Unfinished Purses & A Beet

Posted on November 7, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

There are more projects in this stash of UFOs. Here’s the next one in my finishing queue.

This was a kit from Knitpicks with instructions and wool for six fruity purses, called The Elegant Edibles kit. (That’s a Ravelry link – the pattern is no longer available.) I remember thinking these were so cute.

Here are the official pictures from Knitpicks:

I did not remember that it was 2008! I finished the kiwi and the orange purses by 2010, and they’ve been waiting patiently ever since to be finished up. Enough!

Here’s how I found them:

Orange purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke

Kiwi purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke

These are really cute knits and I like that there are beads for the ‘seeds’. I made some changes to the pattern, noted on my Ravelry project page here.

I suspect what happened was that I didn’t like how floppy they were and wasn’t sure what to do about it. In the KP pix, they look more like pillows than purses to me. I did felt them a bit, which gave them a little more substance. I also decided against the handles shown in the pattern and adapted the leaves from the bunch of grapes for the orange. Those leaves are felted as well.

And now to finish them up. I found some coordinating zippers (there were zippers in the kit, but who knows where those ones are now) and pinned them in. I also cut linings and interfacing for those linings – in fact, I’ve cut buckram for the outer curve on each one. The kiwi one doesn’t have a handle at all, but my Rav stash lists the bin (in the attic) where the remaining yarn is supposed to be. (It was there at some point. Is it still there? I’ll have to go up and see.) I’m thinking a long i-cord in the green would be a good choice for a handle on the kiwi bag. If the yarn is gone, I’ll do one in black.

The beet and the grapes are also cute, but I have no idea what I did with the pattern. Hmm. If I find the yarn, I’ll hunt down the pattern. I do remember that the brighter purple (for the beet) was called Fairy Tale. 🙂

Did I use up the KP yarn on this Norah Gaughran beet? Here’s my Rav project page, and yes, the purple is the KP yarn. The green is Patons Classic Wool Worsted, so the green from the kiwi purse might still be in the stash. I’ll have to go hunting…

Beet by Norah Gaughan knitted by Deborah Cooke

New Dragon in Town

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

You might remember me knitting Tarragon the Dragon once before. He came out very cute, so recently I was tempted to knit him a friend.

Here’s my post about the green Tarragon.

And here’s the new arrival, Tarragon II:

Tarragon, knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Kroy Sock

This one is knit of plain old Patons Kroy (that’s a link to Yarnspirations) in a discontinued colourway called Paintbox. (That’s a Ravelry link.) The contrast yellow is Knitpicks Palette in Maize. (That link goes to the KP site.) I actually found a package of 6mm eyes with locking washers at Len’s Mills after I finished the first dragon, so used them on this one. (Four more pairs in the pack!) I didn’t give him beads for nostrils this time, but did add ears (which aren’t specified in the pattern) because I think they’re cute. (That modification is from the other projects on Ravelry.)

Here are the two new buddies together. I think they’re getting along pretty well.

It’s interesting that even though they’re knitted on the same size of needle, the green one is a little bigger – but then Lichen & Lace Sock is slightly thicker than Kroy, plus the green dragon has a strand of KSH held together with the sock yarn. Just that little bit of difference to the thickness made him a bit bigger. He’s also squishier – I can see the fibrefil stuffing between the stitches of the red one, just a little bit. So, if I knit another one in just sock yarn, I’d drop a needle size or add a strand of KSH.

It’s entirely possible that there’s a third Tarragon in my future. These little guys are just so cute, and the second one was much quicker to make.

Meet Bart

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Deborah Cooke

Earlier this month, I wanted to knit something cute to cheer up my sister-in-law, who is in isolation. (We took her a box of goodies and did a contact-less delivery, waving to each other through the glass.) I remembered this cute Rowan pattern, which I found again on Ravelry: Esther, Ernie and Enid Easter Chickens.

I chose some Sugar Bush Itty Bitty from my stash of leftovers (the colourway is Sailor’s Sky Delight) and cast on. I made socks of this yarn a while back. The leftovers seemed like a good choice for a cheerful chick. Basic socks knit by Deborah Cooke in Sugar Bush Itty Bitty

The chick is named Bart because Mr. Math said it looked like a bartlet pear when it was first stuffed. I used lentils to weight the base and some other yarns from my leftover sock yarn stash for the details.

