knitting kitchen

When I managed the knitting store, I realized that it was the adventure of a new project that excited me. There is something about trying a new yarn or learning a new technique that feels as if I’ve been surprised with a gift. Will I like the feeling of the new yarn in my hands? Will the fiber knit up as beautifully as I imagine? Will my stitches create the breathtaking object the pattern assures me it will?

Despite my attempts at being a complete curmudgeon, I am a die hard optimist. I really do believe there is a happy, shiny rainbow just around the corner. I’m addicted to looking on the bright side. I know it’s an upopular attitude and I do my best to keep it under wraps, but I was born this way.

The promise of happiness held by a new project feeds my optimism. I just know this new sock pattern will send me on the adventure of knitting the best sock ever. Really, I’m sure.  There’s also something about unlocking the secret held by the mystery of the yet unlearned technique. Maybe when I understand just how entrelac works, I will understand the Universe. This belief is why I’ve tried just about every fiber technique out there. Except for needle felting. All that stabbing with pointy needles just seems so hostile, not the relaxing pasatiempo of lace knitting.

A couple of weekends ago while waiting to check out in Target, I noticed that the woman in front of me had a funky quilted purse dangling from her wrist. Bored by too much shopping, her child was wimpering in the cart. The woman’s mother provided a running stream of commentary despite the clerk’s attempts to focus the woman’s attention on the transaction at hand. While I wanted all of the wimpering and chattering to stop, I didn’t mind the wait because I was trying to figure out just how this purse was constructed. When the trio began to leave before I solved this mystery, I heard my own voice, “did you make your bag?”

“No, I’m sure someone did, but not me!” The woman was laughing at the suggestion that she might put herself anywhere near something as terrifying as a sewing machine.

And so the search began. I scoured the ‘net, looking for anything like this bag. I’m a regular at U-handblog, and I found the Purse Project. I checked out the tutorials from Craft Magazine and Instructibles. I couldn’t find anything that was the correct shape.

After many hours, I stumbled across a pattern at an online quilting store that seemed to be a similar shape. They called it a Humbug Bag. I took out the paper and a stapler, tried out a couple of ideas, and then, before work on Monday, whipped up this little bag.

It was difficult for me to take pictures that actually show this bag’s cuteness. Rather than have the top seam sewn left to right across the bag like the Humbug bag, I sewed it front to back. From any angle, this looks like a three-sided pyramid with a triangular bottom. Isn’t geometry rockin’?  Because it was Monday and I needed a pick-me-up before returning to work, it is sewn and lined with Amy Butler fabrics. I was pretty pleased with the result and it definitely cheered me up before heading out the door.

I want to make another bag and possibly write up a tutorial, but there is one change I’d like to make. I was still working out how the shape would come together so the top seam does not enclose all of the layers between the outside of the bag and the lining. Now that I’ve gotten the mechanics worked out, that should be an easy one to fix.

Another joy of making things is having the satisfaction of setting an intention and seeing it develop through to completion. In my job, as with parenting, this kind of immediate relationship to cause and effect is rarely seen. That’s why knitting socks is just so important.

Here are my most recent confirmations that my positive intentions create positive results:

Tofutsie socks

Mt. Colors Weaver’s Wool socks

Baby socks

My eldest daughter Jessica wanted to learn how to knit socks. I rustled up my Yankee Knitter pattern and had her knit a baby sock in dk weight with size 4US needles. I knit along with her and this pair is the result.  So maybe there is a relationship between positive intention and the end result in parenting. It just takes twenty years to reveal itself?