SUNDAY STITCHERY: In Which Bags Occur

I am currently obssessed with making bags. Usually, I crochet them.  Faster, but uses more yarn.  I wanted to try knitting bags.

This isn't exactly a pattern, so it's not going to be written like one, but it's adapted from a knit market bag I found online.

And it's long, so grab a cup of coffee.

It's based on a simple lace stitch of K1, 2 YO, K 2 TOG, repeat, done on big needles.  My adaptation is also worked from the top down.

(The pattern was originally written to be worked in the round on circular needles, but wrangling circs drove me bats, so I changed the pattern for working in rows.)

Above are two of the bags I did.  The yellow/orange bag is worked in cotton thread (#10) on #10 1/2 needles, and the pink/green in DK weight cotton on #13 needles.  I didn't even work in the ends on the pink/green yet...

Cast on an uneven number of stitches.  I did 49 for these mini bags.  Too small for the DK weight bag.

Then I knit a couple, three of rows of garter stitch before starting the pattern, to make a neat top of the bag.  I found it best to work these bags from the top down, then, working again in garter stitch, decrease and cinch those stitches to form the bag bottom, and leave a long yarn tail to sew up the side of the bag.

Pattern:

Row 1:  K 1, YO 2x, K 2 tog, repeat.

Row 2: decide if you want to K or P.  Since I worked this in rows rather than rounds, I purled for a smoother look.  But K (or P) 1, drop the first YO, and just K (or P) the second YO.  Repeat the drop 1st YO, K through second, around.

When the bag is long enough for you, switch to garter stitch rows.  Work one or two rows without decreasing, then dec as needed until you have 6 st.  Bind off and cut yarn, leaving a long tail.  Weave the tail through the bound-off stitches and cinch them.   Use the tail to sew up the side seams.

Handles are worked separately in crochet, then sewn or crocheted on.  I used a SC foundation chain for mine.  I suppose you could knit the handles, too.

I'm now working a DK bag in only YO, K 2 tog.  Just to see how it comes out. 😜 

Guest Bloggage: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Hands It Over

Just putting in some links of note, for your enjoyment.

A New Blog:

About Silent Films.


A New eBook, Outsiders V. 1: Skeleton Key



A Buster Keaton-themed Tumblr

See you next time.  Have a good summer.


                                        ----Guest Blogger Nearly Nonchalant

Not Quite Undead: In Which Count Sockula Has a Ball...

...Or maybe a cake. Muahahaaa. 

For some reason Count Sockula has gone self-striping yarn cake crazy and dragged out nearly all of them in my extensive collection. Then in a frantic burst of energy I crocheted four new shawls.

This one is done with Premiere Sweet Roll, in Cheesecake, Spearmint and Butterscotch.

 

 

 

The tumbled one in warm colors is a Caron Cake. 

 

Adapted from a knitting pattern, this shawl is meant to work up fast. It's worked back and forth as a square, from the center out, BUT with one open side, so it drapes like a cape. (Count Sockula and capes just go together.)

Count Sockula's Stitch of Choice for these shawls is the Extended Single Crochet (esc): start as if to make a regular SC: pull up loop, yo, pull through one lp on hk, yo, pull through both loops on hk.

This creates a soft airy stitch, almost like thick lace, especially if you're using BIG hooks, such as K/10. Or all the way up through P. You know...the higher 'alphabet' hooks. Haven't had the courage yet to try a Q.

But you could work the entire shawl in sc, esc, hdc, or really any stitch.

This pattern is a multiple of 4, plus 2 (counting the ch-1 turning stitch for sc or esc).

There are five increases (one at each 'point' of the square). Start on 17 stitches. With one increase at each open end of the square, there will be three stitches between increases.

Work one row of sc without increasing: 17 sts.

Now switch to Extended Single Crochet. The end increase is two esc, every OTHER row. The 'inside' increase is esc, ch 2, esc, all in the same stitch.

