Free style back pack

  Here are some pictures of the back pack I promised. They were taken straight off the needle so no weaving in or blocking has been done.

                                          click to enlarge image
Here is a close up of the front showing double basket weave and a little bit of the 3*1 rib. k3 p1 ribbing.

                                   click picture to enlarge
A full size picture showing the front and sides of the backpack. You can see the two bands of double basketweave, the 3*1 rib and the 1*1 ribbing at the top. You might be able to see a few holes at the top for threading the Icord

                                   Click image to enlarge

   Here's the back view of the front and sides, the inside part of the backpack. I was thinking of making this the outside part, I do like the wrong side of the 3*1 rib.

                                Click to enlarge images
  A couple more shots showing the double basket weave in different lights, my batteries were running low so had to turn the flash off.

  I still need to do the Icord and the straps then I can sew it all together. I really need to come up with an idea beyond buttons for adjusting the straps. I might also add a pocket to the front to hold little things and maybe a holder inside for long needles, though I only use small connected ones for all my knitting. I'm not planning in lining the bag but that might change.
  Once its all finished I'll do more pictures and a better write up with some sort of instructions for it. There really is no pattern so am calling it my free style backpack.

Score

  Just been to do my weekly shop at asda and there very small selection of camping stuff is on its final sale.Picked up those canisters of gas 4 for £3 and got a metal, alu, 1l water bottle with cheap carabiner on the cap. The bottles say you can't use them for carrying fuel and looking inside the colours are different than my msr fuel bottle, still its nice to have a cheap strong water bottle to add to my collection.
 The gas canisters, look like aerosol cans, are great at that price. I don't often buy them unless there very cheap like today because I have so many of them. Each one will burn on full for approx 4 hours. I have two single burners that take them as well as a heater.

I need to sort out some pictures and I'll have a later post for you on the front part of the back pack, so pop by again later to have a look.

Finshed part of the backpack.

Finished the front, sides of the back pack today. Did a hem on the top that will cover the icord so it took me a little longer. Not sure what the cast off, bind off, method is called. k2tog or p2tog then slip the stitch back onto the left needle and repeat, produces a looser edge than a normal cast off.
 Still haven't come up with a good idea for adjusting the straps, all the ones I've looked at on the net are just sewn on. I'm thinking maybe 2 buttons might be strong enough, maybe... Not sure really what I'm going to do, no rush for now.
 Will pin the backpack together so I can get a better idea on the flap, will take some pictures before I sew it all together so I can show what I've done. Might even be finished this weekend, don't count on it though.

Oh my God they killed the internet

Been reading a lot lately about the Americans cutting off the Internet and it seems to have confused some folks who thought the www was indestructible. What the powers that be can do is shut off dns, domain name servers. These are the web page addresses you see in your browser. You can get by without these written addresses by using there ip numbers. What you need to do is get a list of all the ip addresses of your needed and favorite websites and save / write them down somewhere. 
  Google/search dns look up for sites that let you trace/look up ips dns stuff  and put the website in and you will get an IP number that you can put into your browser and that will take you to the page. I put in this blog but it only comes up with the IP for google, the owners of the blog. I'd need to buy my own domain name for it to work for the blog.
   Some ip's you should have are news sites you trust, .gov sites, chat sites, forums and banking sites. I think bank sites are important because I can see it being a big reason for the .gov to switch off the dns servers to stop runs on banks, think Northern rock. News and .gov so you can find out information and chat sites so you can share and really find out whats going on.
   I'm not the best for explaining stuff on here, if you don't understand anything let me know in comments or email me and I'll see if I can do a better job. Nows the time to figure this stuff out, before they switch off the dns servers.
    I'll get you started, any one wants to add to this list please put it in comments and I'll update it.
  

• http://209.85.135.191/ or http://74.125.53.191/    both are for google. 

• 212.58.224.138 BBC public service msg
• 80.238.9.92 Sky. com
• 207.242.93.24 Accuweather

I'll keep updating the site as I go along and think of more addresses to add but don't rely on my list being here if the dns is closed unless I buy a domain name, you need to make your own list to store.

ETA Been awhile since I had to do this, seems you can only find the front pages of web sites. I.e bbc front page not bbc news. Once at the front page you can navigate around the site no problems, just thought I'd mention it to make it easier for when your looking up the ip's.

