Linen Stitch Coin Purse FO and Free pattern

Today I have a finished object fresh from the needles, and a free downloadable pattern to share. Today I am cooking with gas.

Last night I completed a small but colourful coin purse. Made in linen stitch it is strong and sturdy with very little ‘give’ in the fabric, meaning that it works perfectly well without a lining for anyone who is sew-phobic. I’m not – in fact I love hand-sewing, so I lined mine, but it is totally optional. I made my purse from the Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply which I had dyed with Kool-Aid:

I knit the purse in only a few hours whilst watching Gran Tourino (little was I expecting a Clint Eastwood movie to make me cry like a baby, but I wept buckets, big softie that I am) and even had time for a little embellishment, made of a simple circle of felt adorned with three green eyelets and a co-ordinating button.

Free linen-stitch coin purse knitting pattern
This pattern is extremely simple. Minimal shaping and a simple repetitive stitch makes this a quick and easy knit. The purse is knit in two pieces as the seaming at the sides and bottom of the purse give the finished item better structure than if it were knit in the round. This pattern is designed to work with a 10cm (4″) square purse frame, but due to the simplicity of the pattern it should not be too hard to adjust for other sizes.

Needles: 3.25mm
Gauge: 44sts per 4″ in linen stitch (this number seems quite high, but linen stitch is very dense and the stitches sit very close together)
Abbreviations: SL1WYIF = Slip 1 (purl-wise) with yarn held in front of work. SL1WYIB = Slip 1 (purl-wise) with yarn held to back of work.

Pattern: (make 2) c/o 43 sts.
Row 1 (RS): *K1, SL1WYIF* until last st, k1
Row 2 (WS): K1, *P1, SL1WYIB* until 2 sts remain, P1, K1
Repeat these two rows until piece measures 7cm, ending with a WS row
Row 3 (RS): P2tog, *K1, Sl1WYIF* until 3 sts remain, K1 P2tog
Row 4 (WS): K1, *SL1WYIB, P1* until 2 sts remain, Sl1WYIB, K1
Row 5: K2, *SL1WYIF, K1* until last stitch K1
Repeat rows 4 & 5 until piece measures 11cm from cast-on edge, ending with a WS row.
Row 6 (RS): K2tog, *SL1WYIF, K1* until 3 sts remain, SL1WYIF, K2tog
Row 7: K1, *P1, Sl1WYIB* until 2 sts remain, P1, K1
Row 8: K3tog, *SL1WYIF, K1* until 4 sts remain SL1WYIF K3tog.
Bind off all stitches.

Making up: Place both pieces right sides together and sew bottom seam and side seams up until the pint where the two sides meet. Turn right side out and attach to purse frame b filling the channels in the frame with a strong multi-purpose adhesive (such as UHU glue) and using a toothpick or similar thin pointy object, push knitted fabric well into the sides, top and corners of the frame. Leave to dry overnight.

FO: Sleepy Hollow Socks

Ah, socks. Socks for me. I started these a few months ago but came to an abrupt stop after the first of the pair when I lost my collection of socks needles. I finally managed to replace the set and cast on for the second sock right away.

I really like the construction of these socks and the way the sole and heel are knit. They are top down and feature a ‘footprint’ that is the same as an actual foot – that is it is narrower across the bottom of the heel than it is across the underneath of the ball of the foot. I’m going to have to take a picture of the sole of the socks when I can rope in a deputy photographer as my contortionist skills were limited to laying on the floor with my feet on the wall to try and get a picture of the socks being worn.

I am hoping to use the same sock construction for some plain stockinette socks in the future as I love the way it hugs the foot in all the right places, widening at the point where the foot itself widens, and there’s no need to pick up any stitches or break and re-join yarn. Supoib!

Spindles And Fibres And Yarn, Oh My!

During Knitting and Crochet Blog Week I said that the skill I’d most like to learn would be to spin yarn using a drop spindle. It seems such a natural thing to me, to want to be involved in the process of making yarn in some way, or to at least have knowledge of the processes involved. Only a short while after posting I had a message alerting me to a comment left by Saff of Saff’s Daily Dribble, saying she had a spare spindle I could have.

Just amazing, amazing kindness. I swapped with her a copy of Ann Budd’s Book of Handy Knitting Patterns which I have always found to be a fantastic reseource, posted it off and looked forward to seeing my first ever drop spindle.
Now, let me remind you of the picture of the spindle that I pictured in the blog post in question – it is perfectly nice, plain unfinished wood. Nothing fancy, just simple and plain. Let me show you what actually arrived in the mail a couple of days later.

It is green. It is covered in tiny, beautiful hand-painted sheep and goats. It is wonderful and I love it.

Now, Saff was also kind enough to include a a few grams of fibre, and of course I had to have a go right away. Here is my first ever handspun yarn.

It weighs just 8g and is only about 20m long, but my-oh-my do I love it. It isn’t even. It isn’t refined, but I made it from fluff. OK, beautiful green merino fluff, but fluff. Obviously there are some inconsistencies in my technique which i hope to get ironed out in time, and I have been warned not to be a perfectionist about it (which is difficult because I am a terrible perfectionist when it comes to such things) as perfectionists tend to get frustrated that they are not masters at this new skill right from the outset, so I am going to make a real effort to relax and just enjoy spinning and its hypnotic and soothing effects.

My second attempt is perhaps a little more consistent on the whole, but I felt quite at ease when spinning this and just let the fibre do it’s thing whilst I watched a bit of TV. This is only seven grams, and about 16m in length, but I am really pleased with it.

Now, I need to find miniature projects for such small amounts of (roughly) fingering weight yarn, or shall I keep my first attempts un-knit, for posterity? I’m not sure.