Each 'leg' of the square should be the same size/number of stitches between increase points.

This sounds far more complicated than it actually is, so just keep working and trying it on until it's as big as you want.  It will make a mini-shawl or an enormous drapey thing.  Your choice.

 

Some brands I have used:

Bernat Pop: 5 colors in each cake. Acrylic, thick, soft, and lofty. About 5 oz. Tends to run thick and thin where it shouldn’t.

Premier Sweet Roll: 3 colors. Tighter, sleeker. Bouncy. About 5 oz.

Caron Cakes: 5 colors. Hairy like a werewolf! Good loft, with some wool content. About 7 oz.

Lion Brand Mandala: 6 colors. Hairiest of all, but hard and thin, a #3 as opposed to the #4 of the others. A starving werewolf? Nice colors, though. About 5 oz.

This has been mentioned in many other places: Both the Bernat and Sweet Roll were riddled with KNOTS, tying one color to the next, or else really cheap-looking, badly-done Russian Joins (Good thing I learned how to do my own Russian joins), forcing Count Sockula to cut and join many times.

(Another approach is to work up three big granny squares of the same size, then stitch them together, one in the middle, one on opposite ends of the middle square, to form a giant triangle. It was a 70s thing.)

One of any above cakes will make a small shawl. If it's Caron it will make a larger size. Two cakes will make an enormous one. It's fun and fast. You might have time now. Carry on.

Night Vision: In Which We Post Another Fanfic

Disclaimer: Kenshin does not own the Yuu Yuu Hakusho characters (they are the property of Togashi Yoshihiro et al), and does not make any money from said characters. Don't sue.

 

What Kenshin does own, however, are all the original characters in this work. Any attempt to "borrow" these characters will be met with the katana, or worse.

 

The events in Idiot Beloved take place shortly after the Dark Tournament; Firebird Sweet directly follows that timeline. This story is set many, many years after that.

 

Title: Night Vision

Author: JaganshiKenshin

Genre: General

Rating: K

 

Summary: A foggy, lonely night, and someone is stalking Hiei.

 

A/N: Set many years after the Dark Tournament, this story's one of Hiei's shortest, and as close as Hiei will ever come to experiencing 'angst.'

 

Thanks for reading this, and Hiei appreciates your reviews!

 

"It's rude to hide your aura."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Night Vision

by

Kenshin

Night falls early in November.

 

The chill Tokyo air smelt of death, soaking into Hiei's bones. It was a place in which to hide, to forget every blessing ever bestowed, bleak as an endless desert.

 

Compact and muscled, with bristling black hair, and not exactly human, Hiei trudged a lesser downtown avenue.

 

A few stores were still open, throwing swaths of light onto the pavement, but no one was buying.

Luminous fog hung in curtains that kept passersby hidden, and though no one was in sight now, Hiei knew was being hunted. And I'm too tired for a fight, too down.

 

Yet when footsteps echoed behind him, he ducked down a cross street, sliding from self-pity to Yellow Alert in an eyeblink

 

Read The Rest:

 

Here.

Mystery Ink 25: In Which We Desperately Play Catch-Up

Dr. Inkenstein has gone on a ledge and is using....

Clairefontaine paper without a net!


 



The paper towel flower shows bright turquoise as well as muted slate and bilberry. I like it.






This is a really, really nice ink. I didn't see sheen, though....maybe I'm looking at it wrong, or my nib isn't wide enough.

The sheen DID show up later, on Kokuyo Campus Notebook paper.  As the ink dried and concentrated in the little Dollar Demonstrator, the sheen thickened.

Turns out, this is Dr. Inkenstein's first-ever Robert Oster Ink: Carbon Fire.  It's really reallyreally nice. And many thanks to AZK for carrying on the Mysterious Inkage.

Mysteriously Exploded: In Which It Looks Like A Crime Scene

Dr. Inkenstein had a sad....for this edition of Mystery Ink arrived in a pitiful condition. Some had leaked, due to atmospheric pressures or some such.  Food gloves are my friend!