Backpack straps

  I know I said there wouldn't be anymore backpack updates for awhile but as usual I was wrong. It hit me yesterday I have no idea about the straps, never gave them a minutes thought. What I'd like to do is make the straps adjustable but at the moment I'm not sure how to go about it. I was thinking a button on the back and holes alone the strap but don't think that will really be very strong. If any of you have suggestions please leave a comment. I'll have a hunt around the net and see what other folks have done about it, I'm sure I'm not the first.
  The backpack is coming along a lot faster than I thought it would, I only have two to three rows left to do on the front, sides piece then I can decide how long I want the flap. After that I need to do a short Icord and the straps and sew it all together then I can move onto my next knitting project.

Bargain sock yarn

Got 200g of dark ish grey sock yarn today for £1 + £2.50 postage including basic sock pattern. Not a fantastic colour, its like school uniform grey, but for the price its pretty amazing. 75% super wash wool so not cheap nasty stuff. 200g (50g = 210m) will do 2 pairs of socks. She has a couple of other colours but there not that inspiring either though the rusty orange might be. Going to get some more and maybe try my hand at argyle socks. Of course I don't have to use it for socks. I could knit hats, gloves or even a thin summer sweater with it.
 If you want her eBay link to buy some for yourself please ask in comments or email me. No affiliation with me.

I also bought some coloured pencils today to help me work out what I want to do with the tartan scarf. I think that's going to be my next project and first real Christmas present. 
Not sure what I'm going to do with the backpack, might keep it for myself as a yarn bag.I want to do a poll soon on which side should be the front, I kinda like both sides. Will have to take pictures first and fast because I'm almost done.

Double Basket Weave Picture

Double basket weave

click double basket weave image to enlarge

Double basket weave

As promised here's a picture of a double basket weave swatch I did awhile back.

The double basket weave pic is to go with the post I did the other day, Double basket weave . Go there for the instructions.

bbq & rain, a typical English post.

Well that didn't go according to plan. It went dull and started drizzling on and off but I really did want a bbq. Decided to put the chimney on the large chimera, the things cast iron and nearly 6 feet tall. Don't cook with it all that often as it can be a pain and hot, darn hot,but it is good for cooking in when its drizzling because the foods covered.Its great for fires too, will burn wood and coal. Took the winter bags off it to put the chimney on and it smelled funny, no not funny more a gross smell. I season it with lard to help keep the rain from rusting it, even tho its covered most of the time. My little dinky chimera is out in the rain all year round and apart from the feet there's no rust on it at all, so it does work. I don't cook in the small chimera but do burn it a lot and occasionally boil water on the chimney.

So the inside of the large chimera is somewhat mouldy, and smelly. Probably not a safe eating environment. Started a nice big fire going in it and put some of my newspaper bricks on. Should burn nice and hot for a couple of hours and kill everything. Will clean it tomorrow, fun and joy.

Did my burgers on my wagner cast iron pan in the kitchen, tastes fine but just isn't the same really. Still, its nice eating and watching a roaring fire while having a pint of home brew lager. This batch has turned out very well. I've had alot of trouble making a decent tasting lager. Bitters and ales are fine but the lagers can be tricky because of the temperature.

Haven't got much knitting done, managed 4 rows. Not sure I'll be able to knit anymore later, I might be too mellowed from the lager.

Hope the weathers better for you folks, have a great rest of the weekend.

Weekend knitting, bbq & stuff.

Ok this will probably be my last update on the back pack for awhile,bet your glad about that, heh. I've done about an inch of the 3*1 rib and at the moment I prefer the wrong side which is ok because the double basket weave I've already done works on both sides. I'll update again when I'm doing the eyelets for the icord to help keep the backpack closed. I should of made my mind up about which side to use by then. Not 100% sure when that will be because I'm not sure on the size of the backpack yet, all depends on how much yarn I have. 
p.s don't forget to save enough for the shoulder straps.


I tested the email thing, didn't work with the email I gave but did work with another email, still not sure if it sends the whole post or just a notice,guess I'll find out after this goes up. I'm also looking at the AdSense and amazon ads to add to the blog, doubt I'll make any money but might boost my blog up in searches and increase my readership.

It didn't rain yesterday, Friday. I think that's the first time its not rained and has been sunny this month.I did want to have a bbq but didn't have time. Its pretty dull again today but dry so I might drag my old cast iron bbq out. Not gonna do anything fancy just a couple of burgers, not really had many chances to have a bbq this year. I normally have lots, my first one this year was back in February. Cold weather but yummy food.

The batteries are charging for the camera so I'll take some pictures tomorrow. Swatch, newsboy hat, and the back pack so far.Also have the last bookmark I knitted on there to upload. I'll do a post next week on one of my past finished projects that already have pictures done. I think it will be the two scarfs I did as last years Christmas presents.

Hope you all have a great relaxing weekend.

