Well, the felted bag was kind of a flop. If it was not as wide, OR if it were taller it would be okay, but it's a rather strange shape as it is. Its basically the dimensions of a shoebox, but with a strap. {sigh} It's a little too "funky" for the 13 year old girl it was intended for. I may still show her both failed bags tomorrow, let her know I tried and see if she likes either one anyhow. In the meantime, I will be finishing a beaded heart necklace and maybe a star bracelet for her, so she will still get a gift from me :) I had to dash into walmart on the way to work to grab fixtures for the necklaces, and I prepared myself for the crowds, but it wasn't bad! Certainly busier than it usually is at 8am, but not the crazyness I expected.

I got a knitting bag last night! My friend got me one as a christmas gift and it's perfect. It's a lightweight denim (I live in jeans so it will always match my clothes, hehe) and it's a nice large size so it will hold larger projects. I guess she got tired of me toting my projects over to her place in plastic shopping bags!

I've been knitting like mad, trying to finish up all the christmas gifts. I finished stitching up the seam on Sister's sweater, so that one can finally be wrapped. (though I may still do a scrunchie or head band) I knit an altered version of "My Constant Companion" from the book "Knitter's Stash". It's a large felted bag with a flat bottom. BUT I tried to make it a little smaller, partly due to the amount of wool I had, and it may be TOO small now. It's wide enough, but not very tall, it's almost shoebox size and shape. I'm just letting it dry now to see how it is with the strap in it. I'm going to work on mom's socks at work, they're nearly done, then I just have to finish a beaded necklace for my cousin. (3/4 done already) Whew!

Hubby kindly stepped in to help me today with some baking. We made piles of dogbone shaped gingerbread cookies for my brother-in-law, and a bunch of homemade dogbone shaped dog biscuits for his dog. We're going to package them the same, hee hee! (nothing harmfull in the dog biscuits if he DOES get them mixed up!)

I'm back! We had a fabulous time in Vancouver, Peter Gabriel was AMAZING!!! And I couldn't beleive how close our seats were. (4th row floor)

I got to check out a couple yarn shops when we were over there, but I didn't buy anything. I went to Birkland Brothers Wool Ltd. and A Touch of Wool. A Touch of Wool had a great selection of yarns, and cheap notions. I fell in love with a yarn called "Flamenco". They had a sweater in it on display and it was gorgeous, the dying of the yarn made it create wide stripes of colour, and it was so pretty. Only problem was the balls of yarn (300g) were $39 each and I would have needed 2!! Sadly that's a little rich for my blood, so I'm HOPING I can find it online or locally cheaper than that. I haven't found it online yet though.

Came back to a wonderful package from Shetha in trade for some stamping things I sent her. She sent me soaps she'd made herself in two scents and they smell so good! I hope hubby isn't reading this blog or he will know what one of his gifts will be on wednesday ;) It was a lot of fun putting together a package to trade and getting something in the mail!

Christmas rush time! I'm madly working to finish christmas gifts, and it seems like there just isn't enough time! I'm ALMOST done sister's sweater, have one sock to finish for mom, a second purse to try for cousin, since the first didn't felt right(though I'm not giving up on it) and some beaded jewelry. I'm heading to vancouver on sunday for 5 days, so I have even less time to work on stuff. I haven't decided what I'm taking to work on during the trip yet.

Oh, and did I mention I haven't finished making my christmas cards, nor have I sent out a single one yet?? AHHHHH!

I took the leftover red yarn from making my brother's felted jester hat, and added some koolaid to try and make purple. It came out kind of burgunsy, after using 3 packets of blue koolaid, but I liked it. (the yarn was BRIGHT red before I touched it) I'm also impressed that the koolaid seemed to 'lock in' the red dye too, it was leaking a lot when I felted it before. I'm going to try to make my cousin another purse, though I haven't decided on a design yet. Here is a pic of the yarn:

Felting Failure!!

I set to do my felting sunday night at the in-law's place. After stumbing my way through their washer's unique controls, my clogs happily felted down to size, but the purse did not felt at all. In fact, I think it might have gotten BIGGER!. It still looks nice and I may still give it to my cousin, but I will at least have to shorten the strap. I love how the colours turned out, with the patterning making wavy stripes. The clogs amazed me. They were at least 20inches long before felting, and so floppy. Now though, they are only slightly bigger than my feet which should be perfect for my father-in-law! They stiffened right up and look very cool! I will try to take them to mom's place next weekend to get my brother to snap a digital photo for me, they don't fit in my scanner very well.