A nice burgundy-looking ink:

 

There was ink to mop up, so I did my usual paper towel 'flower.' Does there appear to be a sort of neon-pink halo here?

This was an ink Dr. I had never heard of, much less used before.  And I liked it so much I bought a bottle.

5280 Vineyard Burgundy.  Still to be found on Fleabay.  Under eight bucks.  Supply your own label.  It's part of the fun.

MI 22: In Which Agent Smith Appears

Over at FPG, the Mysteries continue.  (Thanks, Scooby, for letting me try 22.) It was late when I got the sample, the loaded pen didn't want to write, so I let it sit overnight in hopes that it would be an easier start the next day.

 

The paper-towel chroma went down flat, but when dry, it developed a fascinating, chalky, gun-blue center.

 

Test it on other papers and it appeared a much lighter gray when applied to Staples Bagasse.  Hmm.  And, the revelation.

Ink: Montblanc 90 Years Permanent Gray.  Now Unobtainium.   

What fun! 

Walking To Siberia: A Yuu Yuu Hakusho Fanfic

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Kenshin does not own the Yuu Yuu Hakusho characters (they are the property of Togashi Yoshihiro et al), and makes no money from said characters.

What Kenshin does own, however, are all the original characters in this work. Any attempt to "borrow" these characters will be met with the katana, or worse.

Idiot Beloved takes place shortly after the Dark Tournament; Firebird Sweet directly follows.

Title: Walking To Siberia

Author: JaganshiKenshin

Genre: General

Rating: K+/PG-13

Summary: Why is Hiei on a tiger to "Siberia?"

A/N: As always, thanks for your reviews and faves.

"Come to the summit if you want her back alive!"

 

Walking to Siberia

by

JaganshiKenshin

 

'He who rides the tiger cannot easily dismount.'

 

Said someone or other, somewhere. Hiei realized this was true; the great beast's powerful shoulders shifted beneath his clutching knees with each step. To dismount before they reached the summit could prove fatal.

 

Shafts of light pierced the dense forest, igniting the tiger's fur to gold. A Siberian with flaring ruff, the beast dwarfed the narrow trail. On either side loomed pine, fir, larch, and spruce, heavy with resin, glistening with dew.

 

"Are we there yet?" The tiger spoke in a semi-comical whine. For a wild creature just given his freedom, the tiger seemed lazy and ungrateful.

 

"No." A pine branch smacked Hiei's face. "Siberia's at the top of this hill."

 

Except that this was Montana, and the hill was a mountain.

 

Hiei was compact, tough, a born fighter with bristling black hair decorated by a white halo, and, though he could pass for human easily enough, he was not. He was a youkai, with powers some might see as magic.

 

'With great freedom comes great responsibility.' Who had said that one? On this particular day, Hiei had more responsibility than he wanted, and if he let himself dwell on what had brought him here-

This was different from riding a horse, closer to the ground, the back long and dangerously flexible. Horses might stomp, bite, and toss you, but they weren't equipped with fangs like butcher knives and claws like grappling hooks.

 

It all started with that miserable crow.

 

Which was actually a jaki-one of those small youkai that often act as messengers. It had startled Hiei as he strolled the grounds of the Kidd's California estate. This jaki very much resembled a crow, if you ignored the three yellow eyes lined up in a row above its blood-red beak.

 

Alighting on a branch just beyond Hiei's reach, the creature delivered an imperative: "We have your Firebird. If you want to see her alive again, come to the summit riding a tiger."

 

 

Continue reading here.

MI # 21: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Has The Gall

Dr. I does not know what to make of this Iron Gall ink yet...but loaded a Safari and plunged 'write' in. 

In the vial and the chroma, it's a cerise/fuschia color. But it dries dark. I believe it will flow better once it settles in to the pen.

