This tote bag is an original pattern that I made up to try out a couple of new techniques. Click on any of the pictures to see the bigger version.

I knit it from one strand of Berroco Glace in # 2531 Oregano (Glace is 100% viscose rayon) held together with one strand of South West Trading Company Phoenix in either Harvest or Napa Valley (Phoenix is 100% soy silk). Harvest is the solid green seen in the bottom and in the band right under the drawstring. Napa Valley is the multi-color green, cream and purple seen around the middle of the bag, on the opening above the drawstring, and in the I-cord drawstring itself.

I used two skeins of the Glace, and about 1/2 of each skein of the Phoenix. The Glace added a nice shiny touch to the matte finish of the Phoenix.

The bag was knit on US #11 needles in a basket weave pattern. I knit from the middle of the bottom up toward the top. Near the top I made YO eyelets for the drawstring. I used a crocheted bind-off: One single crochet in each stitch, and then one row of crab stitch (backward single crochet) around the top to make the sort of basket-ish finishing twist.

The first picture shows the bag full of goodies. It’s a medium-sized bag (or that’s what I would call it), and is holding six 50-gram hanks of yarn with room to spare.

The second picture shows the bag laid out to show the colors and the basket weave pattern.

The third picture shows the bottom of the bag. I cast on 5 stitches and increased every row until I had 80 stitches. The basket weave pattern is worked over multiples of 8 stitches. I was quite please with myself for keeping the pattern going from the very beginning up throughout the increases.

Like its cousin the Red Tote Bag, this bag was lined in sparkly, midnight-purple Lycra. The stretchy lining means that the bag will still be able to stretch to hold a lot of stuff, but means that it’s not as stable as it would have been if I’d lined it with a firmer fabric. The lining was attached to the row of purl bumps on the row right below the drawstring eyelets.

It didn’t take very long to knit — I estimate about 1 hour for the I-cord, 4 hours for the bag itself, and 1 hours to make the lining and sew it in.

I had a lot of fun making this bag and I might be tempted to make another one if so many other projects weren’t waiting in the wings. But it will be a great bag for hauling smallish projects around out in public.

In other knitting news, I’m almost finished with E’s socks (really!) and I’ve picked up 6 skeins of Novo Yarns Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed in color #13 Cool Blue, which is a sort of tweedy faded denim color. This will be used on Clapotis #2. I plan to take it to work to keep my shoulders warm on days when the air conditioner has turned into a wind tunnel.

Check in the right-hand sidebar under “Finished Objects” for Finished Objects Gallery.

The new Gallery was created courtesy of Flash Album Generator from DMXzone.com, a Dreamweaver MX plugin. You must have both Dreamweaver MX and Fireworks MX for this plugin to work, but Flash MX is not required. It creates an almost totally customizable gallery with just a few clicks.

Cool, eh?

For some reason I can’t get this to work in Firefox. But if you have IE it looks great. Fixed. I’m not sure how or why, but recreating the gallery seems to have done the trick.

Had a great time at Knitflix last night! About 25 knitters showed up, and it was really fun to be in a room with so many people enjoying a movie, a beer (some of us) and the soft sound of needles clacking. The movie was hokey, but had some cute one-liners and I’ve always been fond of the scene where Fred Astaire dances on the walls and ceiling. The lights could have been a little brighter where I was sitting, but I did managed to make some progress on E’s socks.

Note to self: Next time I’m going knitting in the semi-dark, it would be a good idea to take a project that’s worked on needles larger than US #1.

After the movie several of us gathered at Mable’s Cafe for coffee and pie. That peach pie looked really good, but I restrained myself, having already indulged in a hot dog for dinner.

E’s socks, which have progressed about 2″ past the heel, were passed around the table to some nice comments. Usually I’m the one asking, “How’d you do that?” So it was fun to have others ask me about my technique and share ideas and such.

I’m hoping that Knitflix becomes a regular event.

Tonights it’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory with #1 Son, and tomorrow dinner with L. And then my social life should go back to its normal quiet little rut.

