A Twist In The Tail 2025 Part 10

 A Twist In The Tail 2025 Part 10

I am continuing with making the Fin.

Blue Continues

I have now started on one Side with a Blue Colour. I am Continuing with the Increases. When I have finished doing the Blue on this Side I will do the same on the Opposite.

Light Blue Marker

After the Blue I added another Red and a Light Blue. This Light Blue is a Marker. After this I will start Decreasing at the Outer Edge.

Annoying Stitches

I have noticed that  the Pattern I have created is leaving an Extra Stitch on the Returning Row. I find this Annoying so will have to see what I can do about it.

Sewn Over

I have Sewn over the Extra Stitches with Red Yarn. This not only has Covered Up the Stitches but has also helped Define the Edge.

A Twist In The Tail 2025 Part 5

A Twist In The Tail 2025 Part 5

Now I am going to have to do something I really hate - Picking Up Stitches.

Picking Up Stitches

I am now going to be working in the Opposite Direction. That means having to Pick Up the Black Stitches. This time is particularly difficult as the Super Chunky has a tendency to Split. Not only that it is a real pain trying to get all these Stitches onto the Needle.

Nevertheless I eventually Picked them Up. I had originally Cast On181 Stitches. I normally lose some when trying to Pick Up. However in this case I managed to end up with more. 184 Stitches in total.

Yet Another Yarn

I am using yet another type of Yarn. This was kindly given to me during a Craft Swap. I am changing the Colour Pallet.

First Row

I am adding the New Colour. I have marked where I am beginning from as I will need to know it for the next part.

Hole lot of Stitches

After one complete row. I start adding more Stitches. Now there are several ways of adding Stitches. You can pick up a Loop, Knit through the Front and Back of the Loop or Wind the Yarn over.

I am sure one of these doesn’t leave a hole. Unfortunately I picked the wrong one. Picking Up a Loop does leave a Hole. Since I made a Stitch roughly after every 5th Stitch there are a lot of them. I now have 210 Stitches on the Needle and I will need to increase again.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 58

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 58

I have reached the part where I need to start really concentrating.

Begin Grey

I Begin to add the Grey Wool that will form the Basis for the Rat.

Shorten Rat

As soon as I started to add the Grey Wool, I could see that the Pattern needed to be Altered. I am having to Remove a good five Stitches from the Chart. I note this in Ink so I will not make a mistake in Counting.

More Shortening

After Removing five Stitches towards the Rear of the Rat, I realise that I am also going to have to Remove some towards the Head. Again, I highlight this in Ink.

It is getting very complicated to keep track of the number of Stitches to be Knitted in which Colour. I may have to do some adjusting by eye as well as using the Chart.

Cast Off Pocket

I have finally managed to finish the Chart and Cast off the Pocket. How well I have done will be discovered when I start adding the details.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 57

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 57

Now I have Picked Up all the Stitches I can begin Knitting.

First Row

 

Knitting the First Row was difficult as the Stitches were very Tight. I found that sometimes I had to Tug to get the Needle through.

Loose Yarn

All that Tugging has loosened some of the Yarn that was Sewn in. If I do not sort this, first it is possible that it will Unravel.

Colour Rat

As I am Knitting, I am Colouring in the Rows on my Rat Chart. It does not really matter what Colour I use as long as I can see what I have already done.

Rat Bottom

In the above photograph, you can see how the Knitting Compares to the Bottom of the Rat Chart. In addition, if you look carefully you will observe a curious Fan Shape where I Picked Up. This is a problem I will have to sort out later.

Green Cut Out

After Checking my Knitting against the Chart, I have decided that as it stands the Pocket will be too High. Therefore, I am Cutting Out some Rows. I have highlighted this in Green.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 56

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 56

Still not sure, what is up with my phone/laptop. At present, I am having to message my boyfriend and he sends them back to me so I can edit them. This is going to slow down things considerably. In addition, there is the risk that one or other may die.

Bag Width

Before I can do anything, I need to check the Bag Width. I want to make sure that I start Picking Up in the Centre.

First Pick Up

Having measured and found the Centre point. I needed to work out how High up the Bag to start. I need the Pocket to be a reasonable Size. What I do not want is it to fail to leave room for the Flap

Tough Work

Picking Up is far Tougher Work than I anticipated. The fact that all the Colour Changing I have done has made the Stitches very Tight. I am really struggling to try and Pick Up any Stitches.

Wonky

As predicted things did not go well. If you look at the above photograph, you will see a distinct Slope in the Stitches I have picked up. This means I will have to start again.

Half Stitches

I have redone what I had originally Picked Up. There is still a slight Slope but I feel that it is the best I am likely to get. Now I have to add the other Half of the Stitches.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 43

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 43

Now it is time to tackle those Stitches Securing the Loops

Adding Leaf

Apart from Covering the Stitches that come through, I want to try to brighten up the Large Brown Area. I select a Red Leaf to start with.

