Free Pattern: Plastique Plarn Purse

Like many, I have a moral opposition to the plastic bags that are handed out like it ain't no thing by every store in these United States.

They drive me nuts.

Finding ways to re-use them is crucial. Better than recycling, which melts them down (using energy) to create other plastic things (using energy).

So--using them as pooper scoopers, good. Plarn (plastic-yarn), even better.

I give you, then, Plastique.



Pattern Name: Plastique Plarn Purse

Designer: Katie Rose Pryal of the Knitty Professors

Yarn
- Plarn (instructions below)
- Any cotton or other non-stretchy yarn (I used Caron Simply Soft from my scraps bag), half a skein, wound into two yarn muffins using a ball winder, because you need to work this 4-ply.

Needles
- Crochet hook in size 6.50mm
- Crochet hook in size 17mm (p or q will work)
- Circular needles in size 11, 16" or 24"
- Circular needles in size 17, 16" or 24"

Other supplies
- Bag handles. Reclaimed from an old beat-down thrift store bag is best. Purchased new at A.C. Moore is not best, but will do.
- Sharp, large scissors

To Make Plarn
- You will need thirty or forty high-quality plastic bags, from the Gap (blue), Barnes and Noble (green), Target (red and white), etc.
- If you have lots of the lower-quality bags, such as brown or white grocery bags, those will do, but the cutting instructions are a little bit different (see below.)

(1) First make each bag into a tube by cutting off the bottom of the bag and any handles at the top.

(2) Starting at one end, cut a spiral out of the bags. This will create one, long continuous strip of plastic.

**With the high-quality bags, you want this strip to be somewhere between 1 and 2 inches in width on average. With the lower-quality bags, you will want this to be between 2 and 3 inches in width on average.** (This is so that you maintain a steady-ish gauge with your plarn--the thinner the plastic, the wider the strip, see?)

(3) Using a square knot, knot the strips together and wind into a big ball. To make stripes as in the sample in the pictures, you should try to keep 1-3 bags worth of plarn of the same color together (depending on the size of the bag), and then switch colors. Just keep knotting and knotting.

You Have Plarn!

Work the Bag

Using the larger crochet hook and plarn, chain 5, then join to work in round (using a slip stitch). You will work in an ever-increasing circle with regular increases, forming a disc that is the base of the bag. Each crocheted round ends with a slipped stitch.

Round 1: Work 2 sc into each st, slip st to end round. 10 sts.

Round 2: Work 1 sc into first stitch, 2 sc into next stitch, then repeat to end of round. 15 sts.

Round 3: Work 1 sc into 2 sts, 2 sc into next st. Repeat to end of round. 20 sts.

Round 4: Work 1 sc into 3 sts; 2 sc into next st. Repeat to end of round. 25 sts.

Continue until the base of the bag measures between 10 and 12 inches in diameter.

Using larger knitting needle, pick up knit stitches around the edge of the crocheted disc you just made. Now you will just knit in the round until the bag is as tall as you want it to be, between 10 and 12 inches. Work the plarn loosely to make it easier on your wrists.

After you have achieved the height you desire, switch to the regular yarn (shown here: Caron Simply Soft held 4-ply). Work 1 round.

Switch to smaller needles. Work 2 rounds more. Bind off. DON'T BREAK YARN.

Assemble Handles
 

This is the hardest part of the project. You need to attach the handles to the bag using single-crochet. If this is just too hard to figure out, you can sew them on using a yarn needle.

Step 1. Using smaller crochet hook, work 2 single crochets into each stitch, wrapping the stitch around the handle each time. Continue for the entire length of the handle.

Step 2. Using your eyeball, mathematical skills, or measuring tape, figure out where the second handle should be placed.

Step 3. SC until you reach the spot you ascertained in Step 2.

Step 4. Crochet the second handle to the bag as in Step 1.

Step 5. Crochet the rest of the way around. Break yarn and weave in.



And that's it! Cute, strong, and often the cause of gasps from strangers in public places when they realize what it's made of. Sew in a lining if you want to carry smaller items in it. Old bedsheets, curtains, and men's dress shirts from the thrift store make excellent fabric for linings.

Reuse. Redesign. Redefine.

Best Use of a Pattern of Mine, Ever

Last week, my dear friend S.'s child died. It was shocking, surprising, horrible, and unspeakably tragic.

Today was the memorial service.

Yesterday, my friend B. knit S. a shawl using the Sediment pattern, and gave it to S. today.

You can go see the FO on B.'s blog here.

Today is sadness.

FO: Frontwards Cable Sweater

This is my rendition of Wendy Bernard’s Backwards Cable Sweater from Custom Knits (a gift from Katie!).

Yarn:

Araucania Nature Wool (100% wool; color #56)

(This was on sale at Webs for $5.99 a skein--a great deal! Though not as soft as some yarns, I think it will hold up well).