 

Not very complex flower chroma, but interesting in that it retains the brighter color element:

 

The ink was very unhappy when Dr. Inkenstein wrote to a pen pal using Clairefontaine paper. It writes better on Rhodia Ice. Which hardly even makes sense.

In any case, I love doing Mystery Inks; this one turned out to be Platinum Lavender Black. Thanks, Scooby!

Dimensions: A Yuu Yuu Hakusho Fanfic

 

 

 

 

 

 

This particular tale casts Shayla Kidd in the role of detective.

Title: Dimensions: A Shayla Kidd Mystery

Author: JaganshiKenshin

Genre: Action/Adventure, Mystery

Rating: K+/PG-13

Summary: A house of horrors, and Shayla Kidd walks into it.

When a black cat crosses her path, the nightmare begins

 

 

 

 

 

Dimensions: A Shayla Kidd Mystery

by

Kenshin

 

 

 

 

"Are you alone?"

 

The girl plucked at her sleeve, a jerky, nervous gesture. "For now," she murmured.

 

But why, she wondered, would the girl's captors leave her alone in the house, even for a few minutes? "Then... could I please impose on you for another favor?"

 

"Certainly." A refined girl, Shayla estimated, of good background, innocent, but fallen into evil hands?

 

"I'm very thirsty. Would you...?"

 

"Oh," said the wan girl. "Please help yourself. The kitchen is down the hall, then again to the right."

 

Shayla Kidd went into the kitchen, glanced at the bare kitchen counters, then rifled through the cabinets. Nothing that screamed human trafficking, just a dreary assortment of rice crackers and ramen packets.

 

Been here too long already. She opened a base cabinet, balanced on one knee.

Youki! Faint, but-

 

Better get out now, take the girl with me, bring her somewhere safe. Say something along the lines of, 'I know we're in the same boat, we can flee together.'

 

A touch startled her; she almost yelped, then breathed out in relief. It was only the small black cat from outside, at her elbow. Nice kitty. Go away.

 

She reached out toward the silent, urgent cat, trying to brush it aside, but it disappeared from under her hand-

 

Shayla Kidd lost her balance, slipped forward, sensed a faint whistle of air. The blow connected with the back of her head. Stars exploded before her eyes. Then darkness.

 

 

Read the rest HERE.

MI #20: In Which We Discover Green

We give you...Mystery Ink # 20.

Green is the opposite of dry, right? Green fields, green leaves, mint-green liquor drinks with green umbrellas and a pineapple spear.

This is green. This is dry. 

 

Ink flower chroma:

 

Hana no inku shows a teeny bit of a yellow halo. And maybe even a hint of red center? I like it.

Paper was Rhodia Ice. 

Shading? Maybe the nib wasn't broad enough. And Dr. Inkenstein keeps waiting for the ink to get dark. Because in the bottle, it looked dark. 

Changing the ink cart to a UPS-logo pen of uncertain ancestry did not change the dry-itude.  But it has grown on me, and the UPS pen was refilled when it ran low.

As to guessing the brand and color.... NO idea.  But it was revealed as...another Colorverse ink!  Sea of Tranquility, to be exact.  

Mystery Inking is so much fun.

The 19th Mystery: In Which etc. And So Forth

Ahhhh! One of Dr. Inkenstein's favorite color families, judging from the  approximately one million turquoise inks in my possession, and this is timely, because in the summer I always have one turquoise-loaded pen, and it just got cleaned.

MI #19 was tested in a Parker Reflex and on Rhodia grid. I just happened to have a turquoise Pilot Varsity on the desk, and grabbed that for comparison's sake. They look vewy, vewy similar.



I also ran a paper towel chroma on both MI #19 and the Varsity. Even this is quite similar.



So far, no hard starts, no southpaw smearing, but mayyybeeee a touch of sheen? Judging by the amount on the Reflex's feed....

MI #19 started to run dry in its Parker Reflex and needed dipping to start.  Dr. Inkenstein believes this to be a converter problem. After advancing the ink, it seemed to flow again.  And as another bonus, we discovered that the Parker Reflex takes Lamy carts just fine.

