Harlequin Bags - Introduction

Right after college when we were living in a ratty apartment in Durham, NC, my friend Rinku had a bag she brought back from India, made of purple and orange yarn. I had just learned how to crochet that year and recognized the stitches on the bags for what they were. I figured out how the craftsperson passed the alternating colors of yarn through the middle of each crochet stitch to make a diamond pattern. The stitches looked nearly as good on the inside as the outside plus the fabric was super thick and strong. Here's the first bag I made.


The colors were beautiful, in part because I used Provence mercerized cotton -- a fantastic yarn. There were many goofs, though. Like these conjoined-twin-diamonds:


Well, so what. I figured out how to count. Here's another one. I use this as a computer sleeve for my laptop as well as a purse:


Here's how it looks on the inside. No running threads:

And a close-up.

Because of the diamond pattern, I call this pattern family "harlequin bags."

Yarn Recycling Resources

In my previous post I removed a turtleneck from a knit sweater and crocheted a new neckline (although this new neckline is still a work in progress). In order to do this, I used some skills I picked up in my yarn recycling practice.

I learned yarn recycling from putting together instructions from various places on the web. I owe a great debt to local friends including C.C. in Durham and to these sites:

Neauveau Fiber Arts, which still has the best unraveling-a-sweater instructions on the web;

These instructions from Knitty Gritty which show how to take out a turtleneck and put it back in (for knitters, not crocheters). For crochet instructions, see my previous post.

See also Cloudy Crochet's post on recycling yarn.

In future posts I'll talk more about fun ways to recycle yarn and how to use it.

Here's the yarn I salvaged from the turtleneck of the Club Monaco sweater: hank's worth that I wound on my winder as I poached the turtle. (To use it in a future project I'll wash it gently, dry it, etc. More on that later.)

Here's another thrift-store sweater recycling project:

Ugly Turtle No More - a Reinvention Project

I bought this Club Monaco 100% wool turtleneck at a thrift store this past week intending to poach the yarn. It's very very soft for a non-fancy wool. But then I was captivated by a nifty snap at the bottom hem, and gave the thing another gander. It had some strange crusty stuff on it from it's previous life, but nothing I couldn't wash off, and the fabric was in perfect condition. I slipped it on and voila--excellent sweater hiding beneath a dreadful turtleneck.*

(*My significant-other-person MAP insists that turtlenecks have their valuable place. He would refer my readers to his freshman year French teaching assistant at UNC, Miss J., who apparently redefined the meaning of "romance language" for her young male students via the snug turtlenecks she would wear to class.)

No problem, I thought. I might not know how to knit, but I sure know how to take knitting apart. I removed the turtleneck and then wound the yarn onto my ball winder.*

(*MAP has named the ball winder "Harry.")

Then, starting at the back where the stitches were in nice, lined up loops, I crocheted through each loop using a 2.75mm hook and the poached turtle-yarn. (This is the only turtle-poaching this blogger approves of.) Working in a circle, I made five tiny rows. The wool still needs to be blocked to smooth out the work, but now there's a scoopneck I'll wear.

The turtleneck had been sewn on abruptly and left some jagged edges in the front. Because the knit loops weren't lined up, but rather fell diagonally, I folded over the rather tattered material and just, well, invented a row of crochet stitches across the knitting. This seemed to work fine.

***If anyone has any better ideas for this step in the process, PLEASE post them. Or please post if you have any ideas for how I might do up this neckline.*

(*If anyone suggests "scalloping" I'll delete the post. No turtles. No scallops. Okay?)

A Welcome Post

If you have stumbled upon Fiber Smarts, then you haven't found much besides this post. Sorry.

I've taken many pictures to upload of current yarn recycling projects (and links to excellent recycling instructions too); pictures of rehabilitation projects; and pictures of my speciality, the crochet Harlequin Bag I designed based on a model my friend Rinku brought back from India in 1998.

To come are book recommendations, patterns, queries, and philosophizing, with a focus on crochet.

See you soon.

Tutorials

• Bust Darts (what they are, how to do them)
• Photographing Knitting (step 1, camera and lens considerations)
• Plarn - Plastic yarn from Plastic Bags (Version 1, Version 2)
• Tarn - Yarn made from old t-shirts
  
• Recycled Yarn from Old Sweaters (Part 1, Part 2)

Fiber Facts

The regular blog column "Fiber Facts" presents the scientific side of fiber. Most of these are written by our science specialist, Jordynn. If you have a topic you would like her to research and write about, send us an email.

Here's a list of previous columns, arranged in alphabetical order by topic.

• Corn (How it is made into yarn)
• Felting (How does it happen?).
• Knots (Why yarn tangles).
• Lanital (Milk Fiber).
• Mercerized Cotton (What is this process?)
• Silk (How it's made).
• Viscose (What is it?)
• Whalebone Swifts (What are they?)
  

Katie's Patterns

Scroll around in the screen below to view all of the patterns that are available via my Ravelry designer page.

I have also published an eBook of patterns. Click the link for more info!

Knitting Like a Professor