sheep in the city

New Yarn and Button Bags

Sounds like a winning combination to me! I got home from work a little early yesterday and there was the magic key in my mailbox that signifies, "you got a package!". Yippee! It's yarn from Emma all the way from England! I would have ripped it open right there by the mailboxes in my car, but it was taped so well I had to use scisssors. A while back when I had my survey to see which yarn to use for my Sockapalooza pal, Emma was very interested in that particular shade of Interlacements Toastie Toes that I had in my posession. So, what did we do? A little yarn swappin'...International style! The only parameters that I put on the swap was that I liked bright colored yarn.

Well, Emma sure knows how to pick them! She sent me 2 skeins of Silky Chic, in color 134/Jamboree, and 1 skein of Zanziba, color 34/Florentina.(note that this is a very Emma color, awww, now it will make me think of you when I knit with it!) She also stuck in a bonus book...all about things to knit with Silky Chic!! A couple options are these fingerless gloves that kind of match my orange tweed coat (this is a great representation of the brightness of this yarn!) or some furry muppet slippers. I'm leaning towards the gloves, because they only take one skein and then I could make something else with the second skein! Opinions are always appreciated!! Thanks so much Emma, you let me know anytime you need something from the states!!

On to buttonhole bags: (turn back now if you don't want to see a whole lot of buttonhole bags on parade...I'm warning you, many pictures of non-felted and felted items ahead!!)

Let's start with the pattern itself. The lovely Kay over at Mason-Dixon posted it a while back (January 24th to be exact) and it has taken off! There are so many people knitting this bag! They keep popping up all over the place! So, my friends Genia, RayLynn, and I all decided to make this purse together. It's a really quick knit, so if you want instant gratification than this is the purse for you!! Why is it called the buttonhole bag you ask? Because you use the same technique to make the handle that you do to make a buttonhole...it's just on a bigger scale! Exciting, huh? So here are a few pics of the process.

All three bags, pre-felting, lounging in my lap, while Genia and I watch Alias. Jesse loved laying on these bags. I think it's the Brown Sheep yarn because he doesn't like any other knitting as much as he loves this particular brand of wool. What a weird cat, but I already knew that!

My bag: (next to a Fiesta cup for scale...hee, hee...some of you detail people might have recognized that I have the same Chartreuse dishes that Kay has and used with her bag...no I'm not stalking her, I've had my dishes for years. I just thought it was a funny touch) I used a lighter green on the bottom because I have a ton of that Limeade color, and I only had 2 skeins of the Kiwi that I wanted to use for the sides of the bag. Here's the catch, you had to double the bulky yarn that you were knitting with! Double bulky! That's some really thick knitting. And to make it even worse, my Kiwi was worsted weight, so I had to quadruple it! That was not so fun. Note to self, only buy bulky in the future, and if the shop doesn't have it, change your purse color! I also made my bag a little bit taller than she calls for. I'm loving my little bag already, California, here I come! This baby is going to carry around my Clapotis!!

RayLynn's pink and orange combo looks great, of course they are my favorite colors...so it's a given that I'll love it. I'm glad you went with the orange instead of black, good decision RayLynn! You are on your way to being a knitting rock star!

Genia's purse, pre-felting, which I named the "Baby Bag". We have no idea how or why hers is so much smaller than both of ours, but it is. I know that I knit mine to be taller, but even the bottom of her bag is smaller. She followed the pattern exactly, or so she say's. Ha! Just kidding Genia! It's super cute, and just the right size to carry around the socks that she is going to learn to knit!! Yep that's right, she's learnin' to knit socks. Aww, it's a baby!

Ta-da! Here they all are after 1 cycle through the washer for Genia, and 2 full cycles for RayLynn and I! I love this bag and can definitely see myself making another one in the near future. I'm thinking I want one thats a little bit wider at the top and bottom...or just a deeper one...or, well the possibilities are endless! Thanks again Kay for this great pattern!!