Bond America® / Bond-Buzz #20

For summer, bags, totes and purses are the ideal projects that are practical to use year round – and they’re a grehat way to use up your stash of yarn (so you can buy more, of course). They’re also a great way to try new colors, especially those colors you would not normally choose for a scarf or sweater.
Making a bag is also a great way to use unfinished knitted pieces. Years ago, I knitted the back of a sweater, but, although it was just stripes, it had so many stripes, I knew I’d never finish the front. I first turned it into a sort-of hobo bag (Fig. 1), but I’m now thinking of felting it and making it a tote. However it ends up, it’ll be a bag, not a sweater. (There’s no pattern: it’s just a square with the points folded in to the middle and seamed halfway. Then I just knitted a long cord and attached it to the corners.)			click each image to enlarge Fig. 1
But using many colors of yarn in a project can also have its frustrations, mostly when it comes to weaving in all those ends. While some of you may know the technique of weaving the cut ends as you knit, there are many readers whose lives will be forever changed (to use the words of our resident knitting expert, Lori) after learning how to knit in the ends as you go so when you’re finished knitting, you’re truly finished! The image at right (Fig. 2) shows what the Hobo Bag looks like on the inside using this technique.			Fig. 2
All you’ll need is 2 of the clips that come with your machine. 1. COR. Knit the first stripe and cut the yarn so you have about a 3” end. COL. Attach a clip to the cut end. 2. Knit the next stripe, again, leaving about a 3” end at the beginning of the row. COL. 3. On the side opposite the carriage, bring out 8 needles into HP.
click each image to enlarge Fig. 3	4. Starting with needle 1 (closest to end with cut yarn), weave color 1 over and under the needles in HP (Fig. 3).
Fig. 4	5. Now weave color 2 over and under the needles in HP starting with needle 2. (Fig. 4) Staggering the needles carrying the woven yarns eliminates any possibility of bulkiness at the side edge, especially for those of you who are knitting many colors in many stripes (Fig. 5).		Fig. 5
Fig. 6	6. Push the needles in HP back into FWP, making sure the latches are open, and knit 1 row. COR. Photo 6 shows what the finished row with the woven yarn will look like Fig. 6). Note: If you forget to weave in the yarn on the row following where you cut the yarn, you can weave it in on the next row.
Fig. 7	7. Here’s what your piece will look like when it’s off the machine. (Fig. 7).	Fig. 8	8. Now just snip off the ends of the yarns and that’s it (Fig. 8)!
Fig. 9	9. Here’s what the knitting looks like from the right side (Fig. 9). It’s difficult, if not impossible, to see where the yarns were woven in.