This Can't Be Right

Having finished the Cranberry Bag:



Pink, isn't it?

I embarked on yet another bag from Emma King's "25 Bags to Knit". This time it's "Jet". This is what we are aiming at:



Using two strands of Rowan Cotton Glace and two strands of Kidsilk Haze, all held together (imagine the muddle, the twisting, the sticking together - what was I thinking?), Ms King recommends 6mm needles. Kate, of course, is a loose knitter, so she starts with 5.5mm needles. Not right. She rips out and tries again with 5mm needles. Better, but still not right. She rips out again and tries with 4.5mm needles. More or less spot on. But the fabric is not to my taste. Ms King claims it should make "a very dense, tactile knit." Well, it doesn't, so Kate rips out again and has a go with 4mm needles. This is fine.



The gauge is 17sts and 25 rows to 10cm (as opposed to the 14sts and 19 rows recommended in the pattern) but it's a bag, right? It doesn't have to fit. However, if I want the bag to be dinky (and I do) I will have to change the number of cast on stitches.

I refer to the pattern and discover the finished size should be 19cm by 18cm. I consult Ms King as to her cast on number. Cast on 50sts. Hang on. If the original gauge is 14sts to 10cm and she wants the bag to be 19cm we should be casting on about 28sts, or is my maths even worse than I thought? I am going to cast on 34sts and be done with it. I am going to work until I like the look of it and then I am going to stop. It's my knitting (and I'll cry if I want to). I probably will end up crying, or possibly hurling the whole tangled mess across the room but what the heck, it's knitting, it's supposed to be fun!

Anyway, all cursing apart, I have finished Birch, she is blocked and she is lovely (even though I say it myself). Here she is lounging on the Wayfarer Tree:



Here she is lounging on the hedge:



and here's the back of her:



Vital statistics will have to wait. I'm off to throw some knitting across the room.