Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Pattern Notebook: Yarn Bombing Your Bag

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knit purse strap upcycleI have this great Jordana Paige knitting bag that I use as a purse, because it’s big and pretty and I like it. I’ve gotten more compliments on it than any other bag I’ve ever owned, probably.

But the handles on the thing got completely torn up in the couple years of use it has gotten.

So I decided to knit covers for the handles. Think of it as yarn bombing for your handbag.

This is totally easy to do and you don’t need a pattern at all, of course. Just knit a little Stockinette Stitch rectangle that will cover your strap, bind off and leave a really long tail.

Then just sew it around the strap using mattress stitch.

This was a really easy project, though the sewing did take rather a long time. And my bag makes me smile again, which is a great bonus.

Have you ever yarn bombed something you use all the time? I’d love to hear about it!

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Make Your Knitting Machine Scarves Better

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared any patterns for our circular knitting machine users. I know these devices aren’t for everyone but even though I much prefer knitting by hand, it is kind of fun to crank things out on these machines.

One of the most common early projects for a circular knitting machine is a scarf. Which makes sense, because it’s just one long tube and you can make it as long as you like.

One problem that comes from knitting scarves on the circular knitting machine, though, is that it can be hard to know how to finish the ends of the tube so that it looks like a finished scarf and not a tube of knitting.

If you’re not a knitter or crocheter, the most basic way to finish a circular knitting machine scarf is just by cinching up the ends and maybe adding a pompom to each end to cover up any hole that might still be visible at the end.

But if you have a little knitting or crochet skill or are willing to learn, there are a lot of different options for closing up the ends of a scarf. And this would also be true if you hand knit a tube scarf!

I recently wrote a post over at Our Daily Craft that includes five different ways to close up the ends of a tube scarf:

  • the simple cinching method mentioned above
  • sewing the stitches together
  • three needle bind off
  • grafting
  • crochet bind off

Grafting is my favorite because I feel like it gives the cleanest, closest to a seamless look. If you’re a knitter you may already know how to do it but even if you don’t it’s not that hard to learn.

Do you knit tube scarves by hand or machine? I’d love to know how you like to finish them!