Here’s Bart. Bart the chicken, knit by Deborah Cooke

Of course, Bart was leaving 😦 so I cast on another one for Mr. Math. I used the same Itty Bitty, but this time I knit it with a strand of Kidsilk Haze in Essence, which is a pale yellow.I thought a fuzzy chick would be a good thing.

I also made two changes to the pattern, both in the base, for Bart II. First, I didn’t cast on the stitches for the base as instructed: I picked them up from the middle of the main piece, saving myself a bit of seaming. The base is a triangle, but shaped with K2tog on both the left and right side. Here’s Bart’s base to show you:

Bart knit by Deborah Cooke

The lack of symmetry irked me. For Bart II, I did the first decrease as an SSK. Here’s the base of Bart II to show you the difference. Bart 2 base with SSK at right edge and K2tog at left edge, knit by Deborah Cooke

You can see how much fuzzier the chick ended up with the KSH, too.

I had to make three. They’re Bart’s Band and here they are:

Bart's Band knit by Deborah Cooke What do you think?

A Crocheted Camellia

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Deborah Cooke

A little while ago, I bought a hat. It’s knitted of wool at very fine gauge and is a pretty shade of blue. There’s a wire in the rim so it holds its shape. To me, it looks like a Miss Marple hat.

Which meant that the ruffled thingy on the side had to be replaced by a flower, preferably a camellia. I thought the flower should be knitted, maybe even felted. I spent some time looking at patterns for flowers and didn’t find anything I liked. So, I dug into my stash, and guessed.

Here’s the yarn I found in my stash. One is a variegated wool, quite likely Rowan Tapestry (although the ball band is gone). I wanted to liven it up a bit, so held a strand of Kidsilk Haze Stripe together with it. (The KSH Stripe was left over from my second Hebrides sweater.) I chose a remnant of that with both burgundy and navy in it.

I ended up crocheting the flower to get the shape I had in mind. Essentially, I made a long strip with scallops, then sewed it together in a spiral. I then sewed it onto the hat.

Here’s the result: Camellia crocheted by Deborah Cooke

What do you think? I really like it and am going to make another couple of flowers the same way so I can pull together some more precise instructions to share.

I might need to make one with beads…

Christmas Ornaments

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Deborah Cooke

This week, I was seduced by a quick holiday project: knitting Christmas ornaments. Actually, you knit a covering for a styrofoam ball. The results look like this:The pattern is called Balls Up! and it’s available as a free Ravelry download. It calls fro a 7cm polystyrene or styrofoam ball, but I found some at the dollar store that were 6.3 cm. I went down a needle size and everything worked out just fine.

Mine are in the order they were knitted, from left to right. The first one is leftovers of a handpainted Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn and is just plain. There’s something about this colorway that just looks festive to me—I knit Celestine out of it a few years ago.The second is in a loose ball of yarn which I think might be Rowan Tapestry (it has a slow graduation). I added a snowflake in purl stitches to the middle band of this one and some beads—the truth is that I should have used one or the other. The beads were hard to put on the yarn, because it’s a loosely spun single ply, although they are pretty.

The third is from ends of another color of handpainted Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn—I have a feeling this colour was called Monet—and I knit seed stitch on the central band of that one.

The fourth is in sock yarn and my only fair isle attempt with snowflakes in the middle band. My plan was to put a bead in the middle of each one, but I forgot that the bead ends up on the row below when you use the crochet hook method. Next time I’ll get it right.

I would have knit more, because they are fun, but I got distracted. I’d picked up some Crazy Zauberball sock yarn to try it in ornaments and decided I just liked it too much. The colorway is the green, #2136 Lenz (scroll down.) I cast on a pair of socks on those same needles, so they’ll be tucked into that project for a while. I think I’m going to knit knee socks with it, so I’ll need a second ball.

I’m convinced that, one of these days, I’ll knit some of the mini sweaters that are Chrismas ornaments. Here is one set of free patterns on the Berroco site and here’s another set of teeny sweaters. I think they’re so cute!