More projects!! I just found out I have a new baby cousin, so baby socks are in the works. Thankfully they go really fast, one is finished and the other will be today. I'm also making progress on the purse. I did 2 rows of eyelash yarn near the top and it looks pretty neat. I'm still undecided on how to do the bottom though, flat, round, ???? Does anyone have any suggestions?

As promised, a photo of my latest koolaid dying adventure:


It's hard to show you the true colours, my scanner doesn't work very well and I'm not too good at photoshop editing. It's a mix of lavender, grape, red, burgundy, hot pink, and a few variations in betweel. I think it looks gorgeous! It will hopefully become a felted purse for my cousin, I just have to decide on a shape/style and get knitting.

I managed some KIPing yesterday. (Knitting in Public) My husband is in a concert band and they were doing an outdoor christmas concert so I sat there listening, knitting away on my sock. Not too many odd looks......

Another koolaid project in the works! I have an idea in mind for a gift for my cousin, and had one skein of white wool handy, so I'm dying again today. I am trying something a little different, to create a veregated colour on the wool. I used a bunch of elastics to cover small portions of the skein, tie-dye style, and then dyed it with grape koolaid. Now I've taken the elastics off and poured some bright pink(strawberry lemonade) over most of the white spots. Its turning out more orangy pink though, and I might do the whole thing over in some cherry koolaid or something to "pink" it up a bit. Hopefully a scan to follow in a day or two!

I ripped the sock back to the error, almost to the beginning, and went at it again. Once I'd finished the heel flap I found ANOTHER error!! This one was small and I was able to hide it (thank goodness). I'm hoping to finish this sock today and get started on it's mate. Tonight while watching the Sopranos with the neighbours I want to finish knitting the felted clogs. I'd like to felt them at Mom's tomorrow, since I don't have a washing machine of my own. Both clogs still need the second sole piece done, and I have a bit more to do on the second one, but I think I can get them done.

I found some yarn at Value Village last night! Most of a ball of brown Regia sock yarn with the tag for 69cents and a 1lb cone of blue cotton for $1.99. There was also a lot of bright green aran wool that was a bit too bright for me, and some pretty veregated pink skeins. I couldn't tell what the pink yarn was and when I felt it I found it really scratchy so I left it behind. Still, I'm happy about the cotton and Regia!

I have nothing new and exciting to show you knitting-wise. I've been working on the Fibre Trends Felted clogs for my father in law. I am finished all but the 2nd sole piece on hte first one and MY GOODNESS they are HUGE!!! Seriously, I think this thing is 20inches from heel to toe! I sure hope it shrinks a lot in felting! If they end up a little big they may become a gift for someone else with bigger feet, I'll have to see how it goes. I made a beaded heart necklace and bracelet for a friend last week. Once you get the pattern in your head those things move along quickly, I finished both in one day.

Our local stamping group had a class on using Chalks last monday. Here are the cards I created:

Well I wanted to show you a scan of my beaded knitting (or bead knitting, I never can sort out the difference) but I've lost it! I had my little project in a ziploc and its no where to be seen! Hopefully it turns up soon. Im trying to make a beaded purse necklace for my cousin. I got almost tot he halfway point when I ran out of beads. No problem, I figured I could hop over to walmart and grab more......but they stopped carrying the brand and colour I'd used. So I sent hubby to a bead store to get some. He got a perfect match except his beads were of higher quality and more uniform, and would have made the bag look strange. {sigh} So I may be starting over. I wasn't thrilled with the colour using white thread, I might try it with dark thread instead this time, and I might try making it a little smaller. I was only half done and it was already getting pretty heavy from the beads!

Started a second pair of socks for mom. These are in confetti jacquard yarn as wekk but in olive, mustard, purple, beige and white. Quite a neat colour combo actually. I'm doing these ones on two circular needles too, which is a nice change.

I finished my gloves on friday night. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. They fit my hands wonderfully, I'm proud of myself for adjusting the pattern to fit my large hands :) Here is a crummy photo of them:
The colour doesn't come out great but they are a pretty green mix, 2 plys green, one darker green, and one grey. They'll be perfect to keep my hands warm while typing at work!

I also gave my brother his jester hat yesterday. He was quite pleased, and apparently wore it out bowling. (and name himself "the jester" hee hee) Hubby tells me when my sister saw it and found out I made it she was quite impressed. Hopefully she will be impressed with the sweater I am making her ;)

Glove #1 is done!!!! (I'm wearing it now as I type - hee hee) I can't believe I worked it up so fast, hopefully its mate will work up quick too. I started getting frustrated near the end, it's hard to work in such small rounds, each finger being only about 15 stitches or so around. I also still have to darn in all the loose ends, my least favorite part of knitting things! (well it's a tie with sewing I think!) I didn't bring a needle to work though so I will have to wait until later to deal with the ends. Maybe I will start on the mate in the meantime.

