Booga Musings (lengthy)

#1

After seeing Julie’s lovely Oregon tote, and how she cleverly integrated some Noro Kureyon into it

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9034

I began thinking about how I really want my boogas to end up, and I thought maybe we could gather up some of our ideas that have modified the bags to our particular tastes. I know we have other posts on this, but maybe we could stick them all in one place.

One of the things that I HATED about my first booga was that poking the holes in the felted fabric to insert the I-cord. Color me anal, but I despised the thought of CUTTING my precious felted fabric! I am trying to think about how one might tweak the pattern to prevent that - and Julie’s tote has given me some ideas.

Another thing that I wasn’t wild about was how my poor booga ended up so small. While I do believe that part of that was operator error (I knit too tightly, and I felted too long), I believe that many of us have encountered that the pattern can end up being a bit short. I also am concerned about the bottom and it retaining its shape.

Another thing to contemplate is the overall COST of Noro versus the cost of other yarns. While I love the effect of the Noro, part of me feels that for gifts, where the recipient may or may not appreciate the loveliness of the yarn, would there not be a more economical way to handle this, yet use the Noro?

I did a search - and I found this:

http://vtknitter.blogspot.com/2005/12/customized-booga-bag.html

She has some interesting ideas, and I see a reply below about inserting I-cord prior to felting. Have any of us done this successfully?

Anyway - please! Lets consolidate what has worked for us here!

TIA!

Suzie

#2

These are all great thinkin’ points… I have not yet attempted this pattern, because I too wanted to ‘re-engineer’ certain aspects of it for my own taste.
I like DotMom’s trick for the I-cord openings… looks like she made buttonholes?

I’ve also wanted to use up some random skeins of stash yarn, but have questions about “yarn compatibility” in felting, which is something I’m still new at.

Example - WOTA seems to be the yarn of choice hereabouts for this project. However, I have a large crop of mismatched Lamb’s Pride worsted that I need to use, and I can’t bear the thought of yet another afghan. Would this yarn felt? What about Bartlett Yarns?

I love the adjustments shown in the vtknitter blog. Another thing that bugged me about the pattern was the dimensions of the straps. I would probably make a transitional I-cord to flat shoulder strap back to I-cord, because skinny straps biting into my shoulders just bug me.

#3

can’t help much with the booga or design ideas for it, though i am thinking that for a bag i have made i want to put in grommets and then icord through that…if i can figure out how to make the grommet maker thingy work…i can get it on one side but not the other…BLAH! :rollseyes:

i did want to comment on lambs pride though. it felts GREAT but it is a fuzzy felt due to the mohair. i happen to like that but you may be inclined to shave it after it is done.

#4

:rofling: Shaving the knitting bag… boy howdy, that conjures up all kinds of strange images.

Not the least of which is the reaction my DH would have if I used his beard trimmer to do the deed! :lol:

#5

I haven’t made the booga bag. And I haven’t made clogs either. But what technique is used to give the clogs a firmish sole? (it looks that way from the pictures, at least it’s double thick)

And, could that technique be used for the bag?

Or is that what they already did in the blog you posted a link to?

When I do get around to making a bag, I would greatly prefer using holes that are built into the pattern for the handle, rather than poking holes into the felted fabric.

I would be really afraid of poking a hole in the wrong place and what then?

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a calculator, and you put in the finished dimensions you wanted for your bag, and the calculator would spit out a pattern?

#6

I have not finished off my booga yet, but I have been working on two other bags that attach the icord strap before felting. The one bag is the spring fling bag from the Pursenalites book and the other is an entrelac bag. Spring Fling- you make the icord and just shove it through the stitches before felting. Since it is knitted loosely on large needles- it isn’t a problem at all. I felted it and the icord straps did not attach themselves to the sides of the bag- they are still easily moved back and forth, and I did not have to poke any holes. The entrelac bag uses a yo and then k2tog at the spot where you want to insert the handle later leaving a nice little holes to poke it in. I have not felted the entrelac so I can’t say if one is better then the other, but both processes seem to work equally well.

Point being- I don’t see any reason that you couldn’t do that with the booga. I will probably just poke them through before felting- it requires less thought and planning then doing the yo method.

#7

You’ve just given me a wicked idea. :twisted: I might have to attempt this, just for fun. A web-based calculator that would telescope or shrink the basic pattern (depending if you wanted a book bag or a handbag, say).

rubs hands together greedily …let me see what I can do with this, Kristi.

#8

Thanks, Jenn. I was thinking about this on the way to work - how there HAS to be a better way than to just poke it through. Glad to hear that the insertion prior to felting helps.

A web based calculator would be so cool!