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?