A postcard from Sweden – Time for Midsommar!

It has been a busy time for us so far this summer, with travels to both the UK and now to Sweden! It is so wonderful to be able to travel again after two years at home and lovely to catch up with friends and relatives in both countries. 

We arrived in Sweden just in time for the big Midsummer festival called “Midsommar” here. This involves music, folk dances and the raising of a huge decorated pole at various locations. The photo shows the one being raised at Sundbyholm Castle, just to the west of Stockholm where we went.

The pole is in the shape of a cross with two circular rings below and is usually completely swathed with leaves and flowers. Sometimes flags and ribbons in the Swedish colours of blue and yellow are also attached for extra colour.

It was quite an effort for the team of pole raisers, with everyone calling out encouraging "Ehhh-Up!" shouts as it was lifted up. Then when it was up and bolted into place, a huge cheer went up from the large crowd of on-lookers.

The pole was not the only thing decorated with flowers, as many people had beautiful flower garlands on their heads too. Even the local ponies giving rides up and down the shady avenue of trees had flowers braided into their tails.
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I love the wildflowers over here. Every path and road has flowers alongside in a profusion of colours. Farmers even sow wildflowers in a wide strip around their fields to provide a habitat for bees, nesting birds and other wild creatures. It gives such a wonderful colour to the edges of the fields.
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Flowers are especially important at Midsummer as it is said that if you gather seven different types of wild flowers on Midsummer night and place them under your pillow, then you will dream of the future love of your life!

So what have I been working on during my travels? Well, I have been so enjoying using my new Weymouth Shoulder Bag that I wrote about in my last blogpost so I decided to add a lining to some of my other bags! 

The lining for the Weymouth Shoulder Bag was so simple and easy to make so I wanted to use this idea for other bags too. It certainly produces a sturdy bag that can carry a lot of weight. I love stretchy bags that can expand to whatever size of awkward packaging a supermarket can devise, but being able to carry a couple of cartons of milk or orange juice home is a real benefit too.

So I cut some fabric before we left on our travels and set to the other day to attach it to my BYOB Market Bag. I really like the way this turned out, so I am going to see if I can rustle up a couple of photos for next time.

Until then – enjoy Mid-Summer wherever you are!

Moira

Last Blogpost: A new shoulder bag for the summer Next Up: The inside story – adding a fabric liner to a bag Our book: Reversible Knitting Stitches My Website: www.wyndlestrawdesigns.com

Keywords: Patterns/Bags, Travel Postcards,
Sweden, summer knitting, 

A new shoulder bag for the summer

I love knitted bags. They're great for teaming up with all kinds of different outfits for a totally unique look. 
So for the up-coming summer season, I have designed a new bag with crisp cotton yarns in strawberry, apricot and lemon ice colours. As soon as I held the yarns together I was reminded of summer holidays down on the beach, with raspberry ripple lollies and lemon ice pops from the ice cream stand – always a high-point of the day. 

And that's the inspiration for the new Weymouth Shoulder Bag, named for Weymouth Beach in the south of England with its long arc of golden, powdery sands and, yes, yummy ice cream!

The bag features long knitted shoulder straps and is a great size for a summer tote, with space for all the little extras for a day at the beach. The handles are also a generous width so the bag is comfortable to carry on your shoulder.
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Both the bag and the straps are lined with a co-ordinating cotton fabric to make a lightweight but sturdy bag which can be used for either a handbag or a tote. ​

The Weymouth Shoulder Bag is worked in Embossed Check Stitch from our Reversible Knitting Stitches book. This is a strong stitch with a distinctive patterning and texture, so is a good choice for bags such as this. The stitch is also easy to work, with sharply-defined colour transitions for the different colour stripes.
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The shoulder straps are worked in a co-ordinating pattern, Double Moss Stitch, which gives an interesting contrast of texture and patterning.

The Weymouth Shoulder Bag is available as a stand-alone pattern or as part of the Southampton Collection, which now has patterns for five fabric-lined bags!

Full step-by-step knitting and sewing instructions are included in the pattern and it is available for immediate download from my pattern store here.

If you would like to read more about our Reversible Knitting Stitches E-book and see examples of other double-sided stitches included in the collection, then please click here. 

Until next time – Happy summer knitting!

Moira

Last Blogpost: Knitting for the change in seasons Next Up: A postcard from Sweden – Time for Midsommar! Our book: Reversible Knitting Stitches My Website: www.wyndlestrawdesigns.com

Keywords: Patterns/Bags,
bag, bags, knitted bag, lined bag, fabric-lined bag, shoulder bag, shopping bag, handbag,