Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Incognito Reversible Messenger Bag

It's Awesome! At least I think so. I even wrote down the pattern. It might be unintelligible, though. I'm not so good at the making sense bit.

Here's the alien side. It's a fairly easy pattern, all you really need is a basic understanding of knitting and colour work.







So everyone thinks "oh wow! That's a great alien bag, and then WHAM.......


Turn it inside out and it's a flower bag! (The flower is a scarlet pimpernel, by the way.)


If you feel spy-ish, go into the bathroom and turn it inside out for a quick change and no one will ever know it's you. That's an exaggeration. But it's totally cool.

What you will need:
Size 9 straight needles
Size 11 straight needles
One skein Red Heart Super Saver Heather Grey
One skein Red Heart Super Saver Black
One skein Red Heart Super Saver Red
Less than one skein Red Heart Super Saver Bright Green
    (Any worsted weight yarn type should work, like wool, for instance.)
Crochet hook (optional)
Tapestry needle
Safety pins or straight pins
Measuring tape

Gauge is 8sts/2" wide; 10sts/2" long. (I don't think the gauge will matter so much as long as you have the same gauge on both pieces of the bag.)
PATTERN

CO 53 sts with sz 9's
3 rows gtr st.
4 rows Gtr st 2, st st 49, gtr st 2.

Alien side flap
Rows 8-28: gtr st 2, st st 16, chart (13 sts for alien side), st st 16, gtr st 2.
29-31: gtr st 2, st st 49, gtr st 2.
32: k (ws) or p (rs)

Scarlet Pimpernel side flap
Rows 8-26: gtr st 2, st st 14, chart (17 sts for flower side), st st 14, gtr 2.
27-31: gtr st 2, st st 49, gtr st 2.
32: k (ws) or p (rs)

Body for both sides
St st for 7"
P (rs) or k (ws) one row
St st 10
P (rs) or k (ws) one row
  (These two purls are the marking places for where you will attach the side pieces)
St st for 6"
St st 2 rows on the wrong side
st st 2 rows on the right side
st st 2 rows on the wrong side
BO

Sew or single crochet two sides together on all edges, making sure that they are exactly matched)
(You may want to wet and lay flat to dry with something heavy on top of it at this point, so that the two sides stay together a little better, but it's up to you)

Sides and strap

Double up Black yarn
Right side piece:
Using sz 11 needles pick up 7 stitches between the purl rows that were made to mark the sides.
Gtr st 36 (or 8") until side piece meets the edge of the bag, (mark)
Continue gtr stitching for 38 3/4". BO
Sew or single crochet side piece to the bag.

For the left side piece, pick up 7 stitches between purl rows
Gtr st 36 (or 8")
BO
Sew or single crochet side piece to the bag.
attach the end of the strap to the side piece.

And then you, hopefully, jump up and down for joy. That is what I did.

And Here are the charts. I hope they are big enough.
Let me know if there  are errors in this pattern please. My email
Please don't sell this pattern or anything you make from this pattern. Otherwise have at it. If you have any questions about copyrights just email. Thanks!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Finally!

I finally finished my lilac racerback shirt! Now I realize that I'm pretty bad at attaching one piece to the other. but if you don't look too closely its fabulous.




See? I have the pattern for it written out, but I'm pretty sure some of it is wrong since I kinda just jotted down stuff as I went along. I'm nervous about knitting this again for the sake of pattern checking.

It's five pieces in all; the top left and right, the back, the waist band, and then the circular bottom. It was super fun to do, though!