Spiral Pouch from A Knitted Peace - Done!

A pouch of perfection...

I never fail to get a kick out of acquiring a new skill.  Mental nimbleness aside (research shows it helps keep our brains healthy to learn new skills), the sense of accomplishment in adding to your knitter’s toolbox is hard to beat.  Clever projects that not only leave me with a useful object but expand my abilities?  Well, it doesn’t get much better than that.  

Let’s start with the bag.  It’s the perfect size for gifting--outshines the standard gift card holder by a mile.  And I suspect I’ll use this pattern many times, as it is also the perfect size to hold a bar of artisan soap--one of my very favorite gifting items.  The spiral ridges make for a lovely shape, as does the flared drawstring top.  This would come out differently with every yarn you used--an infinite variety of bags.  And embellishments?  You could go wild if you wanted.

Making the cord was an adventure.  First, I strung out two 10-yard loops--a length that stretched from one of my kitchen counter chairs to halfway through my living room.  While I found the optional instructions of attaching the yarn to a hand mixer (I only own a recently acquired stand-up which seemed ill-suited to the task) entertaining, I chose to go “old school” and do it by hand.  This landed me a set of first-class hand cramps as well as the scoffing laughter of my 16-yr old son, but it got the job done. Had I the LeClerc Fringe Twister I encountered during my visit to Fiberwood Studios, life would have been perfect.

While I think this particular fiber made a bit too thick of a cord (when I do it again I think I’ll just use one 10-yrd length instead of two), it might work beautifully with something less wooly.

All in all, I’m delighted with the results and this pattern is most definitely a keeper.

Blessed, yarn-filled holidays to all of you, DestiKNITters, and we’ll begin our adventure in Nashville after Christmas!