Have you ever knitted any Christmas ornaments?

Bijouterie

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

Here’s a wonderful summer knitting pattern, called Bijouterie. These are a neat quick project.

I used 26 gauge wire because that was the finest I could find. I used it single because the pattern calls for finer wire used double.

I think they’re so pretty – I want to make more!

What do you think?

Kidsilk Creation Scarf

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

There is a new yarn product available this fall called Kidsilk Creation. It comes as is a knitted tube of Kidsilk Haze – you get eleven meters of it or so and knit or crochet it up into a ruffled scarf. I had to order some (of course!) and it came yesterday. I escaped my revision and knitted mine up in less than an hour. Nothing goes together better than Kidsilk Haze and instant gratification – except maybe chocolate and caramel.

Here it is:I couldn’t make heads or tails of the written directions inside the label, btw, but this struck me as a technique that would be easier to show than to explain. And sure enough. Rowan has video tutorials available on YouTube – but only visible to members. It is very easy once you see it done.

This colour is called Jelly. (It’s a little brighter than it looks in my picture. A bit more lime-licious.) I’ve always loved it, so really like having a scarf in this colour. Mr. C. says it looks like kelp. It does in a way, but I still like it. What do you think?

And what’s your favourite combination for instant gratification?

DIY Gradient Cardigan 3

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

So, I’m still talking about that strange knitting project of mine – the adventure began here and continued here. I know you’re impatient to see how it looks knitted up, so without further ado, here’s the work in progress:This is the back of the raglan sleeved cardigan I’ll knit from the reclaimed yarn. I did a small gauge swatch, calculated my gauge per inch, then multiplied it by width I wanted the finished back to be. Then I cast on that many stitches in the mauvey colourway and knit 6 rows of seed stitch – that’s in blue.

The fair isle design is from a pattern by Eunny Jang called the Venezia Pullover. Just as you might suspect, this pattern is for a pullover, which isn’t what I wanted to knit. But I’ve always liked the curves of the fair isle pattern. The pattern as written uses a number of different colours, but they are marked as foreground and background. So, I got a sheet of graph paper and coloured in all the squares that are foreground. Presto – a two-colour chart! I centered the chart over my back stitches – it’s just over four repeats – and started to knit.

Self-striping yarns are always a bit addictive to me. I really want to see what they’re going to do next. In this case, I tried to paint the yarns so that the lights and darks would end up opposed to each other. What I didn’t anticipate is that when they’re switching – like where the green is getting darker and the blue is turning pink – the design is harder for the eye to pick out. I think this will be less of an issue as the sweater progresses and more repeats are visible. You’ll be better able to see what’s happening. But I like it, even the less contrasty bits.

What do you think? Have I converted you to the cause of creating your own colour-graduated yarn?

DIY Gradient Cardigan – 2

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

Once upon a time, I started a crazy knitting project. The saga begins with this post Some of you might have thought that I’d forgotten about it, but no. I got back to it this week.

I dyed the green sweater this week. This time, I didn’t put any vinegar in the pre-soak, hoping that the colour wouldn’t strike quite as quickly. I did have some more ability to blend the colours together as a result. Here are the pieces:I used Teal and Jet Black and Sapphire Blue dyes on this sweater. I did try to line up light patches to fall against dark patches, but we’ll have to see how that all works out.

Of course, I made a mistake. I moved the vinegar out of the way when I did the sleeves, putting it on the counter behind me. After everything was in the pot to steam and I was cleaning up, I found the vinegar. Ooops. I hadn’t sprayed the sleeves down with vinegar before rolling them up. These are acid-reactive dyes, so what happens if there’s no vinegar? They wash right out. So, I had to retrieve the sleeves from the pot, unroll them, spray them down, then return them to the steamer. The only good thing was that it hadn’t been long enough for the plastic wrap to fuse together.

Here’s a ball, all ready to go:You know what comes next, don’t you? Stay tuned!

Java Ninja Free Pattern

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

It’s been a while since I’ve published a new knitting pattern, but my new coffee pot provided the impetus. Here’s my knitted cozy for a 12-cup French press coffee pot – called the Java Ninja. The pattern is free for download on Ravelry, right here.