Just when it was decided that this is a good ink, MI #19 was revealed as 'Special Edition ink' Lamy Pacific Blue.  Which, it turns out, is the same ink as Lamy Turquoise.  Which Dr. Inkenstein already has.  

Win!  

Number 18: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Is Baffled, Though Pleasantly Surprised

Dr. Inkenstein is by no means a Poiple Ink lover, but some of them do appeal to me. This ink is one of them (the other, not suprisingly, is also a MI, but an earlier one, with 'Aubergine' in its name.)

The chroma showed no complexity, and I saw no shading or sheen, but it DOES go down with a reddish tint that vanishes almost on contact, leaving a sort of periwinkle tone very similar to those Rhodia dots.

No guesses this time...but the ink was revealed as Akkerman (coolest inke bottles ever) Parkpop Purpur.  And continued thanks to FPG Scooby for letting us in on the fun.

The 16th Mystery: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Misses the Guess Yet Again

(Can this be true?  Is Dr. Inkenstein the first one to get MI # 16 in the mail this time? Woohoo!)

Here we go, then, live, as it happened.  Over to you!

In any case...I like this ink! It's a slightly green-leaning blue with excellent behavior. NO hard starts at all at first, but when it lay in the pen awhile, alas, yes.

Plus, it looks pretty in that Dollar demonstrator.

Here it is also compared it in color to a couple of similar-looking inks.

The guesses which were wrong: Monteverde Horizon Blue, Iroshizuku Kon-Peki.  Actual Mystery Ink was Colorverse Crystal Blue Persuasion, I mean, Crystal Planet.  No chroma this time.  Dr. Inkenstein pleads forgetfulness....and more Mysteries to come.

Mysteries Continue: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Is Wrong Again

More Mysteries at hand for Dr. Inkenstein in....

...The snow report! This was kind of a rush job...snowstorm (that is, when this was first composed!), power loss (no heat, light, or innerwebz)....got power back today, got ink a couple hours ago.

Loaded directly into a Sheaffer No Nonsense, which doesn't get on very well with the ink, though I thought it would. But I wanted to use a cartridge pen this time, ratherthan the Dollar piston-filler. I might swap the cart into a slightly better Sheaffer.

A light, bright springlike (and we could use some spring!) ink. Lighter than both the MB Irish and the JH Lierre Sauvage. No sheen for me, hardly any shading. I see a turquoise halo in the chroma, which may not show up in this scan. 

You'd think Dr. Inkenstein woukd have guessed correctly this time.  Especially since the MI in question was ALSO one I own, and RIGHT THERE ON THE PAGE AS A COMPARISON.

Hint:  it wasn't MB Irish Green.  Mystery Ink # 15 was JHerbin Lierre Sauvage. Which I own.  And had loaded.   Will I ever get one right?  Tune in next time.  The Ink Mysteries continue.....

The Department of Mysteries: In Which Favorites Are Revisited

Long time no ink.  But a kind soul (this means you, Scooby!) at Fountain Pen Geeks has revived the Great Mystery Ink Extravaganza, and I was lucky enough to get on board.  MI 14 turned out to be blue.  This was fortunate.  Dr. Inkenstein likes blue.

Ur scribblz, I haz demz:

 

This was Rhodia paper, and the ink delivery system was a Dollar Demonstrator used for countless ink tests.  

This particular ink seemed to start hard after I had loaded and left it on its side for a couple of hours, but it wrote with a fairly suave and slinky manner.

I started to guess:  Sailor Jentle Blue also has red sheen, but MI 14 probably isn't this; I have JB in a JinFari at the moment, and the Jentle ink looks darker. This is a bright blue that looks denim-y in heavier application.

Is it a Robert Oster ink? I'm pretty unfamiliar with the line, apart from some pen pal letters.

Diamine Blue Velvet got on my fingers, too, every time I used it. Clearly, though I loved its properies and color, that ink hated me.

