A Bag for my Sister

 

Here is the purse that I made for my sister's birthday. Actually, I've been making it for about a year, maybe even two, but hey, who's counting?? I was kind of hung up on the needle felting design. The knitting and fulling were done a loooong time ago. The photo above more accurately shows the colour of the bag, but the photos below are better for the details. Amateur photography is apparently not my long suit. Yet. Self-betterment is always a good quest, don't you think? Especially in this case.

 

It is the Sophie Bag pattern from MagKnits and it is really fabulous. Easy, pretty and only takes one skein of Cascade 220. At less than $10 that's fantastic.

 

I lined it with some quilting fabric and made sure it had lots of pockets: one for lip balm, a pen, two side pockets on one long side and one larger one on the other. Add a magnet clasp and all is done.

 

Yay! I love it, too bad I had to give it away! Nah, all along I made it with my sister in mind, so it was easy to give it away and she was thrilled. Happy smiles.

Three Dresses, Three Days

 

It seems that one child, at least, does not have any summer dresses and so, down to the sewing room I went. I had a dress that was given to us which is super easy for the girls to put on and I used it to make a pattern, sizing it up a bit. I'm pretty happy with the results and so are they! Good use of the fabric stash too. I'm on a fabric diet.

Not doing very well at it since I bought some very cute turquoise eyelet and lime green lawn to make another dress for me, similar to the one above (not the cute girly one, that just doesn't suit me anymore, sigh). I made a pattern based on a designer dress that I could not/did not want to afford. It turned out pretty well and also used up some more of the stash, so I treated myself to this. A Mother's Day present you know. Did I say I was on a fabric diet? Naaaah.

Gauntlets Complete

Here they are and I am very happy with them. Of course, summer is almost here and I don't need them, but . . . maybe we'll go camping and I'll have to bring some emergency knitting and my fingers will be cold and . . .

My modifications for the diamond pattern are below. I noticed that, at least for me, reversing the diamond pattern to make the left hand diamond the opposite of the right-hand one did not work very well. It seems that the YO, SSK combination was not as clear as the K2TOG, YO combination so I have only included that version in my notes.

Diamond Pattern for Sally Melville's Elegant Gauntlets
Page 122, The Purl Stitch

Instead of following the directions for the thumb shaping, do the following (brackets indicate directions for the right hand):
Round 1: knit to 1st stitch before the marker, inc, k9(k30), k2tog, yo, knit to marker, inc, k to end
Round 2: knit all stitches
Round 3: knit to marker, k8(k29), [k2tog, yo) 2 times, knit to end
Round 4: knit
Round 5: knit to 1st stitch before the marker, inc, k7(k28), [k2tog, yo] 3 times, knit to marker, inc, k to end
Round 6: knit
Round 7: knit to marker, k8(k29), [k2tog, yo) 2 times, knit to end
Round 8: knit
Round 9: knit to 1st stitch before the marker, inc, k7(k28), [k2tog, yo] 3 times, knit to marker, inc, k to end
Round 10: knit
Round 11: knit to marker, k8(k29), [k2tog, yo) 2 times, knit to end
Round 12: knit
Round 13: knit to marker, k9(k30), k2tog, yo, knit to end
Round 6: knit

Too much knitting??

Well, the snow is gone again, but just before it finally melted away, this was the view from my kitchen window. I think I have too much knitting on the brain lately. It's because it's tax time you see. Maybe you can't see, but nevertheless, that is the reason. Yes, I am occasionally certifiably nuts. But can't you see the picot edge up against the fence, made by the melting snow? See, now you're nuts too!



Here though is a sure sign of spring. Ladybugs in the house. There have been butterflies outside too, drinking snow! But it is set to snow again late this week. Yuck. I think this is the slowest spring I can remember.

Scissors + Knitting

This is what happens when scissors and knitting meet. Yes, I was clearly insane. I started knitting Sally Melville's Elegant Gauntlets (from The Purl Stitch) for some easy, quick therapeutic knitting as a counterpoint to the Anemoi Mittens, which for me require intense concentration.

But then, you know how it goes. . . first the cuff is a bit too loose and then I can't decide on what contrasting colour to use for the ribbing and then the next thing you know — snip snip snip!

I really love this pattern and the knitting is sooo easy. It just rips right along. You can almost do it in your sleep. I had the first gauntlet 95% complete in what probably amounted to a few hours (spread over three days of course, it's called guerrilla knitting).




This is the detail of the diamond pattern that I stuck on the middle of the hand. It's from Knit Picks Queen of Diamonds pattern.

So now I have the gauntlet unknit (is that a word?) at both ends with a total of eight dpns holding the stitches. It's a very prickly beast! I still have yet to decide on the colour for the ribbing, but now both ends of the gauntlet are going to be cast-off edges. No cast-ons remain. Weird, eh?

Is this spring??

The view out my back door today. 20 cm of snow. -8 C or -20 with the windchill and no sign of any warmth in sight for at least a week. My husband is putting the snowtires back on our van.

Finished, after three years!

Yes, I have finally finished my shawl (stole, whatever) that I began in April three years ago. I have to say, I am really happy with it. It is lovely. It is warm. And it makes a cool noise when it falls to the floor and all the beads go clickety-clack.