Felted Fibonacci Bag

Continuing on with Slip Stitch Felted things. And my fascination with Fibonacci stripes... I have made a felted bag.

Done on my SK860 - Yoko in more of the 8ply Rustic I bought for felting. It was cheap, what can I say. And I don't always have to have bright stuff, I can do subtle.. Really!

The Fibonacci sequence is 21, 1, 13, 2, 8, 3, 5, 5, 3 8, 2, 13, 1, 21 rows in alternating colours. I don't cut the yarn, instead I pick up the colour from the side it was on last - much, much easier having no ends to weave in and the felting squishes them rather well.

The first thing to do is prepare the inside gussett.
T7: on WY cast on 70 sts, change to main yarn and do the EON slip stitch every 4th row. Work 20 (or more) rows. Take off with deckers, WY, garter bar - whatever and set aside.

Now the the bag itself.

T7 ***( I did 7, but if I make it again I'll try it on 6 for a tighter edge only for the folded hem on the top of the bag)
T ?6: C/O 80 work 3 rows,
1 row EON slip stitch, (RC4)
straight to RC7
1 row EON slip stitch (RC8)
straight to RC13
next row pick up slip stitch hem row (RC 14)
straight to RC18
pick up slip stitch row RC19
Knit to 20
Join to cast on row.
Change to T7 and work straight to RC31.
Every 10th Row, begining at RC31, decrease one stitch each end to 70 sts, and begin Fibonacci sequence. I didn't bother with resetting the RC, I counted the sequence while I was decreasing. The last one was on the last row of the 5/5..HERE IS THE LAST DEC.. before change of colour to 3/8.
OTHER SIDE BEGINS IT'S INCREASES at the same point.

When finished the Fib sequence. Change to the base colour, I decided to use the colour I started with (I had more balls of it is why...) Rehang the prepared base liner. (I used a different colour cause it was left over from the slippers and I only had enough for 20 rows).
It's on the inside of the bag so it doesn't matter.
work 3 rows , hang the slip loops every second needle and repeat till the loops are all worked, work 3 rows, join the cast on edge. I didn't offset the loops, kept them on the same needle every 4th row - yes it does make a difference to the finished felted result.

Next thing is to reverse the sequence colours, remembering to increase 1 st each end at the beginning of the ..5/5 row sequence.
Reverse the bag edge, REMEMBERING TO do the slip stitch row on the 4th row (and yes I did forget and have to undo the stupid thing and do it properly). Join again by either, slip stitch or kitchener it.

Sides and handles: RC000.

Pick up 10 stitches (the bars) from BOTH the outside and liner onto the same needle.
Using sew as you go, join as you work to the beginning of the folded hem. Stop and put on WY etc.
Do the other side the same.
When up to the Stop and put on WY etc, put onto garter bar and flip it over, to do the underside of the handle.
Move the carriage to the side that has the yarn joined to it.

Handle: Keep going with the sew as you go on the inside foldover and;
Work 3 rows
Work 1 row EON slip stitch ...But the next time alternate the needle it's going on. Exactly like the sock heel flap.. makes a big difference to the handle's finish after felting, so yes it's worth doing. I used the needle selector ruler, put it on the side that the first needle next to the carriage pushed up that sequence, then put it to the opposite side so the next turn to do the slip stitch row, the first needle on the other side pushed that set up.
keep going (alternating the needles being pushed) to RC 180 or more and begin the sew as you go on the inside of the fold over AND the slip stitches every 4 rows.
Take off the machine (garter bar is good) re hang, making sure it is NOT twisted, loop side is facing out, rehang the held stitches from the side.

Working sew as you go on the opposite side to the carriage the whole way, work 3 rows, pick up the loops to the end. take off and kitchener stitch to the other side so it looks neat.

Weave in ends. There isn't any sewing, it's all done. There aren't any ends from the stripes either, because the carriage is moved to the side of the next colour.

Felt.

I used the dryer as the front loader isn't as good for this.