Blog stuff & a bit of knitting

I was playing around with the blog last night trying to figure out how everything works. I've set up a email subscription service that will email you when I post, not sure if it sends the full post or just a notice. I'm still testing it at the moment and will probably know the answers after I post this. Almost set up a feed thingy, will work on that more when I have the time.I did manage to set up a paypal donate button, so if you want to treat me to some nice yarn please donate.

Guess I should of done the poll awhile back. I've decided on a 3*1 rib pattern. Just completed a purl ridge after the two bands of double basket weave and will start the 3*1 rib tonight or tomorrow. I found an old double basket weave swatch I did and will put that up soon as. Found a few swatches I did when I was first learning, might put those up as I go along, we'll see.

Blogtalk radio

Just wanted to mention Breda's new radio show starts tonight, 11pm bst. 6pm EST. Not sure my few readers will be that interested, (its about scary guns hehe), but if you have the time why not give it a go.Maybe you'll learn something.

Back pack dilemmas.

I've finished 2 rows of double basket weave stitch on the backpack. When I say rows I really mean I've done two bands of double basket weave, i.e 36 rows. Now I really have to decide what I want to do for the rest. Do I carry on with double basket weave or go onto 3*1 rib like I had originally planed. Or is there something else I could do? I was looking around the web last night at different ribbing patterns and came across a nice one I hadn't seen before, Waving rib. Not sure I want to do it for the back pack but its good to know for future projects. Maybe I'll knit up a swatch and see what it looks like then decide.


I did come across a blog while looking more into waving rib and found this a year in stitches . It hasn't been written for over a year but I think it was a good idea to do all those swatches, not sure she completed them all. I've borrowed this picture of waving rib from her site, thank you.

I think it looks pretty good both sides. The back sort of looks like basket weave, been a while since I knit basket weave so can't remember what the back of that looks like but don't think it looks like waving rib.

I don't have the readers to justify a poll but what the heck, it doesn't cost anything and its fun to play. Besides I really can't make my mind up which is a problem because I should be knitting right now instead of sitting here thinking woolly thoughts. 
Polls over there ---------------->.
Please vote and comment,thanks for the help. 

ETA. I will do a swatch and replace the picture with one of my own when I have the time.

Basket weave

I thought I'd best do a post on regular basket weave seeing as I did a post on double basket weave yesterday.

 Thanks for the picture, saves me doing a swatch.

 Cast on multiples of 8 stitches plus 5.

Row 1(RS): Knit.

Row 2: K5, *p3, k5; repeat from *.

Row 3: P5, *k3, p5; repeat from *.

Row 4: Repeat row 2.

Row 5: Knit.

Row 6: K1, *p3, k5; rep from *, end last rep k1 instead of k5.

Row 7: P1, *k3, p5; rep from *, end last rep p1 instead of p5

Row 8: Repeat row 6.

Repeat rows 1 - 8.

As you can see from the picture it produces a nice woven looking pattern.

Quick back pack update.

 I've stopped doing the base,back and flap until I can get more of the front and sides done so I have a better idea of the size of the flap needed. I'm hoping I don't run out of yarn. I do have the base and back done and probably about half of the closing flap. 
 On the front and sides so far I'm on my second row of double basket weave, still not sure what to do after that and I'm running out of time to decide. Oh well.

Double basket weave

Double basket weave knitting instructions.

Image now here 

This is double basket weave that I'm knitting around the bottom front and sides of the backpack. I'll have to take a picture and add it later as I couldn't find any good ones on the net. 
Might even knit up a swatch just for you.

Cast on multiplies of 18 plus 10

 1: (RS)*K11, p2, k2, p2, k1; repeat from *, end k10.
 2: P1, k8, p1, *p1, (k2, p2) twice, k8, p1; rep from *.
 3:*K1, p8, (k2, p2) twice, k1; rep from *, end k1, p8*, k1.
 4: P10, *p1, k2, p2, k2, p11; repeat from *.
 5: 6: 7: and 8: Repeat rows 1: 2: 3: and 4:

 9: Knit row

10: (P2, k2) twice, p2, *p10, (k2, p2) twice; repeat from *.

11: *(K2,p2) twice, k2, p8; rep from *, end (k2, p2) twice, k2.

12: (P2, k2) twice, p2, *k8 (p2, k2) twice, p2; rep from *.

13: *(K2, p2) twice, k10; rep from *, end (k2, p2) twice, k2.

14:, 15:, 16: and 17: Repeat rows 10:, 11:, 12: and 13:.

18: Purl row

Repeat rows 1 - 18. 

I need to charge the batteries for the camera then I'll take some pictures of the backpack and maybe a double basketweave swatch. Also need to take pictures of the bakers boy / newsboy hat I knitted.

Click here for double basket weave picture