I recently was browsing the shelves of a local large chain bookstore.  I came across the work of Stephanie Japel. I have to say, I LOVE what she does with a sweater. I have had Fitted Knits for a while but it was Glam Knits I came across. The photography is sexy but the models look real (how often do we see both in one photograph?).

There is so much I love about this book of sweaters! I bought it. Not because I will likely knit any of the sweaters (I’m being realistic about my time, you see). No, I just don’t have the time to knit anything other than something for Noni except for maybe twice a year for about two days. No, I bought her book because I love what she is doing.  I love her style, the passion that comes out in her designs, her appreciation for the feminine form, the understated sensuality that is evident in every sweater.

I bought her book, in short, because I want to see what she does next.  I want her to write another book, and another.  I want her to keep designing.

As an Indie designer who has been fortunate enough to make a living from selling my designs in my own pattern line for a couple of years (I started Noni five years ago this August 19), I must confess that I am struggling to keep Noni alive.  If designers are to keep creating new and wonderful items, they need to be paid for their expertise and time.

The only way I, and other designers like me, can continue to concentrate on producing excellent design is if you, gentle knitter, and all your like-minded knitting friends pay for the designs you love.  Most patterns cost about the same or less than a ball of good, high quality yarn.  And a good pattern can bring you years, even decades of pleasure.  You can use it repeatedly, make unique gifts for countless others. The instructions in a good pattern are priceless, do more, and outlast any single ball of yarn.  Design is a precious thing, something that should be thoughtfully nurtured, supported.  If you enjoy unique and well-written patterns, buy one for your self and buy some for your friends. What a thoughtful gift that keeps on giving.

As well as writing patterns for you, I am working on a book of 50 unique flower patterns as well as 6 – 7 projects that utilize those flowers. It is a labor of love and I am enjoying every minute. It is a further extension of my creative self.  When it is finally in print, I hope you will enjoy my book as much as I enjoy purchasing books by Japel and other designers.  To keep the creative juices flowing – please support your favorite designers- purchase their patterns instead of copying or sharing them.

Thank you for supporting Noni. Look for more postings about the book flowers and projects in the coming days, weeks, and months.

If you love bags but you’re just not crazy about felting (admittedly, the larger and more structured bags are a lot of work sometimes . . . but worth the effort, I think).  OR you just want to make a knitted but not felted bag for Spring or Summer, here is how to do it using your favorite Noni bag pattern.

It’s actually quite simple. All you have to do is achieve in your knitted bag the “felted” gauge and then follow the instructions in the pattern as written.

Magic Gauge for Double-Strand Felted Bags:

Bags that call for a double-strand of worsted weight feltable yarn using a size 11 (8 mm) needle:  4 sts and 6 rows per inch or 16 sts and 24 rows over 4 inches (10 cm) on a size 9 -10 1/2  (5.5 – 6.5 mm) needle or size to obtain gauge.

Magic Gauge for Single-Strand Felted Bags:

Bags that call for a single-strand of worsted weight feltable yarn using a size 8 (5 mm) needle: 6 sts and 8 rows per inch or 24 sts and 32 rows over 4 inches /10 cm on size 4 (3.5 mm) needle or size to obtain gauge.

Best Choices

If you love fine finishing, the entire Noni pattern collection is your world.  Pick anything and have at it.

If you are less crazy about structuring and finishing, then it’s best to pick the more unstructured bags that don’t require as much work to make them look good.  Here are some of my top picks:

Adventure Bag

Nomad Bag

Flamenco Bag

Bowling Ball Bag

3 Confections

Pretty Bauble

3 Nights in a Row–the flowers also look great unfelted with a little blocking

Little Bags

Sheep Bag

Sunflower Beach Bag (use a very stiff, sturdy fiber, such as linen or raffia)

Perfect Fit Laptop Bag (also use a stiff fiber)

Ok, the list is getting a bit long.  I also like Petit Four Bag, Cherry Blossom Bag, Lattice Bag would be really cool with the cable work and some stiffener in the bottom only and a zipper top closure. Market would be nice, and lots of others. If you make one of these on the list or another of your favorites, please send a picture to me at nora@nonipatterns.com and I’ll put the picture of your bag in this posting. Please include what fiber you used, your needle size, and let us know other details, such as whether you feel it should be lined or can be left unlined.

