Saturday, July 4, 2009

Waxing Poetic While Knitting on the Fly



Note from Spike: Lisa and I were swapping emails last night. The yoga mat bag she's designing as-she-goes was turning out a little differently than she expected. I'll let her explain below. But for now, please know that the recipe for the bag that we originally posted will soon be replaced by another pattern. That said, as Lisa mentions, you can still get started on the bottom of the bag and, what with all the picnics and fireworks you also probably have planned for the weekend, that should be enough for now. We'll have more really, really soon.
Thanks,
Spike


Lisa's Poetic Waxing

There are many times in my adult life I have thought about pioneer women. They were spirited, strong, smart, and had an unbelieveable ability to take care of their families. From childbirth and defending their homes all the while feeding and clothing their families. Do you think they used knitting patterns? Doubtful. I think they knit on the fly and unsentimentally ripped out stitches when things didn't work the way they were supposed to.

You have probably sensed where I'm headed with this. So I'll take my cue from my heroines and just blurt it out. I've overcompensated the size on my yoga bag. It wasn't a matter of gauge, it was just too big. So here is a pictoral history of my last couple of days with a few notes. For those of you knitting along with me, don't panic. My plan to regroup will come shortly...

The mesh pattern I have selected is from Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs, A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns, page 160, 'Subtle Mesh'. This is a pattern I have admired for a long time now and I've finally found the right place to use it. So after a few false starts and no lifeline, I added stitch markers after every repeat.



BTW, the ceramic ball holder shown in the photo was a gift last week from my friend and fellow Knitting Yogi, Janet who will be with us on the island for the 3rd time this year. A friend of hers makes these wonderful pottery pieces. It has become quite the conversation piece sitting in my living room.

Late last night as I was working away on my bag I realized that I wasn't creating a Yoga Mat bag, I was making a Yoga Mat, Bolster, Blanket, Block, Water Bottle, Weekend Tote. In otherwords, it was too big. It's definitely pretty, the colors spectacular, but there is absolutely no way to fill it enough to show off the beautiful mesh pattern I have worked so hard on.


Here we are, just before I unsentimentally ripped it all out... I am figuratively and literally pulling back and rethinking the next few steps. If you are following along, I would suggest knitting the first portion for 3 repeats not 4 as written in the last post which will give you 96 stitches.





~Lisa

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