Look What the Postman Brought!

It's the yarn for Liam's sweater. He asked for bright red, so that's what I ordered. This is from Knitpicks. It's their Shine worsted (60% Pima cotton, 40% Modal). I have not used this yarn before, but I've heard good things about it. It's incredibly inexpensive, and also very soft and machine-washable, so I though it was worth giving it a try. I'll keep you posted.

Ta Da! The First Knitting Project I've Finished in YEARS!

I couldn't get it quite as well felted as I'd like since our hot water wash isn't particularly hot, but I'm happy nonetheless. When I do another felting project I'll either figure out how to make our hot water cycle hotter, or I'll run down the street and borrow a neighbor's machine.

Using the two strands of worsted weight yarn ended up giving the bag quite a nice weight and texture. I didn't have enough yarn at the end to make two handles, so I made one extra-long one and attached it at the two narrow sides of the bag. I may stitch a couple of small lengths of ribbon inside the bag that can be tied in a bow. My theory is that the bow will close the bag tighter so I'll be less prone to lose things like wallets and glasses and cameras...

I'm off to finish up a scarf for me, and then I'm starting hoodie sweaters for the boys. I'll keep everyone posted.

Have a great weekend, guys!

Une Fait A Complis

Ok, so the only way I could think of an original title was to use French. Basically is says I am done. The above photo is the before and below is the after. I had to felt it twice, but it turned out the same size it was supposed to. And I did it twice because the first time I used warm water instead of hot. I think it turned out pretty well for my first time knitting a bag and my first time felting. I will definitely do this again.

Done!

Done! A little over felted because as I was felting it I realized that the utility sink was clogged, and got rather distracted trying to unclog it. But, it turned out pretty well regardless.

And for those if you wondering about the straps, I did the poke a hole through and tie thing, and it worked out really well. So if you haven't figured out another way, that'll probably do the trick for you.

How is everyone else doing??? And what is your next project????

Handles

I have felted my bag. I had to run it through twice to get it as felted as I wanted. My husband thought I was nuts for purposely shrinking something. How is everyone planning on attaching the handles? I am new to felting and not sure of the best way to do it.

Shiny and new!

Well, really fuzzy and new. My LYS had their annual sale yesterday, and I got a ton of really nice stuff 50% off. I'm posting here because some of the yarn is for a sweater for M and I am pretty sure he doesn't read this blog. If he does, "Hi honey! You're getting a sweater!"

You should have seem me standing in the middle of the shop trying to do higher math in my head while calculating yardage and guarding the last few skeins of my favorites.

For M's sweater.

For C's sweater.

For A's sweater.

And now the hard part

Please excuse the fuzziness, I have lost the gizmo I need to connect my good camera to the computer, so have reverted back to the first digital camera we ever had, which is really pretty old and not so good.

The bag is done although clearly I need to work on joining colors in the round. I even tried the little trick the pattern said, but you can still tell where the join is. Anyone have any suggestions???

I also messed up the stripe pattern, but by the time I figured it out I decided it wasn't worth ripping back.

Now onto the i-cord. Grump.

Here's The Plan...

...because a plan is pretty much all I've got at this point. Actually, I do have some yarn:

This some inexpensive Paton's Classic Wool that I picked up at a local crafts shop. This bag is my first attempt at felting knitted goods, so I was reluctant to spend a lot of money on supplies at this point. But I heart Chichimama's yarn, so assuming this attempt works with reasonable success, I'll make the bag again at a later time with the recommended yarn.

At any rate, this yarn is worsted weight, so my plan is to knit with a strand of each color to make the gauge work out as described in the pattern. Also, I am ditching the stripe pattern in favor of an all-over heathery feel. I tried this on some straight needles just to see if the gauge came anywhere close to correct, and it did. (It occurs to me I should take a picture of the gauge swatch so you can see what the colors look like blended, but for now take my word for it that it looks a lot like Beachmama's bag, just in blue.) I need to round up a set of the circular needles of the requisite size, which is on the plan for the weekend - I had planned to get them while Liam was in school this week, but he's been home sick with a cold.