Yarn Options I’ve Swatched

This is a partial list, of course.  There are LOTS of options in any knitting store and likely some in your existing stash.  I took some time a few days ago to peruse my shelves of yarn, to swatch some things I love, and to try out new fibers. Here are the results of a few hours of swatching.  If you have tried other fibers that work well or find something after reading this posting, please comment below with fibers that work.  Let us know whether you held the yarn double or not, what size needle you used, etc., so we can duplicate your results.

to convert double-strand felted bags . . .

• Crystal Palace Yarns’ Deco Ribbon single on a US 10/6 mm (70% acrylic 30% nylon) 88 yds/81 m.
• Frog Tree Yarns’ Picoboo doubled on a US 10/6 mm (60% cotton 40% bamboo) 116 yds/106 m.
• Louet’s Merlin doubled on a US 9/5.5 mm (70% merino 30% linen) 156 yds/142 m.
• Plymouth Yarn’s Fantasy Naturale single on a US 9/5.5 mm (100% mercerized cotton) 140 yds/128 m.
• Schaefer Yarns’ Laurel single on a US 9/5.5 mm (100% mercerized Pima cotton) 400 yds/365 m.
• Schaefer Yarns’ Sandra single on a US 9/5.5 mm (78% cotton 22% rayon) 225 yds/205 m.
• Skacel Collection’s Urban Silk doubled on a US 9/5.5 mm (80% silk 20% cotton) 93 yds/85 m.
• Universal Yarns’ Panda doubled on a US 9/5.5 mm  (100% Bamboo) 98 yds/90 m.

to convert single-strand felted bags . . .

• ArtYarns’ Beaded Ensemble on a US 4/3.5 mm (85% silk & beads, 35% Cashmere & metallic thread) 125 yds/114 m.
• Frog Tree Yarns’ Picoboo on a US 4/3.5 mm (60% cotton 40% bamboo) 116 yds/106 m.
• Louet’s Merlin on a US 4/3.5 mm (70% merino 30% linen) 156 yds/143 m.
• Schaefer Yarn’s Susan on a US 5/3.75 mm (100% mercerized Pima cotton) 470 yds/430 m.
• Tilli Tomas’s Disco Lights on a US 4/3.5 mm (100% silk with sequins) 225 yds/206 m.
• Tilli Tomas’s Plie on a US 4/3.5 mm (100% spun silk, embellished or not) 120 yds/110 m.

I have recently made several bags that have incorporated non-felted elements and have loved the results.  My goal here, then, is to make a plea that you start thinking of ways to add unfelted elements–bits of ribbon, fabric, embroidery, buttons, beads, or a combination of these–to your felted bags and flower and to send me the results in digital picture form.  I will append them to this entry.

Here are pictures of the two bags I recently finished.

Both of these designs were made using the 3 Nights in a Row Pattern.  The chocolate brown one above (Tilli Tomas Flurries in Chocolate Cherry) is decorated with silk roses and the texture difference between the silk and the felt creates a lushness that I emphasized with a matching silk lining. It was delectable to put your hand inside to get out a lipstick or keys.  The one just above (Tilli Tomas Whistler bag in Natural with Beaded flowers in Flurries Raspberry and Red with Moss Green stems) has knitted, felted Stephanotis and rosettes (included in the pattern).  I added silk velvet pieces cut to look as though a velvet ribbon was wrapped or tied around the stems to hold them all together. Again, the addition of the fabric creates a vividness and lush quality that draws attention to the felted flowers.  This bag was donated to a fundraiser auction for a local school called St. John’s Parish School, a lovely school doing some inspiring work with young people.

Below is a mixed media bag (inspired by a Noni bag I am told)  that was made by Gini Aten Erving of Loopy: Knit/Crochet and her mom made the flowers using the Noni Camellias as the embellishment. As you can see, the fabric embellishment in colors that talk to the flowers and strap adds something really fun and happy to the bag.  It’s a great looking purse and it, too, was auctioned for a fundraiser for a school, this time for the Missoula International School, the only Spanish-immersion, International Baccalaurate World School authorized for the Primary Years Program in the Northwestern US.  It provides a wonderful and exciting educational environment, and brings an international perspective to children in (relatively) isolated Montana.

If you have a Noni or Noni-inspired mixed media bag already or make one after reading this post, please send me a picture and I’ll add it to this posting.  Please tell me a little bit about the bag, if it was a fund-raiser bag, let me know that, too.

I recently chatted with Beth, the force behind Planet Purl, on one of their live chats. As a precursor to the chat, I developed a free pattern for a Mini Bobble Bag. What fun!  Take a listen to our CHAT. While we were talking, one of the people listening asked about the first felted bags I ever made and I promised to write a blog entry . . . well, much too late to strike while the iron was hot, here it is.

