String Bag

I started a string bag to take with me to the MSWF, but, since I started it so late, it became a project to knit at the festival. While I was there, I saw another bag that I liked better, and today I finally got around to frogging the bag that I started. The more I looked at the new bag, the less I liked the way the first one was turning out.

The bag I saw at the fest, was the Earth Day Bag from Ravelry. I think that link will only work if you are on Ravelry. The construction of the bag is ingenious. I love it! I don't really like the way she wrote the instructions because of ambiguity, and she chose a stitch pattern that's (in my opinion), needlessly complicated and that I don't find attractive.

After some searching, I found out two things. 

First, Ravelry doesn't have an on-line stitch dictionary. This surprised me because they've had every other kind of information that I've ever looked for there. But after a bit of thinking, I realized that it could take years and years to get all of the stitches up there.

Second, after a search through my own stitch dictionaries, I found two stitches that I think would be more attractive, and are simple enough that you can memorize the pattern after a couple of repeats. I'm finishing up my test run with one of them right now, and so far, I like it much better than the stitch pattern provided.

The stitch pattern in the Earth Day pattern is 8 rows and not intuitive. I had to keep a strict count and read the instructions for each row all the way through (except for wrong side rows, which are "purl across." This stitch pattern also biases. The framework of the border and handles helps cancel that out, but why even start out with a problem? 

I knitted a sample of the pattern I was thinking of using, and after the first few rows, it was not only memorized, but obvious what row I was on, so all I had to do was knit it. So far, I like mine better. The only thing I still haven't been able to test is whether it will stretch out too much, mainly because the bag isn't even finished.

I finished one bag according to the provided directions and used it yesterday, and it performed well.

Photos in my next post.

More knitting news on a different topic: I finally got the OK to go ahead on my Charms OWL project for the Harry Potter House Cup KAL/CAL I got a message today that I have passed the written portion of the OWL.

OWLs run for three months, and are big projects. The Charms OWL this semester includes shawls, so I'm going to do the beaded three panel shawl I've been designing. There have been photos of this on Ravelry, and there will be more as it progresses. So far, I'm still in the swatching stage.

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I want to apologize to Holly. I got it all wrong. She didn't have a muscle problem, but torn ligaments. That sounds very painful to me. I got a text message from her saying that she's feeling better than she was except for the haze from the massive amounts of ibuprofen prescribed for her.

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The SciFi Channel will be showing a Eureka marathon during the day on Sunday. That's Mother's Day, and I don't know how that relates, but I really like Eureka, so I'm not complaining.

Tonight, we will have a new Ghost Whisperer, and the season finale of Dollhouse! And it will be more fun for me because I know that my sister will be watching them, too.

Don't forget that BBC in America is rerunning Torchwood. There will be two episodes of it on Saturday, along with more Doctor Who.

Have a great Friday night! TGIF!

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Addition:

You have to read the Panopticon today!

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Another Addition:

For fans of Dollhouse, check out this post on io9.