Sipalu Bag--On to Side 2!

So here we are ready for Side 2. First you have to create the tucking (AKA the border). So we'll unravel the provisional COfrom the side panel on the other side. This will make another tube of fabric for the border on Side 2.

Sipalu Bag--Side 1 done!

I know--not many photos and here's Side 1 done!

Sipalu Bag--Provisonal Cast-on 80 stitches

NOT a good way to do provisional cast-on

I thought I'd share this idea I had for provisional cast-on of the 80 stitches. NOT a good idea. I couldn't get the provisional stitches off the stitch holder.

I finally found some slippery waste yarn and did a correct provisional cast-on.

A correct way to cast-on

Sipalu Bag--The Welt

What is a Welt anyway? I'm going to call it the border of the bag (BOB). The directions say to "Switch to Color A; Knit on Row." No problem. Now it says to "Work five rows in reverse St st".

I decided to work the 5 rows like this: P,N,P,N,P. I have read discussions about the correctness of this; I might be wrong but it's my bag! Now you're supposed to PU 240 stitches from first row of A on the WS of the work." Since I had nice purl bumps from the very first row of color A on the WS I used a second cable needle and picked up all the purl bumps on that needle. I read a discussion wondering if you couldn't do it one at a time, but I'm glad I didn't because first count was 237 stitches (yep, I missed some). I used split-ring markers and tagged the three stitches once I found them.

Finally you take a third needle and knit Stitch 1 from front with Stitch 2 from pickup. When you finish all 240 you have a nice welt!


Picking up 240 stitches


All stitches picked up


Knitting together to form the welt

Sipalu bag Side Welt

Ok, I finally discovered that the Side Panel is made by knitting Row 1 of the Side Panel Chart 20 times. Then you do Row 2 of the Side Panel chart 20 times. And on and on...

After ripping back several times (aargh!) I decided to put stitch markers in every 36 stitches. That way I would discover mistakes sooner and only have to rip out 36 stitches if and when I messed up! After I did this I only made two minor mistakes and my stress levels went way down. It took two nights of knitting but I finished the Side Panel. On to the Welt!

Step 1--dealing with the Provisional Cast-On

Provisional Cast-On of 240 stitches! I thought I knew how to do this. After searching online and referencing my books this is what I came up with...I will discover much later on that my clever cast-on is really just the long-tail cast-on and will have to be taken out stitch by stitch....

My Sipalu bag

I decided to make the warm colors Sibalu bag. As soon as I read the directions I about gave up! Luckily KnitPicks has a KAL on their website for this project. After seeing bags in progress I got a big a-ha! and cast-on. I will share my progress with you in the next weeks.