Bag Ladies Rule!

Yesterday I acquired yet another bag in which to tote my knitting about. This one is a gift from Time magazine as a bonus for renewing my subscription. It looks to be just the right size for the Copper Afghan. Red and black. Kinda squarish. Zipper side pockets. Large zipper opening on top. This makes something like eleven dozen bags of varying sizes and shapes and functions that I use to contain my projects and keep them ready to grab-and-go at a moment’s notice.

There is a bag for all seasons, a tote for all reasons. Big and small, roomy and cramped. Filled with pockets and zippers and buckles. Some people have stashes of yarn or fabric. I have a Stash of Bags!

Mostly I want these for knitting projects. But I also use them for my “Activity Kit.” This is the stuff I want to take with me whenever I go anywhere that might involve waiting or down time. Riding on the Max for example, or waiting at the vet’s. In my Kit you will find a knitting project (small), a paperback book, a Sudoku puzzle book, pen, pencil with eraser, notepad, granola bar. This is in addition to the bag that serves as my “purse” which contains all manner of necessities along with my cell phone.

I became a Bag Lady when I lived in San Francisco and didn’t have a car. Riding the Muni taught me how to travel light but with everything I might need in case I was stuck somewhere for a long period of time. I continue the tradition to this day.

Missin’ My Sis

During that last year of her life, we did quite a bit of knitting and crocheting and needlepointing, and those items are treasures now. We found a knit/crochet pattern for a shawl at Pacific Five & Dime on Irving in San Francisco. I knit a brown triangular shawl and she crocheted a red one. Then we gave them to each other. When I toss this shawl around my shoulders I feel her love even after all these years. She died in 1984. I don’t know what happened to the brown one I made. Her daughter-in-law might have it.

Happy First Birthday Brayden

Brayden Bolden is the young man who would be my sister Frances' great grandson. Teresa, his mother, is the daughter of my nephew Steve. Brayden turned one in October 2006 and the quilt was a birthday gift. His first word was “doggie.”


It is so much fun to make things for this newest family member. I know my sister would have showered him with hand-made items so I am filling in for her. He is adorable and I love getting updates from his mom.

Fiber By Any Other Name

This is primarily a knitting blog because knitting is my primary activity. But I also crochet, tat, quilt, weave, do needlepoint, embroidery and macramé. So from time to time I will stray into the outer reaches of fiberdom and report on things I have, or have not, done in those areas. Today let’s talk about needlepoint which provided a “busy hands” occupation while I was quitting smoking. That was in 1996 and I haven’t done any since, partly because that also coincided in time with my getting tri-focals and being unable to focus. (Well…that’s what I blamed it on anyway.)

My sister was a prolific needlepointer and I have a box of her work in my Giant Craft Stash that I plan to get out and make into pillows or frame and hang on the wall. That project has joined the queue of Projects Waiting In the Wings. Several of my own canvasses are in there as well. And one stitched by my mother (that would be fifty years ago). I will be able to cover quite a bit of wall space when I finally get around to this. Or fill up several room-sized couches.

Anyhow…here is a Sun Pillow made from a kit purchased at the Irish Craft Store on Geary in San Francisco. There was a matching Moon kit that I should have bought at the same time. It would have made a nice pair. This one sits on a chair in my dining room along with a Seashell Pillow my friend Lin made for me. A finished Fruit Pillow my sister made spends its days on my bed. Needlepoint is a genteel sport that has fallen out of favor these days. Is it time to bring it back?

Feltin’ Good In the Neighborhood

Back in 1995, I discovered felting. It was all the rage then and I bought some wool yarn at a little knit shop in San Francisco called Atelier Yarns http://www.atelieryarns.com/ I bought a pattern from the Brown Sheep Company for a Fabulous Felted Hat and set out to knit a giant baggy object that eventually did magically turn into something I could wear on my head. Made with double strands, the yarn ended up costing a fortune. Afterwards I washed it in hot water to shrink and mat it, and then I molded it over a bowl the approximate size of my head to dry. That didn’t work so I just put it on and wore it till it was dry. Talk about “hat head”! I have it still although I rarely wear it. I made one for my daughter as well and hers still hangs on a chair back in her room. I need to re-felt them as they have gotten larger over time. So I will throw them in with the new project I am starting (see below).

This technique laid dormant for about ten years and then I ventured into felting again while I was living in Osceola. I saw a little clutch in The Studio, a knit shop in Kansas City http://www.thestudiokc.com and purchased the wool yarn (Noro) and pattern to make it. I entered it in the Missouri State Fair, but, unlike my quilt, it did not win a prize. It’s still pretty cute, I think. I intended to line it, but...

Now I have need for a tote bag (you can never have enough bags!) and I think I will try to design my own pattern. I’m ready to try felting again. I'm starting with a 29" size 13 circular needle and some Cascade Peruvian wool. Casting on 100 stitches and using double strands, one of Colonial blue and one of Lichen Green. I'll make handles/straps by knitting an I-cord which is always fun. This should go very quickly and I will take it along this week to one of my craft groups. I need shrinkage advice from a skilled felter. Not sure when to stop. I seem to remember it shrinks quite a bit side to side, but not sure about top to bottom. I guess I'll find out. Anyway...a perfect project to start while watching the Super Bowl!

Stay tuned to watch the progress of the Quickie Felted Tote. Photos will appear on the website at some point in the not too far distant future. Keep coming back!

The Wedding Afghans

My son, Andrew Carl Graham, was married to Laura Duffy on July 7, 2006 at her parents’ home in Colorado. Later in the summer, they had a reception on Sauvie Island here in Portland to celebrate with friends. For that event, I made them each an afghan which pretty much took me all summer.

Laura’s is an off-white cables & lace knit with basic Red Heart worsted weight yarn. I found the pattern in Heirloom Afghans to Knit and Crochet by Leinhauser & Weiss.

Andy’s is a greenish-blue knit on the diagonal with self-striping yarn, the same diagonal pattern as used for the Red Scarf only much much larger. It’s knit with Lion Brand Homespun.