Extra Security

 

I have to be careful how I add the Leaf. I want to give Extra Security to the Loop by Sewing across. However, I do not want to make it unusable.

Four Leaves

 

I have now added Four Leaves. I have tried to alternate the Colours.

Adding Detail

 

Next, it is time to Add more Detail so the Leaves are not stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Embellishments

 

In addition to making it prettier I am also trying to Secure any holes left where I Picked Up Stitches.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 33

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 33

Annoyingly because I have been let down by somebody I cannot get to what I need. Therefore, I am having another swap around. Therefore, this will be a short blog

Adding Stitches

 

I am starting on the Other Side of the Bag. I have currently picked up 58 Stitches. I need to add 2 more, one at either end on the Knit Row. I then continue with a Purl Row.

Selvedge

 

I have decided to add a Selvedge... I have used these before. However, as a bit curious I decided to look up what this particular Style of Selvedge is. This is what I found.

French Style

On the right side slip, the first stitch knit -wise knit to the end. On the wrong side slip the first stitch purl-wise and purl to end.

Cast Off and Tails

The Selvedge did not flatten the work as I had hoped. Perhaps I should have used a different type. On the other hand, maybe it will be fine once pressed. In either case, I have now Cast Off and need to Sew in the Tails.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 32

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 32

I am going to continue with the Embellishments

Flap Join

 

I had started adding Leaves across the Flap Join. This not only covers the Join but also Strengthens it.

More Gold

 

I searched through my pile of Coloured Leaves. I realised that I was short on Gold so had to make some more. I also made a few Orange Leaves.

Flap Leaves

 

I have now Covered the Flap Join with a variety of Coloured Leaves. I can now move on to something else.

Hole

It is difficult to see but there are quite a few Holes. This is where Stitches have Stretched. I placed a piece of paper underneath to spot them easier. In the photograph above, there is one in the Brown towards the bottom.

Hole Gone

I have tightened the Knitting by Sewing in some extra Red. The Hole is now Gone. Unfortunately, there are more I need to do and it is a thankless task.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 18

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 18

This blog is a bit of a bust. Most of my photographs seemed to have either disappeared or great quality. So apologies but I have done my best with what is left.

Securing

 

The problem with changing colours so often is that it can leave loose Stitches. This will become a major problem once I have started using it and the Weight will naturally drag it Downwards.

I have begun the process of going over these areas. In the above photograph you can see where I have gone along the edge of the Orange to Secure it.

Blurry Blue

 

This was a very difficult photograph to take. I wanted to show how the Holes are so much bigger where I picked up Stitches. I have held the Knitting up in front of my computer screen. Therefore the Blue of the screen can easily be seen through the Larger Holes.

Brown Blur

 

Another difficult photograph to take. Once again I am holding it up against the screen. Now I have gone through with the Brown Wool the difference is much Smaller.

Red Top

 

There are many Straight Edges that you do not find in Nature that I need to tackle. Here I am Changing the Shape and also I fixing Holes at the same time.

Leaves and Orange

 

I have added 3 Leaves to the Second Strap. However there was a bit of a gap so I have embroidered some Orange in it. Much more to do so need to carry on.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 13

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 13 

A short and snappy blog this week whilst waiting for the material to dry.

Got to Unpick

 

Before I can do any Sewing of Material I need to finish the Strap. This means changing the Shape. Since I do not want it really long I need to Unpick the Wool. Though looking at the Pile that I ended up with I would say this is more in the region of Unravelling.

Increase Stitches

 

Having taken several inches of Wool off I then had to put the Stitches back on to the Needle. At least this time I knew how many to put on. I slowly Increased the amount of Stitches thus Mimicking the Pattern at the Bottom of the Strap.

Final Cast off

 

Finally got to the End. Well of this particular Strap anyway.

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 10

 Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 10

Finally on to the Decreasing of the Strap Stitches

Decrease to 28 Stitches

 

I Decreased the Stitches by 1 either end on the Knit Row.  I then Knitted 28 Purls Stitches. I turned the Bag around and did the same on the other Strap.

End of Decreasing

 

I changed Straps again then did another Row of Stocking Stitch. I repeated this until I had 20 Stitches left on both Straps

Straps coming along

 

Once I had 20 Stitches I carried on Knitting. I would Knit a Plain Row on one Strap then swap. I Knitted a Plain Row on the other Strap then Knitted a Purl Row on Both Straps.

The idea was by doing it this way I would keep the Straps even. Needless to say I got engrossed watching a programme and found that I had forgotten to swap. Therefore I had to put both Straps together back to back in order to measure the difference.

I had to add a couple of Rows until they were even again. The use of Stocking Stitch was causing the Straps to Curl. This will be sorted when I add the Backing.