Hand washed all the stuff I'd knitted for felting (a bit of red dye came out of the hats and slippers.) I washed in hot water, rinsed in cold, then hot, then cold until the water ran clear and chucked one bag, one hat and 8 slippers into the dryer, I stopped it every couple of minutes to check on things. The bag was done first. I didn't want to felt to too much, and it was done at a lower stitch size - I didn't give it as much room to felt down. (then the slippers and then the hat for 5 mins extra).

The wool I used last time to felt wasn't going to give it up and I had to chuck it in the front loader on hot wash with a pair of jeans. But the Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic is a dream to felt.

Slip Stitch Brim on Two Hats

I bought some Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 8ply in 50g balls from the Sydney Craft and Quilt show in June. I wanted to do some felting experiments with slip stitch as an alternative to garter stitch on the SK860 mid gauge aka Yoko.

Basically, they are the same hat design, but in different sizes so I could felt one.

I'll write up the unfelted hat first, it's a beanie with a sun visor is what it is.

Prepare the Brim first:
T4: Cast on 50, (ewrap), and do two things at once: every 4th row, do one row EON slip stitch, (two posts back is details on how to do this). First thing is do short rows, 1 needle end of every row down to 17 sts and then do two rows, starting across the 17 sts, to the end, one complete row then a part row back to where you started and short row back.
On the way back, pick up a loop and put it on every second needle (EON).
Put the cast on edge but don't knit. Take off machine however you like, WY, garter bar, knitting needle.

Crown:
Cast on 120 + 2 (one extra on each ends 11.1.1 ~ 1.1.11) EON for a mock rib. work 20R. Join up the cast on edge into the empty needle, don't knit yet, put the brim on.
However, what I did in the photo was put the brim on top of the mock rib, however, I put it UNDER on the felted one, which I liked better.
Next, knit one row, mock rib, both edges of the brim, all in one row. Reset RC to 000.
Work straight to 50 rows.
skipping the Edge stitches - don't count them, they are being sewn together. (What we are doing is K2tog, k6 repeat to end). put needle 2 onto 3, miss the next 6, then needle 10 onto 11, and so to end and fill in the gap = rehang however you like - garter bar, waste yarn, circ needle. knit 4 rows.
Reducing the missed stitches by one needle each time, do this twice more (three lots of 4 rows inbetween), then every second till there are no more stitches inbetween.

I completely messed up the first one because I did not make sure, before I did the 2togs, that I was on the correct needle and that I had the correct number of needles inbetween.

Finishing: take off, thread through the loops, sew up back seam, weave in ends.

Next are the numbers for the felted version:
Brim:
T7: C/O 72, short row sequence: 1 sts at each end 10 times, then 2 sts each end to 22 sts and back, while doing the slip stitches, EON every 10th row.
Crown:
C/O 160 + 2, EON mock rib, 20 rows, same as the other one.
Join the end of the rib, cap under the rib, knit one row.
Knit 16 rows,
Skip the first needle, then 2 tog, 8, to end, three times. (three sets of 16 rows) Same, reducing of the needles inbetween,
then do the same every 4th row till none are left.

Finish the same.
Felting. I had a real feltathon so in it went in with 4 pairs of slippers and a bag. I have a front loader, so I hand washed them all, got the excess dye out of all the red things, rinsed till clear, made a pathetic effort in squeezing out the excess water = put them all in the bucket and chucked them all into the dryer on super hot. Which was ok because they had just come out of a hot/cold/hot/cold hand wash cycle. I checked on them every couple of minutes, redunked the hat, took out the bag, and they them all another bash around the dryer, took the socks out then it had another 5 mins to really shrink down.

I thought the brim felted in an interesting pattern, the EONs were in line on the same needle. I really like the result, much better than garter stitch, which makes also makes a thicker piece where you need it but always looks - lumpy, doesn't it.