I liked working on 2 circulars as compared to a set of DPNs....I might do my next pair of socks this way, if I can find some small circs at the thrift shops.

Brother's jester hat has been knit and sewn! I just need to felt it now, I may do that this afternoon before I go to stamp club. Something odd happenned though, The 'head' part of it had nice even stitches, but when I did each of the points, the tension went funny. It was like half of each stitch was tighter than the other half. The first point I did on straight needles (main hat part was done on a circular needle) so I thought that was the problem. I did the second point on the circ, though back and forth, not in the round of course, and it was the same! Very strange. It didn't make a big difference, and I suspect once felted. IF anything the points will end up a little stiffer which is just fine by me. I can't wait to give this to him, I hope he really likes it!

I started on some fingerless gloves for myself from This Pattern. My fingers get cold at work, when I'm typing or knitting or anything really, so I thought fingerless gloves would be a good thing. I have some neat stash yarn that looks like 2 plys olive green, one ply forest green and one ply greyish. I don't know what the yarn is made from, possibly a wool blend, but it feels nice and looks cool. I'm trying these on 2 circular needles, which is much different than the DPN method of knitting in the round. So far I like it, I'm getting the hand of which "loose end" to knit with so I don't knit myself into a circle. (did that a couple times already)

I started the jester hat for my brother the other day. I'm doing it in bright red and bright blue, and it looks pretty cool so far. I'm totally guessing on how many stitches to use, I made up the smaller one as I went, and don't remember how many stitches I used. At least with felting by hand I have a "little" bit of control on how the sizing goes.

The scarf I'd had nearly finished for my mother-in-law fell off the needles. Sadly the combination of Snowflake and eyelash yarn, while pretty and soft, does not lend itself to easily picking up slipped stitches, so I think I may have to rip it and start over. I'm not too unhappy, I found it to be a bit wide and short, so I can make it 2 stitches narrower and probably be happier with it in the end. I don't really like working on the huge needles though, I find them awkward.

OUCH!

It was bound to happen, and my own darned fault.....one of my knitting needles slipped between the cushions of the couch and when I plunked myself down to knit later, I sat right on it! I was pretty lucky, it only went in maybe an inch tops, and into a well padded area of my upper thigh, so other than a tender spot and some light bruising, I'm okay. It was scarey though, I jumped up once in happenned and couldn't tell how far in it was!

In happier news my sister's sweater is getting really close to completion. I'm half done the second sleeve, then I need to sew it all up. Mom's socks are nearly done, I will finish them today I think. I bought red and blue wool yesterday to make a larger jester hat for my brother too.

I still haven't found wool to make another jester hat. I want to make one for my brother but in bright red and blue maybe. The shop downtown seems to be the only place that carries the stuff I want, and I haven't managed to get down there yet. I'd better hurry I only have a few weeks! I'm still working on my sister's sweater, stalled while I wait for arm measurements from my mother.

I made a jester hat with my koolaid yarn this weekend. It was super easy and loads of fun. Basically I just knit for a while on circular needles, then split the stitches in half and decreased on each side to make triangles, folded each in half and sewed them up. I then tried my hand at felting, by hand since I don't own a washing machine. (I'm certainly not about to pay $1.25 a load at a laundromat to play around!) I'm quite happy with the result:



Sorry the image is so big, I don't have photoshop here so I had trouble resizing it. It's toddler sized, so it will be for my neighbour's little 2.5 year old girl. I bought round bells at walmart this morning to finish it off. I'm going to make another one now, larger, for my brother. He's a bit of an oddball and would love something like this. His birthday is in less than a month too. I'm not sure if I did the felting right, It did all bind together and shrink some, but it seems like my stitches still have a lot of definition to them, should they? at the bottom of the hat, where the edge rolled up since I just did straight stockingknit, it bound to itself, which was kind of cool. The seams on the points almost dissapeared too. I just used HOT tap water in a bowl with some sunlight dishsoap, and alternated between that and cold running tap water, rubbing the fabric against itself in both temperatures. Is that right? Tips anyone??

Whipping along on the mate for the sock pictured below, when this morning I discovered a problem. The dreaded dropped stitch! Worse yet, it was about 20 rows back! I couldn't bear the thought of ripping back that much, so I set to trying to just pick it back up. It took a little while but I did it, and you can't even see where! I remember being MESMERIZED when a woman at the knitting shop picked up some stitches for me several months back, amazed at how she managed it with just needles, no crochet hook, and here I am doing the same now. Go me!

New projects are forming themselves in my mind way faster than I can knit them. I REALLY need to think about something for my brother first though, his birthday is in less than a month!