The TARDIS Bag!

I like Dr Who. I always have, in fact, Tom Baker was one of my little girl crushes. It was one of the few shows Mother let us watch, given that it was science fiction, which in her mind equated to not demonic, and on PBS which made it educational somehow.

Anyway, I was delighted when they resumed the show. Unfortunately, I haven't kept up with all the seasons. I shall, at some point actually sit and watch them, but right now, I don't have BBC America and I can't steal them off the internet, as this would be morally incorrect.... O_O

I've been wanting to do something Whoish for a while, the problem is that there's lots to choose from and nothing really rang my bell. Plus, I'm not really the sort of girl that's comfortable with cosplay, even in its mildest form. I do have friends that are rabid fans, however, and this gives me the perfect opportunity to make stuff I would never actually use, but think are super cool. So, after months of looking, I found the pattern for this bag. People, the heavens opened up and a chorus of weeping angels descended singing the glory on high!

My friends, I give you The TARDIS Bag.

A TARDIS, for the three people on the planet who don't know, is the machine that Dr. Who uses to travel through time. Well, she's much more than that, but I won't give away all the deets. Apparently she got stuck in the shape of a mid century British police box and has remained this way till this day. It's rather iconic In my opinion.

http://www.crochetdynamite.com/2012/09/the-tardis-bag-love-story-in-3-parts.html

I LOVE this bag. I am making myself a non TARDIS one as soon as possible. It's super easy and big enough to be a really nice tote. I love the strap length and I love, love the button. My fez is totally off to the designer!

I used four skeins of Redheart super-saver. Two in the blue, one each of white and black. I wouldn't use a softer spun acrylic like Caron's Simply Soft because you want the hand to be a bit stiff. It might work up nice in cotton as well. I used a little over 1 Skein of the blue so you'll have lots of leftovers. I also lined the bag for a little more support. I hand stitched the lining in and then went over it again with the machine to minimize stretching. I'm leaving out the total cost as I made this for a gift.

I didn't take any pictures of the construction because the tutorial is so well written. It's an intermediate pattern, mostly because of the strap. Those little words gave me a run for my money. The single crochet would be fine, I think if I'd used two strands of white yarn instead of the one. I had to go over them again with a wipstitch as well as outline them with a slipstitch to get them to stand out properly.

I hope the person I made this for enjoys it. I know I enjoyed making it despite the unfortunate misspelling incident. I might per persuaded to make another for some other Whovian. If I really like them, that is!

Weaving Fail

Sometimes learning new things is frustrating. It's true of almost everything, but I've found this especially true with textiles. I bought a book called The Woven Bag by Noreen Crone-Findlay. I love this book. It's got lots of projects that a body actually wants to do, (or at least this body). So,  I started my second weaving project full of hope and enthusiasm. And as I wove I had grand ideas of my project turning out like this:

 

 

What I got is this:

 

Obviously, something went terribly wrong. I don't know what. And that's the frustrating part. Weaving isn't like crochet or knitting or even sewing. It is nearly impossible to Frog or rip the piece apart. So here we are, stuck with another square bag. On the bright side, I really like the texture of the fabric. The  loom used is chained off with a crochet slip stitch and that leaves the project with a nice decorative seam. I will be trying this bag again. And I am so hoping I am not doomed to repeat the square bag again.

Next stop... Weaverdale.. The Lopsided Bag!

There are many and varied roads in Craftland, and they all lead to strange and interesting little villages.

 Usually, I'm happy to hang in Crochetville, a lot of my friends hang there too, so I have company.  Sometimes, I make a few stops in Spinnerton, for a weekend getaway. However, one does occasional need to mix things up, so this weekend I took a trip to Weaverdale.

 I have several looms. It's just that with my day job (otr truck driver) weaving isn't really a practical thing to bring along. However, I finally found a couple of smaller looms that are perfect for this application. I started this project in Indianapolis on a layover back in October and haven't worked on it since. As the Foot of Doom is still on its Purple Prison I've decided to go ahead and work on the rest of it, just for a change.

 The loom is a Harrisville Design lap loom. (http://www.harrisville.com/) It’s a basic under-over type of loom, you can use a needle or a shuttle, I preferred the needle. I found it on Amazon and they're fairly cheap. It's a kids beginner loom, but I don’t care as I'm a beginner myself. I don't have a pattern I'm using. I made this one up myself. It's fairly basic so I can't claim to be super original or anything. It was a little annoying getting the hang of the whole thing. I kept pulling the weft  ( that's the yarn that goes horizontal) too tight and ending up with an hourglass shape. I had to pull it out and start over again. But I guess that's part of the learning process.

I'm using a 4 ply cotton, instead of the wool that came with the kit. And yes, it's a leftover lot of yarn. Will I ever use that stuff up? I still have this teeny tiny ball of the stuff left. I'm begining to thing elves are coming in when I'm asleep and making more of the stuff. Hmm, actually, given the price of yarn, that's not such a bad deal.

I took a bunch of pictures because I was just so tickled to be actually weaving on a loom. Unfortunately, this means you all have to suffer through them! Muahahaha!

The peice on the right is the one I did in indy

I was just going to have it a sandwich style





Then I decided it needed sides

And a bottom, then I lined it for support



 

 

 

 

Anyhow, here it is.

 

I like it,even though it's very rough and a little lopsided.  I’m sure I’ll get better in the future, but it’s not so bad for a first effort. I’m giving it to my Lady. I’m pretty sure she’ll be entertained by the effort. I hope you all are too!