If you’ve heard me speak or taken a class from me, you might have heard the story of how I fell in love with felted bags.  You see, I was never a bag person.  Some people drool over bags, skulk through the bag sections of department stores looking for something novel, the slightest persuasion for them to purchase a new one.  Not me.  I would get some severe looking black bag, as slim as possible, and that is what I would carry every day until it looked terrible.  Then I’d move on to the next one.

All this changed one day.  I was working in a yarn store and one of the owners came back from the big trade show with a felted bag pattern.  She had made one up and felted it before coming to work. There it sat on the counter when I came in to work. I was smitten. Had to make one right away.  And another. The first was a tiny bag I carried for a long time with just a wallet (small wallet) and keys in it.  Maybe a lipstick.

The second, or was that the first, was a little backpack with a flap that was much too heavy.

The third was supposed to be a large backpack. . . but turned into a very large knitting basket (sorry, I think I gave it away because I don’t have it anymore). And so I was off to the races, making bags all the time.  Posing problems for myself:  what if I used pink mohair and made red bobbles (pretty cool results as the mohair adds both texture and color complexity). What if I . . . what if I. . .

As you might know, my love affair with the bag, the purse, the tote, the vessel, is far from over.

The snow is almost allllmost completely gone so this posting is really late in the doing.  Just yesterday my husband and I chopped away at the icey snow covering the lower branches of the cherry laurels in front of our house.  Some of the branches were broken by the weight of the snow and my camellias are just broken to bits, but the laurel branches had returned to their former places by the time I got home last night so I have some hope that they will survive.

My trip to the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival was fairly uneventful once I got on the road, although the scenery was so spectacular I had to keep myself on a short leash with regard to looking around lest I go right off the road.  Through the “mountains” such as they are as you move north into Pennsylvania alternately had forests of deciduous trees and conifers.  The deciduous trees looked encased in ice, the landscape a palette of greys, the trees dark with glistening white branches.  Spectacular and my description in no way goes the distance to describe their beauty.  Great white covered vistas as I would ride over the crest of a hill.  Conifers dusted with snow.  Fields calm white space under a stormy sky.  Country music on the radio.  I could have stopped 20 times to take pictures.

I made good time. . . this after shoveling out my driveway the day before.  I shoveled from the house out as the icy clumps at the road end of the driveway were difficult to move.  I watched 4 men shovel out the neighbor across the street.  They made quick work of all that slushy icy stuff.  They had his entire drive shoveled out to the street in fifteen minutes.  I decided I would be the turtle, slow and steady wins the race.  I was about a foot from success when a tractor that had been making its way slowly up my street from drive to drive finally got to my driveway. . . and in two minutes he had the whole drive clear!  Mark Gabey and his son Buddy from one of the local farms.  What an Angel they were that day.  Who knows how long they had been working.  buddy had a black plastic bag around his legs to keep the wind from them.  They looked rough, their faces red from the cold and the wind.

Once at the hotel where the even took place, I unloaded my bags and bags of bags.  My car was full to bursting.  Everything HAD to fit or no doubt it would have refused to.  I had the entire end of the dining room for the trunk show display and when I saw all the space I felt my heart lurch.  My bags will never fill that space! I thought to myself.  But I got to work and two lovely women volunteered to help.  They helped unpack everything so I could see it, stuffed bags with plastic and other things we could find, helped drape the tables with my red velvet drapes, and then stood around for a while wishing, no doubt, that I am better at delegating.  But I couldn’t tell them where to put things as I didn’t even know myself until I did it.

It took 5 hours to set up the bags.  I worked through dinner.  Luckily I had a half a sub for lunch stashed away in the car.  Much more tasty than at lunch time, most certainly because I was hungrier.

I must confess that it was wonderful to see all the bags together like that.  For the entire previous year they had been stored in bags and boxes in my garage when not visiting shops.  Now that I have the studio, of course, I get to visit with them every day, but in my former (and tiny) studio at home they had had no comfortable, well-lit place to live.

More than ten years of work on one wall!  I say ten, because although I started Noni as a pattern company four and half years ago and most of the bags were made since that time, there are five and a half years or more of trial and error, thinking, knitting, sewing, finishing, felting, and teaching that lie as a foundation under the bags and flowers that now hung on the walls.

I savored it.  And then I went to the lobby, got a glass of wine, went up to my room, and knitted a while before going to sleep.