Knitted Bags - Scandi style and KnitPro Spectra Flair

Hi everyone. It's been a very "knitty" week for me as I've been working hard on my current knitting projects and trying to finish them asap. Today I have finished my 3rd knitted bag and they are ready to be presented to the public :) So here they are: the three Scandi-style knitted ... bags ... pouches ... favour bags ... gift bags, name them all...

The knitting pattern for these pouches comes from Knit-and-Crochet Garden book by Arne & Carlos. I've kept my eye on this knitting project for months and finally I got round to do it! I even managed to buy the recommended yarn - Vipe from Dalegarn. It's a thin mercerized cotton with a sleek satin touch. It knits well and smooth and creates that nice knitted pattern so typical of cotton yarns. I just love it! 

I'm pleased with how they turned out. When knitting your colourwork, you have to stretch your knitted fabric every so often so that it doesn't pucker on the surface when you've finished. I tried to avoid that at any price otherwise the pouches wouldn't look nice. 

The bags are knitted on double pointed needles. It took me well over a week to knit all three with 2-3 hrs knitting daily. They are about 12-13 cm in height and larger than the Christmas balls (julekuler) I knitted in the past. The Vipe yarn is thinner than Heilo wool and there are more stitches to work through but all is done in almost the same way as you knit the balls. The pouches are finished off with a crocheted frill on top and a string / ribbon drawn through the yarn-over loops.  

I really love the floral designs on these bags - they are my favourite and there's a Scandinavian vibe in it. It's the whiteness and simplicty of the design I love in them most.

This what the bags look like when spread flat. You can use a crochet chain or a decorative ribbon or even a tape according to your preferences.

These cute bags are very versatile. You can use them for many purposes. They can be scented pot pourri bags, seed bags, jewellery bags, gift bags, favour bags, Easter treats bags, bags to keep coins or beads or spools in or even any beach treasures - sea shells, stones, sea glass etc. In my case, they are going to hold my jewellery pieces safe. I already know I will be knitting more of them. Would love to try out new colour combinations and perhaps use different patterns on them. Oh, I may even try knitting some festive ones and give them away at Christmas. My mum is a keen gardener and a fan of scented sachets, she's likely to ask for a couple of them too!

I really enjoyed knitting those bags. It was great fun trying new yarn and working out the new patterns. There will be some more coming in the future.

Now on the shopping-tool front line, this is what my postman left for me today in the mailbox - a set of 5 funky pink double pointed needles! :) I love them! So girly.

They are the KnitPro Spectra Flair Acrylic needles :) I love all KnitPro products.

I didn't even know such existed! I only came across them as I was browsing through eBay offers searching for some 9mm dpns. This is my first acrylic needle set from KnitPro and my first acrylic knitting needles ever. Hope it knits well with them. If you have got any of these yourself, please, feel free to share your opinions in the comments. I'd love to hear from you.

Girls love pink. I'm gonna have fun knitting with them! :D

Thanks for reading and even more thanks for your comments x X x

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Hand-made Moday Blog Hop no. 182 :)

Vipe of Dalegarn

Have I mentioned before that I am a yarn snob loving quality yarns and knitting tools? Oh yes, I have! And here is the proof: not so long ago I placed an order with kidsknits.com in the USA and received this gorgeous mercerized cotton yarn from Dalegarn - Vipe. It came from so afar, all the way from America and it was even custom charged. Sadly, so far this Norwegian yarn is not available in the UK but I do hope it will change one day. First time I've had this type of Norwegian yarn and since it's quite costly, I just ordered a few colours required for the project. 

Additionally, I also ordered two colours of Lerke (also from Dalegarn, it's a cotton and merino blend yarn) which can't be obtained in the UK. I love knitting with Lerke. It's super soft, warm, cosy and it comes in nice array of colours. Last year I used it to knit my Scandianvian eggs - a project by Arne and Carlos.

And now Vipe by itself - gorgeous shades, luscious, soft and pleasant to the touch. I'm gonna use this yarn to make these knitted pouches featured in Arne & Carlos book - Knit and crochet Garden. 

This deep purple shade has been my favourite for years. I used to wear lots of clothes in these shades.

At the close-up, Vipe reminds me of a satin cotton thread - soft and silky with a slight shine. I hope it knits well. Can't wait to start working on these pouches. As soon as I'm done with my Easter projects, I'm going to move onto these. 

And speaking of Arne and Carlos - a Norwegian-Swedish kitting duo - I've already preordered their next book on Amazon. The English edition is going to be released in September 2014. Roll on autumn! Can't wait!

Hope you all have had a good weekend. x