Monday, February 23, 2009

sprouting!

This little leafy bag was an improvisation: unswatched for, made up on the fly. It was a way of playing around with some techniques and patterns that I'd had in mind for a while.


The yarns are two heavy worsted yarns that are left over from past projects. The green is a rustic wool from some long-ago farmers' market. The brown is a handspun camel-hair yarn that I used for the Woodland Collar. I knit them on, I don't know, size 8s perhaps?

The leaf motif was a play on a pattern from Solveig Hisdal's Poetry in Stitches. The book is a masterpiece of Norwegian stranded colorwork sweaters, with patterns inspired by vintage textiles. I like to flip through it from time to time when I feel like a taste of inspiration and awe. Since its sweaters are far finer and more detailed than the things I typically like to knit, though, it was with great pleasure that I worked one of its motifs into this wee bag.


So, let's see, I started from the bottom, knit a circle from the center outwards with the green yarn, then added in the camel yarn and started the leaf pattern. At the top, I did a turning row in purl stitches, and then a hem, which I stitched down. I finished it off with an I-cord strap.

It's a very small bag -- just 3.5" wide and 6" high -- but it's just right for carrying the essentials when I take Isis out for our morning walks.

In other sprouting news, I've planted three new dyeplant seeds: madder, bedstraw, and woad. I already have coreopsis, marigold, and indigo started.


I'm hoping to get a good dye garden growing this spring and summer!

6 comments:

lexa said...

That's a cute little bag!

gayle said...

Beautiful little bag!
I'll be watching your dye garden experiment with interest - please keep up posted on it. I've grown coreopsis and marigold, but the woad and indigo sound really good!

Anonymous said...

You're making me want to move to a warmer climate, purely so that I can grow more dye plants.
I've grown dyer's coreopsis but even that is iffy around here with frost possible on any given day or night, but I'm going to try some again this year and have asked a friend who lives in a warmer part of the valley to put some in her garden, too.
The woad I could grow if it wasn't listed as a noxious weed in this state (still might some day, since it's harvested a year before it ever gets a chance to set seed. Shh! Don't tell.) I could find out from the county extention offices exactly where the renegade patches are already established but, unfortunately they are all hours of driving away from here, such it is living in a huge western state. A little road trip might just be in order!
Will be following your dyeing and gardening adventures with interest and envy!

Anonymous said...

growing dye plants!! How wonderful!

kathy b said...

Oh the little bag is adorable. My it looks so thick with the yarn you found to use. I love it. Love the hem you made for the top as well. Great job.

Oh spring and planting is a far 5/15 in our zone.....so far away

Anonymous said...

The little leaf design bag looks perfect for a glasses case too. I have lost several recently and may have to string the around my neck!

Bibiji