then get out your measuring tape. Have you got a good sense of how big it is now? If so, then you are ready to see this:

….and this….

When wool shrinks that much it makes really STRONG fabric. It’s now half the size it started off and about 3/4 of the size I expected it to be, but my fears of it not being strong enough to support a load of goodies appropriate to it’s size have been well and truly alleviated.

I am so excited I just had to tell someone. The body of the first French Market Bag is done, I just have to decide where to place my handles and well, place my handles…I will be using the excellent Knitty article on grafting again. I have yet to do enough grafting to remember the setup part off the top of my head.

I have just started the last skein of yarn on my first French Market Bag, I am hoping to be done tomorrow night but that may be a little hopeful as I didn’t make much progress today…

The second bag has grown it’s first stripe…. My big issue with this bag is the handles. I know I want short handles but I don’t know whether to stick with the original FMB pattern or whether to go for icord handles. I am nto sure which option would be stronger. Any advice here would be most welcome.

Lately I have been feeling anxious about whether I am up to knitting adult sized sweaters. While holding these bags up against my body the other day I realised I have all ready knit a sweaters worth of stocking stitch on these bags and they aren’t done yet!

Part of the reason I didn’t make as much progress as I hoped for today is that Isabelle and I visited not one, but two, bead shops today and couldn’t help but play…

p.s. those last two photos were taken on the same table about 3 minutes apart (ie same light conditions). I have NO idea how I ended up with such differnet colour results. I really must read the camera’s manual one day…

We got home last night and I have spent most of the day unpacking, grocery shopping, washing, all that post holiday fun. I did also manage to catch up on my blog reading. Can I just say how much I love my ADSL? Life on a modem was miserable.

I am a few days behind with my photos so for now here are some picks of the last day we spent at Black Point. The weather finally cleared as we were leaving so we got to have a walk

…and even to swim (our sedond swim for the whole trip)….

As you can see Isabelle’s idea of fun in the water involves attempting to drown her father.

On the knitting front I am very pleased with my holiday effort, I am three quarters of the way through the first market bag, which is as far as I could get while away as the last skein had not yet arrived when we left. It was here waiting for me last night so I need to go knit… Oh and I am also about a third of the way through the second rectangular shaped market bag.

The French Market Bag is ready for a second ball of the main colour, for the second time. It may have to wait a while…

My second market bag is not going to be a French Market bag after all but rather a hybrid somewhere between a FMB and one of those shopping baskets made out of woven packing tape. Making a rectangular base is much easier than a square as you can bypass the DPNs and go straight to a circular needle. Seaming the centre line takes a bit of time but I still feel like the rectangle has been easier. I am thinking that this bag may end up a more practical shape for a larger felted bag, more likely to hold its shape when loaded up with stuff.

And finally the last of the little things I have been trying to find a moment to show off - I have been making stitch markers again. I was quite dubious about the new rings I found ( I thought they might be a bit to chunky) so I tried some of them out on the FMB.

In short, I LOVE them! Big, it turns out, is better. Grandma Mary spotted these heart shaped markers the second I got my FMB out to show her so I have made up another set to give her with her wash cloth.

Isabelle has been finding more treasures on the beach…. speaking of the beach, this may be a beach holiday and summer may be officially upon us, but it’s pouring with rain and the howling of the wind is so loud it is hard to hear yourself think.