Now for a question...I'm toying with the idea of ordering a set of these. I have a set in the smaller needle sizes from another vendor that has been really useful, and I can't argue with the price and available add-ons for these. Anybody have any experience with these needles?

A Little Different

Here is my bag. I know. It isn't exactly two tones stripes. I had a little trouble finding some yarn, so I settled on this multi-coloured one. I did actually buy another gray type one to use as a stripe, but the two didn't really go well together, so I decided to just wing it with this one.

Once I got the bottom of the bag together, thank you Jody. The rest has been pretty straight forward so far. And I think it is pretty funky. I am already planning a few more as gifts.

It came!

Because I'm feeling like a girlie girl...

Jody's Blue-and-Brown Bag

Here's mine:

I'm still chugging away at the I-cord. I debated using 10.5 double-points because I didn't buy size-10 double points, but I ended up using my circulars instead. It's just irritating, having to slide the three stitches back and forth, which is why the cord isn't done yet.

I have a front-load machine so I don't know when I'm going to get this felted. I keep debating between the laundromat and a neighbor's machine.

One last thing: see how my stitches make those weird lines instead of Vs? That happens to me too often. Does anyone know how to stop it?

I have big balls....

of yarn. Tee hee! I had planned on putting this post up before Chichimama nagged us to do it, just for the record.

Here is my yarn. The red is a bit off thanks to the flash on my camera. The red is Cascade Eco+ and the gray is Cascade Ecological wool (same brand the colors are just given a slightly different name). This is an Aran weight yarn and rather unprocessed. It has more of a sheepy smell than I am used to and is on the scratchy side.

Here is the base of my bag. I knew this would turn out smaller than the pattern since I am using a slightly lighter yarn so I doubled the number of main color rows on the bottom and widened the base a bit.

Here is the icord for the handles. I started these first while I was waiting to get the circular needles for the bag. I am almost done with both handles.

Yo! Pics!

I know at least two have you have already cast on, so where oh where are the pictures?????

I am still waiting for the yarn to arrive. Twiddle, twiddle, twiddle some more. I have a feeling it is in the group of packages that got delivered next door, but of course the neighbors aren't home, despite my peeping Tom-like surveillance of their driveway. Why the nice delivery man didn't just LEAVE THE PACKAGES on the front porch like he always does is beyond me, perhaps because it was a nice sunny day instead of raining.

Anyway, please please post pictures! I want to see your colors! And drool just a little bit...

Get Ready, Get Set, Cast On!

My casting on will be somewhat delayed as the tummy bug seems to have somehow morphed into what I can only assume is strep throat, so instead of hitting the yarn store while A is at school tomorrow we will hopefully be hitting the pediatrician and then the pharmacy in an attempt to return my vomiting, miserable child with a fever and sore throat back to her usual self. Ahhh, the joys of winter.

But, just because I'm not casting on shouldn't keep you from doing so. So go forth and knit on the Fibonacci Bag!

An offering

Given the possible ethical dilemmas with the Carried away bag, I thought I would offer up a free pattern that I like. It is called the Fibonacci bag.

Another Option

So given my druthers, I would go with the carried away bag. But I also don't want to make everyone buy the book, or cause any ethical dilemmas! Soooo...although it isn't a felted bag, I offer this one up for your inspection.

A practical ethical question

I just ratted out someone for copying the entire works of a famous comic-strip author, but I also just finished using Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" feature, screen capture, and an image editing program to steal the directions for a pair of socks AND the carried-away felted bag.

Is this Very Bad? Can I justify my actions by arguing that it's no different than going to the library and photocopying the directions from the books? Should I buy the books on principle, because the knitting designers need the money a LOT more than the famous comic-strip author?

And does it affect our project decision, knowing that the carried-away directions don't require a book purchase after all?