Knitting Notes

Pattern: Monteagle Bag by Ann Hahn Buechner
Yarn: Quince and Co Willet in the Regatta Colorway (and just a touch of Cascade Ultra Pima in Juniper)
Needles: Size 11 Circ and one DPN

So I’ve been trying to cut down on my plastic use where I can nip it in the bud from the get go.   One thing I was doing when I went over to the community garden was to bring over plastic bags to haul back my harvest.    I was at least reusing them until they pretty much died, but I’ve seen all the cool patterns for market bags, and figured making a couple would be a no brainer way to cut a little more plastic out of my life.

This pattern had some really interesting stitches – I’m not usually into drop stitch patterns, so it was very different than what I normally knit.   It actually took me three tries on the first bag before I finally grokked things enough to keep going.    I was also much tighter on the first bag.    I managed to do it all with one skein, though the handle is a little shorter than it should technically be.    On the second bag, it was very obvious I was not going to get a long enough handle to be usable.   Fortunately, I had some leftover yarn from my last foray into cotton knitting, which was just enough to make a decent size handle.    And since these are for me, I don’t mind the color contrast.

I am not the world’s biggest fan of knitting with cotton yarn – I find it hurts my hands after a while.   That said, this Quince and Co Willet is some really nice cotton yarn.   I can’t say I’m in a huge hurry to knit with it again, but it’s nice to know there’s a slightly less painful option out there.