Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Brea Bag

Continuing my addiction with Noro 224 and other purples (it's all cafemama's fault here), I combined the Noro with the Cascade 220 for the Brea bag. LYS, Woolwinders was having a knit seminar with the pattern. Considering it starts with a cast off of 126 stitches, support was appreciated. It really is a nice pattern and you knit with the yarn doubled. By using the Noro you lose some of the stitch definition - it might be fun to try with just Cascade in contrasting colors, or with some Lamb's Pride - which shows stitch definition so beautifully. But I love, love, love this Noro colorway, so I don't care. I got a good portion through it at the knitting salon and this is only my second cabling project so I feel qualified to say it's an easy pattern. It takes a few rows to get the rhythm, and you have to watch out for when the cabling starts, but really it's great. And as we discussed in the salon, bags always fit. And with bags you can use yarns that require a little more washing care, since people tend to wash their bags less. With the yarn doubled it goes fairly quickly and creates a good sized bag that is sturdy. I am debating getting the handle they have on the pattern - which you can order. I'm going to take a look at the fabric shop and see if they have an equivalent trim I could use.