To Rivendell, where Elves yet dwell
In glades beneath the misty fell,
Through moor and waste we ride in haste,
And whither then we cannot tell.

With foes ahead, behind us dread,
Beneath the sky shall be our bed,
Until at last our toil be passed,
Our journey done, our errand sped.

We must away! We must away!
We ride before the break of day!

I somehow deleted my word document  version of this pattern. I no longer seem to have all my instructions on how to dye the yarn etc. I am working on rewriting the pattern. But for now here is the chart for the hounds tooth design.

I began browsing my favorite sections: Music, crafts (always on the lookout for a good knitting book!), and gardening. I wasn’t really finding anything and so began to wander to other sections. The most interesting ended up being the cooking section. I recently developed an interest in international cooking when I was inspired to cook a French meal after watching the French documentary To Be and To Have by Nicolas Philibert. Thus, when stumbling upon shelves full of cookbooks I excitedly began to hunt for cookbooks devoted to international cooking. The best one I found, and bought, was The International Cookie Cookbook by Nancy Baggett. If you have a sweet tooth, a love of Christmas cookie baking, or are looking for sweet treats to go along with your tea I highly recommend this book! I have made shortbread cookies (the recipe is from Scotland and Ireland) as well as biscotti from Italy. Both recipes are fantastic. I found her cooking time recommendations to be a little on the long side but other than that everything was clear and easy to follow and the flavor is great. I have many more recipes marked just waiting to be made.

I have long been a tea drinker. I have recently developed a taste for coffee but tea was always my first love. My favorite has always been any kind of green teas because I enjoy drinking a cup that is sweet enough on its own without really needing any sugar or honey. But I found, with sweet treats like shortbread or biscotti a flavorful black tea is best. What do you think tastes better?

Happy knitting, baking and tea drinking!

Emily

Difficulty [easy]

Nautical is very vogue right now but it is a style I have always loved. I have grown up by the water and on boats and have always been drawn to the colors and textures of the yachting world. For this purse I tried to capture the thick texture of fisherman sweaters and then softened it with a fun ribbon.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
12 inches tall and 12 inches wide.

MATERIALS
Yarn: Bare Peruvian Highland Wool Worsted Yarn; 100% Peruvian Highland Wool; Worsted Weight; 220 yards/100 gram hank [2 skeins.]
Needles: Body of purse: Straight and two double pointed Size 6 (4.0mm).
Notions: 1 yd navy poke-a-dot ribbon, ½ yd navy cotton fabric, 4 brass 7/16 inch grommets, two 2½ inch by 14½ inch heavy interfacing, navy sewing thread, tapestry needle.

GAUGE
Gauge: 24 sts and 28 rows in basket weave stitch.

PATTERN NOTES
Basket weave pattern: (multiple of 12 sts + 2)
Row 1: (RS) *K2, p2; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2.
Row 2 and all WS rows: Knit the knit sts and purl the purl sts as they appear.
Row 3: *P2, k2, p6, k2; rep from * to last 2 sts, p2.
Row 5: *P2, k10; rep from * to last 2 sts, p2.
Row 7: K6 *p2, k10; rep from * to last 8 sts, end p2, k6.
Row 9: P4, *k2, p2, k2, p6; rep from * to last 10 sts, end k2, p2, k2, p4.
Row 11: K6, *p2, k10; rep from * to last 8 sts, end p2, k6.
Row 12: Knit the knits and purl the purls. Repeat Rows 1½12 for pattern.

PATTERN
Pattern Item [front & back]
With straight needles, CO 86 sts. Work first row of Basket weave pattern. Continue to work in pattern and repeat 12 rows 4 times more (5 in all). BO in pattern.

Repeat for back.

Handles
Make six 25½ inch I-chords. To make the I-chord, take a double pointed needle and CO 3 sts. Knit across the 3 sts then slide the sts to the opposite end of the needle without turning the needle and knit across the sts. Repeat until chord is 25½ inches long. Take three chords, weave in the ends and then thread through one grommet (back to front) and tie a knot. Braid the chords making sure not to do it to tight as to stretch the chord (handles should be about 22½ inches long when braided.) Put opposite ends through grommet (back to front) and tie a knot. Repeat on other side of bag with remaining three chords.

FINISHING
Sew side seams of bag RS facing. Fold the bottom corners into a triangle (so that the side seam and bottom seam are aligned with each other) and sew 1½ inches in from the corner to make a rectangular bottom.

For the lining, cut a piece that is 14½ inches wide and 16½ inches tall. Sew the side seams and bottom (RS together) with ½ inch seam allowance. Fold the bottom corners into a triangle (so that the side seam and bottom seam are aligned with each other) and sew 1½ inchs in from the corner to make a rectangular bottom. Turn lining wrong side out and put into the knitted bag (so that the right side of the lining is on the wrong side of the bag and pin to hold in place. Iron the heavy interfacing a half-inch down from the top on the wrong side of the lining. Fold over that ½ inch at the top of the lining then fold the top over 2½ inches down and pin the ½ inch folded edge to the top of the knitted bag and sew it down. NOTE: If using a sewing machine be sure to adjust the tension of the stitches because the knitted fabric is extremely stretchy and you will end up with a pucker. Cut a piece of ribbon ½ inch longer than the circumference of the top of the bag. Next pin the ribbon over the seam where the blue fabric is sewn to the top of the knitted bag starting a few inches from the left front (this is where the bow is going to go). Sew down by running a seam along the top and bottom of the ribbon. With remaining ribbon tie a bow and sew down over the ribbon seem.

Place grommets between 3 and 3½ inches from seam edge (see back of grommet box for directions on how to mount them.)

Sorry this is taking so long to make the transition. I have been preparing for lessons with potential graduate school teachers, arranging and playing music at a friends wedding and participating in a music festival so I have let time slip away.

Just an update. I am rewriting my pattern for the “Basket Weave Tote” I just need to take some new pictures and set up pdf download. I am hoping to have this done by the end of the week so if you are coming to this site looking for the pattern bare with me for another week!

Also, I am hoping to start blogging regularly, I am a little new to blogging so it might be a rocky start (it kind of has been already… haha) So we will see.

Some projects I am currently working on (knitting is a wonderful break to practicing). I am making quite a few sweaters. Two are cardigans. I am making this with pure alpaca wool that my Aunt and Uncle gave me. They own a farm in Frederick, Maryland. It is a beautiful deep blue/green.

I am making this cardigan for my mom. As well as this pattern She really loves cardigans they flatter her very well.

I think those are my main projects. I have a few other random ones but I haven’t worked on them in a while. I have been looking for sweater patterns that include pockets. I have found that pockets are my new favorite little embellishment to any garment (knitted or not). I find them so cute on a dress or a pleated skirt. I just bought a knit sweater/shirt that has two small pockets on the front. I have yet to design a sweater and am currently working on implementing pockets into one we will see!

Emily

KnittersTalk has undergone quite a bit of renovation. I am changing the forum into a blog and a site to host my patterns and design work. I have been slow in getting this going. I decided to do this because the blog has been getting inundated with spam and I have found that there was not enough activity there to really justify it. I created the forum when Ravelry was just taking off and now find myself there more than working on my own site.

The majority of my visitors are from Ravelry, so for those of you who are looking for the tote or scarf pattern they will be up shortly available under the “patterns” tab. I am working on cleaning them up and having them available to be downloaded in PDF format. That way they should be cleaner, easier to print, and read.

Ok, I think that is all for now! Sorry for the mess!

Emily