Branching Out Machine Knit (BOMK) Bag

BOMK Bag
Ok here are my machine instructions for the Felted bag Branching out, which can be found on the Lion Brand site. You can find the chart and original instructions there.














I used a single bed machine, garter bar and a two prong tool and a mid gauge machine.
I used Nundle 8ply wool, which would be similar enough to American 10ply, to substitute that.
I transferred the chart to the paper for my EC1 electronic reader. Any pattern you like could work
I used T6 on my SK860

Cast on 63 sts on ravel cord. Stitch requirements: 2/59/2 sts (2 stitches must be each side of your pattern).
Garter Bar: 20 rows garter stich.
put the 2rd stitch onto the 3rd both ends and keep these stitches in work.
knit straight for 30 rows
do chart - 26 rows
knit straight for 16 rows.
Put the 4th st on the 5th, each end (I put the 3rd onto the 4th, but I think one more across would be better)
The divide for the next row: 22/..19.. /22 put the 22s on hold, knit 2 rows on 19 sts only on waste yarn (for your handle, go bigger if you like)
Garter Bar: 14 rows, garter stitch.
you can cast off you you like, or take off onto circs, or waste. If casting off, drop 2nd stitch each end.

Next bit:
pick up 63 stitches from the ravel cord on the first bit and do this side of the bag the same BUT REMEMBER TO put your 2ND OVER TO THE 3RD, and keep it in WP.

Sides, do both sides the same:
pick up 10 sts, straight to 72rows (no need to put your 2nd st onto 3rd, as it drops down to the edge)
Dec 3rd or 4th sts to the inside, both side (8sts)
Garter Bar: 14 rows, garter stitch.

Drop the second stitch from the end on all four pieces.

The really nice side pieces were done straight out of Susan Guagliumi's Hand Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters. Here is her website. Ch. 6, 97 Vertical Ladder Seam














How I interpreted her instructions was to:
with a crochet hook, I picked up 5 stitches, on the bottom of stitch 3, bottom on the dropped stitch, for the middle one, there was a nice little V between the sides, then the same on the other piece, giving me 5 stitches.
**Then 5 rows, (actually it worked out to be 6 rows on the very first one only)
Carriage on R. on the left, pick up the first 4 dropped loops and put them behind the last two stitches (for a more detailed explanation, please see HMS4MKers book).
knit one row
Carriage on L. On the right, pick up the first 4 dropped loops and put them behind the last 2 sts.
repeat from ** all the way up to the top.

Then I cast off the entire top in the camel colour.

SSS Britannia

Swirly Shawly Sleevy Britannia is finished. It is my thinner version of Drops Pinwheel Cardigan. One of the comments against this style of garment was that a circle doesn't make a cardigan. I think that is probably correct, so I decided to make a shawl and put sleeves in it to keep it from falling off. That decided, I went to the stash and chose 4 x 200g Bendi Mystique Britannia. Once started, I continued on the largest chart to 20 stitches between the pattern, measured, and kept going to 26 stitches, plus pattern. Then put in the sleeve division (on waste yarn); PM/50/80/50/PM (marker/ sleeve/ shoulder/ sleeve/ marker) and when I do another one, I'd add 10 to the shoulder 50/90/50. The PM designates underside of sleeve.

I decided to knit up as much of the wool as possible, so I completed both sleeve and put the remainder into the shawl section: one extra repeat of the 12 row pattern (as shown in the middle size) and repeated 12 rows ribbing once so I have 6 repeats, not 3, casting off on the final pattern row. (720 stitches, measures 110 cm in diameter.)

Sleeve: pick up 50 + 6, dec 2 sts every 6 rows to 78, continue in 3:3 rib/berry stitch, but dec 2 sts every 4th pattern row to 66 sts, then 13 repeats of 4 row pattern in total, casting off instead of doing the final pattern row.

I'm thrilled with my shawl (with sleeves). I'm do feel every little cool breeze and will get a lot of wear with it staying put. (Even if I treat it like track pants - never to be worn out of the front door!!)