Mods:

• put the cable in the front
• added vertical and horizontal bust darts
• did regular ribbing on edging instead of baby cable ribs–too time consuming!
• added long sleeves

I’m very pleased with this sweater overall. I like that the scoop neck is lower in front than the back (thanks to short rows in back and to the neck increases in front). I should have alternated the skeins of yarn every few rows, because they were slightly different since this is kettle-dyed yarn. You can see where I switched skeins in the photo above, although I don’t think it is quite that noticeable in real life.

I might make this sweater again in a short-sleeved, layering version.

Some Vintage Wool

I found this at the local thrift today. Yet another example that proves the maxim, "They just don't make 'em like they used to."



The bonus in this situation is that, in this world of let's all dress like teenagers, this dress fits like it was custom-tailored for my post-baby body.



The detail stitching the bust area is flattering and fabulous.



It's knee-length, perfect mate for a pair of tall black leather boots (a wardrobe staple, of which I have 3), professional and funky at the same time.



Only one small blemish--a moth hole that I sealed up with some Fray-Check--to give us a sense of its history.



That, and the woven Marshall Field & Company tag.

Baby on Sediment

Babies make everything cuter, even insane leftovers blankets like Sediment [Read about it. Ravel it.]

Here's my son Adrian modeling the super-soft and squishy blanket.



Once more:



He likes the furry sections. I like that when he loses his balance and clunks his head, he's got a lot of padding with all of that garter stitch.

Free Pattern: Sediment Scraps Blanket

[Updated February 2, 2010]

The best thing about knitting a garter-stitch blanket on the bias with leftover stash yarn and recycled fiber I'll never use for anything else is that this pile:



turns into this:



I'm such a cheapskate at heart. We got it all in here: recycled cotton and wool sweaters, craptastic eyelash yarn, satin ribbons, cotton in overly-bright colors, some Caron Simply Soft that simply would not go away, a wool sweater I sliced in a spiral to spin with but never used, etc. etc.

The best thing is that you already own the yarn for this project.



Name: Sediment Scraps Blanket

[Ravelry]
Designer: Katie Rose Pryal of the Knitty Professors

Yarn: Any combination of yarns that will make a bulky-to-super-bulky weight fiber, usually 5ish strands of a worstedish weight yarn. Ideally recycled, reclaimed, or cut from a felted sweater (like the light green stuff in the picture at the beginning of this post). Fiber content is not critical. I used a mish-mash. It takes a lot though--my finished blanket weighs about 5 pounds.

Finished size: About 4 feet by about 6 feet. (I call this "couch blanket" size.)

Needles: Size 11 circulars, the longer the better. I used my Denises lengthened to about 4 feet.

Special Stitches:
kfb = knit into the front and back of stitch. This increases by one stitch.
k2tog = knit two stitches together as one. This decreases by one stitch.

Pattern:

Cast on 1 st.

Row 1: Kfb.

Row 2: Kfb, k1.

Row 3: Kfb, k to end of row.

Repeat row three over and over and over. You will start making a big garter-stitch triangle. Work until one of the (non-working) sides measures between 48 and 50 inches wide.

**About adding yarn: I started with five balls of yarn. Then, I started knitting. When one ball ran out, I knotted a another ball on. That's why the color changes are more gradual. The knots got sucked into the thick garter stitch and I didn't worry about weaving in ends.**

Now you will start working length-wise only.

Row 4: Kfb, k to end of row.

Row 5: K2tog, k to end of row.

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until the length starts to look good to you--or until you fear that you will run out of yarn.

Now you will work the end section.

Row 6: K2tog, k to end of row.

Row 7: k2tog, k to end of row.

Work rows 6 and 7 until you have "closed" the rectangle. Knit the last 2 live sts together, bind off, weave in end.

Done!

REUSE, PEOPLE. It's a moral imperative.

Cleaning is Catching

Jordynn organized her yarn, and Ysolda cleaned up her studio as well. So I decided to do the same. (Certainly this desire for cleanliness and organization was in no way driven by the desire to flee my real work, the book manuscript revision that was imminently due. I finished it, by the way.)



(See those 6 skeins of that lovely mango colored Brown Sheep Worsted? Jordynn found that at a thrift store for 75 CENTS A SKEIN. Then you know what she did? She emailed me and said, "This would look a lot better on you. Do you want it?" Now tell me. Do YOU have a friend like that?)

I'm one of the lucky ones who gets a whole room to herself. It's my office/studio, and its great in many ways. My husband was a huge help in designing the yarn storage--since the yarn must share space with books (my two competing vocations)--storage creativity was a must.

He built this pegboard wall for me:



And made these otherwise crappy shelves work:



It all fits very nicely in a small space, especially with those stacking baskets for my fleece and roving.