I've been knitting bean bag juggling balls with the idea of selling them at the Fernwood Tuesday night market this summer. So when I came across a pile of colourful chiffon scarves at a recent church sale I was reminded of how such scarves are used to teach or practice juggling. I bought them all.
Then, a week or so later, at one of our knitting cafes, (the one at Koffi on Haultain at Belmont, Monday afternoons, 2-4), a young woman who was sharing our corner (she was reading The Concubine's Children but almost any group of women knitting and talking give competition to any book; you can tell: the page-turning slows or ceases) suddenly glanced up at us (I'm not sure what we had been saying) and, seeing what we took as interest in our knitting, we asked if she could knit and would she like to join us. She said she would like to knit a head band, some of her friends had made one, and might join us in the future.
Later, at home, when I next walked by the bundle of chiffon scarves and remembered how a scarf eases the pull of a pony tail elastic, the thought of that young woman and her "headband" had me taking a scarf, freeing my mop from the elastic, winding the scarf into a headband, wrapping it around my head, under my hair, tying it into a bow on top, then pulling the bow to low on the head, just under the ear.
It perfectly did the trick of keeping hair casually tamed and off the face, as it used to fifty years ago. New-fashioned in an old-fashioned way.
The bean bags can be used for other than juggling bags; this larger one is great for needles – knitting, crochet and darning ones. They also work as paper weights and door stops; you just need to adjust the size.
The construction pleases me – the knitting turns into a 'structure'.
Here is what you do. Cast on as many stitches as you think will be the size of the bag bottom and knit a square; garter or stockingette or seed stitch or whatever. Remember, beans are going to be put into it so needs to be dense to keep the beans in but also allow a looseness for those that will have things stuck into the bag
Once the square is knit, leave stitches on the needle and, using another needle (it is easier this way) pick up the same number of stitches as on the first needle (the # you will have originally cast on) along the edge that is right angled to the loaded needle. Knit these picked-up stitches onto the first needle (you will have double the number of the original cast on) and knit until the same length as the side of the original square. (You are knitting around a corner so give a bit of a tug on the stitch at this corner as you knit to keep it uniform). You can knit the sides in the same stitch as the bottom or a variation: I like to contrast – say, a garter on the bottom and then stockingette up the sides.
Now here is where the architecture comes in. Cast off the stitches. Line up the cast-off edge so it is even and stitch together. Now bring the two free edges of the original square up to meet the two side edges and stitch, leaving an opening for the beans to be put in. Put in beans. Stitch up last opening.
Make two more and juggle!
Wonder what it would be like to knit this pattern into a bean bag large enough to sit in….hmmmmm……..the base would likely have to be about four feet square…….and large dowels would be needed as needles (when you knit that big you don't really have to worry about sharpening the ends)…….and the yarn would likely have to be several fibres worked together to get the softness and the denseness – rope comes thick enough but would be harsh and is a bi real challenge to work with, not to mention the chance of having bits of fibre get under the skin……wonder how many beans would be required………would be simpler (and cheaper) to snap up the next bean bag at a garage sale and use the light pellets it contains…… wouldn't a handcrafted bean bag be wonderful…….hmmmmmm
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