Fibery Exhibitionism

I’ve been knitting for almost ten years now, and my skills have developed considerably from the time I started. Like any artist, I’m proud of my accomplishments and try to take advantage of opportunities to showcase my work. Usually this comes in one of two forms, either posting pictures on various social media outlets (primarily Ravelry, Twitter, and Facebook) or dragging the knitted goods around with me and showing them to anyone who looks even remotely interested. This year, I took advantage of another method of showing off my work, I entered several pieces into the county fair.


I come from (and still live in) rural Wisconsin and I can remember while growing up, the county fair was an extremely big deal. It has lost some of its luster now, but still includes a variety of events, including a needle work contest. Every year, I think about entering items into it, but usually not until after the entry deadline has passed.

This year, I managed to be on top of things and got the entry form in on time (and by on time I mean the day before it was due). I decided to enter pieces in five categories (knitters are limited to one item per category). I entered my Invisibility Wrap, my Llama Chullo hat, my Spatterdash fingerless gloves, my Carry-All Tote and my Cubist socks shawl. That seemed to offer a fair cross-section of my knitting abilities.

By the time I dug out the pieces, washed and reblocked the ones that needed it, I was pleased with my entries. I felt there were a couple of pieces that had a chance of winning a ribbon. I dropped off the pieces at the fairgrounds and went back Friday after the judging had been completed.

I was surprised to find that out of five pieces, I had won five ribbons. Yup, every piece had one something. My Llama hat and my Carry-All tote both took firsts, with the Llama hat also winning a Special Merit Award. The socks, Invisibility wrap, and Spatterdash mitts all took seconds.

Entering the pieces in the fair wasn’t about winning ribbons, and with my prizes adding up to a grand total of about $9, it certainly wasn’t about the prize money. However, I would like to think that it wasn’t just about ego, either. For me, a big part of knitting is the tradition. Knitters today are doing basically the same thing that they’ve been doing for generations. We might be doing them for different reasons (because we want to rather than we need to), we might have newer tools, and a wider variety of materials available; but the process is still the same. Generations of knitters have been making socks, mittens, hats, purses, and other things. And generations of knitters have been entering their best work into county fairs and other exhibitions for the feeling of pride that comes from knowing that you have a skill and you are good at the skill.

And, a lot of it is ego.

 

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Not a Silver Lining

I'll admit it, I cannot sew. I can repair a tear, or put a button back on, but I cannot really sew well at all. Usually when I admit this, people look at me like I have eight or more heads and exclaim, "But you knit!" Yes, I do knit, but shockingly, to a dismaying number of people, knitting and sewing appear to be the same thing. Let me help you out, people, they are not the same thing, even if they both involve some sort of needle and some sort of string.


Anyway, I'm off subject. The point is, when it comes to finishing work, I can do the minimal amount of sewing, but I don't always expect it to look good. I managed to line my Carry All Tote, but there are some spots where it doesn't look too good (which my mom was all too happy to point out, thanks for that :)). I can live with something not being perfect, what I cannot accept is something looking like total crap.


Which is what happened with my first attempt to line my Coco Purse. It looked bad, really, really bad. So bad that I ended up ripping out the lining and cursing. I thought about just leaving the bag as it was, but it really needed to be lined, it also needed some sort of interfacing to give the bag a little shape. So, back to the drawing board.


Background: The Coco Purse was a quickie project. I had it queued up on Ravelry for some time. I wanted a little purse for going out. In my day purse, I carry a lot of crap, but when I'm out for the night, I only need a few essentials (usually my phone, id, cash, camera, and lip gloss), and I prefer not to be burdened with a big purse to lug around. The Coco Purse was the perfect size, and the outer shell knit up quickly in some Noro Silk Garden yarn, which was a giant pain to work with, but the colors are beautiful).


First I needed to gather some new materials. I had used craft foam for the first interfacing, which worked all right, but was destroyed in the first lining fiasco. I needed something that would hold a little shape, but was still flexible and it needed to be in my house, as I was on a deadline with the bag, and didn't have time to run to a craft store.


Luckily, what turned out to be the perfect substance was sitting in my closet. Husband and I just replaced our downstairs carpet with wood laminate floors, and a roll of the under layment pad was left over. The material could be cut with scissors, was flexible, and gave just enough shape. Thankfully, I had enough fabric scraps to  use for the lining and would still be able to use the clasp and the chain handle. 





Next, I cut the interfacing material to fit inside the bag, then attached the lining fabric with some fabric glue (I was really going for a no-sew project here). So far, so good, every thing was clipping along at an easy pace. 
Then I marked the sports where the magnetic clasp would go and added that. 


Finally I glued the interfacing/lining combination to the knitted purse and let all the glue (I used a lot of it) dry overnight. The bag was mostly lined, the sides were not lined, but that would not affect the function of the bag, so I wasn't going to let that worry me.


Now, I was on the last step, adding the handle. I was reusing an chain rescued from my mother-in-law's pile of jewelry headed out the door. It was a thick, brushed gold (not real) chain, which I actually can't even picture her wearing. However, I saw it and knew it would make a great handle for a bag.


I'm pretty picky about the length of my purse handles. I like them just long enough to put over my shoulder, but short enough that the bag sits right under my arm. I used my current purse as a guide, shortened the chain, and attached it to the sides of the purse. 



Voila! My new purse was ready to hit the town!

Finishing Touches

One panel done, one to go!

After successfully steeking my new tote bag, the next step was to knit the other pieces (gusset, strap, and button band), and then tackle the finishing work.


The first of the finishing steps was the addition of green accents on the bag. The accents came in the form of green trim on top and green duplicate stitches throughout the front and back panels of the bag. Duplicate stitches are tedious, slow, and in general a big pain. But the green added so much to the bag, that it was worth all of the trouble of the work.

The Carry All Tote, some assembly required!

The next step was the assembly of the bag, first gathering all of the pieces together, then sewing the gusset to one panel, then to the other. After that, adding the strap and the button flap, creating the bag.

A fun spotted lining!

But, it wasn't finished yet. Knit fabric stretches, which can be a problem for a tote bag, but this problem is easily remedied, with the addition of a lining made from woven fabric. The lining adds durability, strength, and shape to the bag. For the lining, I selected a fun black fabric with brown and orange spots. A smarter person would have selected a lighter fabric to make it easier to find things inside the bag, but I'm not going to dwell on that.


After some debating, I also decided to line the strap, to prevent it from getting stretched out of shape during use. Especially if I loaded the bag with anything heavy.


Finally, I added the last touch, a button, which I discovered while searching in my button collection. And, viola, my carry all tote is complete!

The finished product!

I am absolutely thrilled with how this project turned out. It was a quick knit (only 10 days, start to finish), and looks great! I love how the colors turned out (the last picture represents the colors the best). I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I think it should be highly utile and should make a great bag to haul teacher supplies to and from school. Now, if only the job hunt turns out as well as the bag!