Good little knitster, that’s me! I’m working exclusively on E’s socks, I’ve turned the heels on both, and I’m starting up the ankles. And they don’t look half bad, if I do say so myself! I’m sort of on a roll as far as the socks go. I’m afraid to knit on anything else for fear I’ll lose my momentum.

This has been a busy, busy week with something planned almost every night! This morning I paid bills (usually an evening chore) so I won’t feel guilty about indulging in my suddenly expansive social life.

Tonight it’s Knitflix at The Clinton St. Theater. What more could one ask for than knitting and a movie? The theater is leaving the lights partially up for those like me that need to see what their doing. The movie, Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, starts at 7:00. (Come early to get the best seats!) And a shout out to the Portland Stitch N Bitch group on Yahoo who not only thought it up, but did the legwork necessary to organize the very first Portland Knitflix, and thanks to Mabel’s Cafe for sponsoring it.

Tomorrow I’m not knitting at Tangle, as I am instead going to a movie with #1 Son. Maybe Charlie And The Chocolate Factory as we’ve both wanted to see this.

If you’ve been paying attention (and I’m sure, gentle reader, that you have), you know that his girlfriend E (of the socks) is camping with her family. #1 Son had insisted that he could drive down to Crater Lake all by himself, and I insisted that he couldn’t. He saw reason and stayed in Portland. His manager at work has been nice enough to give him Tuesday and Wednesday night hours back.

Friday night I’m having dinner with my friend L, who I haven’t seen in way too long.

So that leave Thursday night for a movie with #1 Son. Two movies in one week is way more than I usually see! But somehow I think that a Regal Cinema or the usual reasonable facsimile is not likely to leave the lights partly up so I can knit. 🙂

I’m the #1 Google hit for “Botox and constipation.”

I’m so proud! 🙄

My child, that is, although I’m sure that is true of other children as well. And other parents probably feel just as amazed with their children as I do with mine.

What amazes me is how they grow up in fits and starts — how someone who can be so mature and adult in some areas of life can be so… well… unthinking in other areas.

This was the conversation when my phone rang at 11:30 PM last Saturday:

Mom: Hello

#1 Son: Hey. What’s up?

Mom: Well, I was just about to go to bed. What’s up with you?

#1 Son: I’m over at E’s house. [pause]

Mom: Did you have a nice evening?

#1 Son: Yeah. It was great [pause] Hey, Mom. It would be OK if I went camping with E’s family on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday down at Crater Lake, right?

Mom [“mom radar” suddenly on alert]: Probably. But I would need to talk to her parents first.

#1 Son: Why?

Mom: Oh, just to find out where exactly they’re camping, and when they’ll be back, and all that “mom stuff.” You know.

#1 Son: Oh. Well… actually they’re going down on Sunday but I have to work on Sunday and Monday so I’m going to drive down by myself on Tuesday and then I’ll follow them back on Friday.

Mom: No. I don’t think that would be OK. It wouldn’t be safe for you to drive that far by yourself and you do not have my permission to do that.

#1 Son: But I already took the time off from work!

Mom: Maybe you should have checked with me first!

There followed a rather long and somewhat heated discussion about exactly how “safe” it would be. This, remember, is a person who has been a proud possessor of a valid drivers license for all of two months. This is a person who sleeps in the car and has since he was a baby. This is a person who can’t drive to the coast and back without someone to spell him. Five-hour car trip by self = bad idea.

But it was a rather heated discussion. I even threw caution to the winds and offered to drive him down myself, until good sense reasserted itself and I realized that a 10-hour trip (I’d need to be back at work the next day) was going to be exhausting and unsafe for me, regardless of my driving expertise.

In the end he gave in. Not overly gracefully, it’s true, and we had do discuss it awhile again on Monday. But he isn’t angry with me and he has promised not to defy my directive and go anyway. Today we “did lunch” and tomorrow we’re going to a movie together. He usually gets called in to work if a shift needs coverage, so chances are fairly good that he’ll make the missed hours up. He’s disappointed, yes, but not angry.

In some ways he’s very mature and I’m very proud of him.

Now if the judgement will only catch up!