Mystery Ink 14 turned out to be.....Akkerman Shocking Blue. Which I already had.   So why couldn't I guess right?

Shootout! In Which Jinhao and Delike Go Toe-to-Toe

Of the Jinhao 992 and the Delike New Moon...I use them and enjoy them both. Maybe it's the ink, but the 992 lays down a wetter, heavier line. (Not to mention the jewel-cracking issue....the pen with a glass jaw?)

 The New Moon cost more, but as a Sapporo homage, it does the job (as does the Pilot Prera, or so I think, and the NM is half the Prera's price).

The finer, slightly drier Delike would be better for sketching and liner notes. I can feel the difference writing, even though that may not show well on the image. 


 

Coloriffic: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Gets A Delivery

Sooooo many colorrrrrs!

Dr. Inkenstein recently purchased a bunch of these off fleabay. They're so cute I laugh every time I pick one up. Yes, they have the famed logo of Big Brown. They probably date from the 1980s or 90s.  NO idea of their true history, though.

They are comfortable enough to hold, and seem to be of decent build quality.  Dr. Inkenstein will use these as travel companions and diva-y ink testers.  And maybe give a couple away.

New Pen In Town: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Goes With The Flow

So there are a couple new Chinese pens being talked about that Dr. Inkenstein has had the misfortune, err, good luck, to stumble upon.  After swearing off pen purchases.

You can see just how long THAT lasted.

Here's the Jinhao 992 with a quick test using Noodler's 41 Brown and absolutely no flushing of the pen, which is how we do things around here.  I also forgot the model number of this pen. It's not written anywhere that I noticed.

On this paper, with this ink, it writes a wet medium-fine line that was almost too thick for sketching. By contrast, the Delikes I also just got, which are Chinese homages to the Sailor Sapporo, write a needle-fine line.



The 992 is a good size, light in weight, and posts well.  Ideal for Dr. Inkenstein's particular needs.  

The second Jinhao 992 is blue, and I filled it with Dromgoole's dark-dark-gray USS Texas.  Which is apparently a very wet ink, and as these are very wet pens, the result was like an oil spill.  USS Texas was quickly decanted, and the pen refilled with my very dry custom mix of Minato-no-Burushii.  

(A possible head-to-head with this blue 992 and one of the Delikes is bewing.)

Dr. Inkenstein likes these! Maybe I should have gotten more.  

Now, V'Ger: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Goes Cinematic

Don't get me wrong.  I LIKE Now, Voyager (Warner Brothers, 1942, Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid).  In fact, I watch it once a year or so, when winter is icky and dreary and I feel like taking a cruise to Brazil only I don't have the money because I spent it all on pens and inks.  And maybe some paper.  Plus, this film contains Claude Rains, and if that weren't enough, the icy, inimitable Gladys Cooper, and also that actress who plays a different Nursie-Poo in The Man Who Came To Dinner (also 1942, also Bette Davis):  Mary 'Just Call Me Nursie-Poo' Wickes.

So this repressed Boston spinster (Davis) meets Dr. Claude Rains, who quotes her this poem ending in, 'Now, voyager,' and she goes forth and meets Kirk and Spock and a giant alien Entity...no, wait, wrong movie.

She goes forth on this cruise I can't afford and turns all glamourous and has a totally illicit affair with a married man (Henreid) whose accent is so thick you could use it for pate.  His younger daughter has a complex because she thinks she's not wanted.  She's such a puling little drip no wonder.

Somewhere along the line, Mr. Accent gives Davis a bunch of camellias.  Then there's talk about the  moon and the stars. Thee end.

V'ger is that which programmed me.  Take that, you carbon units!

Oh, wait, right.  Fountain pens and socks. Davis knits in one scene.  Could have been socks.  Maybe.

If this movie was an ink, it would be Iroshizuku Ajisai.  Because hydrangeas are totally the same as camellias, right?

Maybe Dr. Inkenstein will go watch another movie.