My Noro Glow

Forget pregnancy or a good facial, it's Noro that gives me that special glow. Isn't it beautiful?

And look what it does!


It's the Basic Everyday Purse with Flap from Felted Knits with Noro's Big Kureyon 100% wool in color 20. I made it for Mom. She wanted something 'neutral' and I couldn't stand to make yet another gray bag. Thank you Noro for making it easy!



The before felting view.

Funny - The bag only used one ball... hmmm.. another ball is left. Oh my. A bag for me?

slippers and the henley

depressing slippers (with cat for added interest)











Not depressing at all finished henley

New stuff

I'm still at work, but rumor has it that there's a package waiting for me at home.
Yarn! Needles! It's always exciting, even when much of the order belongs to various other people (I won't name names). Now the real problem is that I have a major project and a paper due for class on Friday. They aren't done. I want to go home and play with my new stuff, but that would mean losing sleep or missing work in order to get my homework done.

Maybe I'm coming down with something. Think my boss will mind if I stay home with yarn fever?

Avoidance post

OK, I haven't posted in a while because I'm so disappointed in the slippers. Sissy princess finally twisted my arm into telling the tale. Here is what they looked like before felting.

I don't have a picture of what they looked like afterwards. I didn't want to take a picture of something so bass ackwards.

I can tell you they're wrong, all wrong. And she said they smelled funky while she was felting them to boot. Yuck. While hand felting is a possibility, I think the most likely scenario is the circular file. :(

On a far happier note (and the likely reason I was able to admit failure on the slippers) I have finished the henley... and it is wonderful. Sissy Princess tried to burst my bubble by pointing out that it looks like it has already started pilling but I couldn't hear her very well over the soft yumminess of this sweater. I'll have a picture later when I get home to the camera.

Felted and Furless

My cousin Alisa was out to visit with her husband last month. She was eyeballing my felted bag and finally (and sheepishly) admitted to wanting one in either dark red or green. I may add a crocheted or felted flower to the side but am unsure yet. What do you think?


Ok here it is with a felted daisy (to cover magnetic snap). Both PP and Rob voted an enthusiastic YES for a flower.

The pattern is Hello Yarn - Fulled Lopi Tote. I didn't use Lopi, but a double strand of Plymouth Yarn's Galway Highland Heather (naturally), worsted weight, 100% wool in color # 710. I used this soft, almost acrylic-like yarn instead of a wool blended with mohair or other furry fiber because Alisa lives in hot and humid Florida. I thought she would appreciate the smoothness of the felt. I would have used Cascade 220 for the same reason but my LYS doesn't carry it (I didn't go to Shuttles).


The width is actually the same before felting as the finished product. The length has shortened by a few inches.



Look how much yarn is left over. I love it when that happens.

Another sleeve done

I was inspired to work on the oriel lace blouse again when I saw this.
Previously I worried about the fact that I was making this with only 1/2" of ease. After seeing these pictures I'm glad I made that decision.

I didn't realize I was so close to finishing a sleeve. It seems odd to me that the sleeve cap measures only 4.5" high while the armsceye is something like 7 or 8". I decided to just follow the pattern and quit questioning it so much, so the first sleeve is blocking now. The lace is so beautiful when it's blocked!


I also did a little spinning this weekend. I think I have, in total, about 20 yards of yarn now.

All is Forgiven

After frogging part of the sleeve Tuesday, I sat down Wednesday and finished it for good. I even blocked it (I know you're proud). It's lovely, beautiful, yummy, and I love it. Problems? What problems. I love knitting sleeves. This morning I cast on another one.

This pattern is an interesting level of difficulty. It's not so easy (like stockinette) that I can completely zone out, but not so detailed (like lace) that I have to pay close attention. There are alternating strips of stockinette and garter with an interesting carried / picked up stitch. The right side is easy enough, but the wrong side lacks the usual visual or tactile clues about when to change from knit to purl. It makes for an exercise in mindfulness: can I pay just enough attention to get it right across the entire row? Sometimes yes, usually no. This brought to mind a book that interests me but I haven't gotten around to reading. Mindful Knitting. Has anyone read this? If so, what do you think?

Remember spinning? That whole "every day" thing went right out the window when I caught a cold. I tried again yesterday and it's still challenging. And as if it weren't hard enough, I have a cat alternately stalking the spindle and pawing my roving. I hate locking them up, but I think that's what it come to. At least until I'm good enough at this to want the challenge of making the spindle dodge the cats.

Sleeve Hell

I love sweaters, but somehow sleeves are my bane. I thought it was because I knit them last. The way the rows get longer the farther I go is bad enough, but I have to do it twice. On the Oriel Lace Blouse I lost momentum as soon as I started the sleeves. It's still sitting there; back, front, and 1/2 sleeve. This isn't the first time either. It happens every time. So when I started a new sweater I decided I'm going to make the sleeves first.

I still hate them.

The first one has crept along. I finally got to the armhole decreases (yes!) and everything went much faster. I was only a couple of rows from being done and couldn't deny the problem any longer. Somehow my decreases happened way too quickly. As I frogged I watched for where I'd done the decreases, trying to determine what what wrong.

In spite of my finance degree and my enjoyment of math and numbers, I CAN'T COUNT. That is the only conclusion I can reach from the apparently random decreases I did for this sleeve.

1 sleeve, 3 weeks and counting.

Dammit.

Fingerless & Fabulous

Wow - I actually made something ahead of time, or just in time.. for fall! They're so nice... and pretty. Yes, I finished #2 of 2. I only had one hand completed last month.

I learned a few things: do not deviate from the pattern unless you KNOW you're actually smarter, or if experience proves that there's an actual error. I shifted the thumb on one of the hands and therefore skewed the beauty of the k4 p1 rib.



Whatever. They're mine.

See previous post for pattern details.