felting, felting, felting

Yet another sophie purse:


And here are the 2 backpacks felted and dry. They really don't flare out at the top so much... I just didn't position them that well.



And my Jo Sharp Silkroad DK tweed came in the mail yesterday.... yummy! The color is great and I just can't wait to use it. It'll be awesome for a ribbed / cabled pull over!

Did I mention that I really LOVE yarn ;-)

photos finally

So here are photos of everything I've been making.

This is the frogged and re-knit (in progress) cable poncho:


Here is my 3rd irish hiking scarf. It's for my brother for christmas and is being knit from 100% merino from handpainted yarn.com. It's really soft and cozy.


Here are a couple finished sophie bags. I think I have 5 more to knit but luckily they go quickly:



And here are the 2 backpacks I've been working on for my cousin's kids. They are felting in the washer right now:



And last but not least here is my completed ruffle scarf:

made me laugh

Elann.com is evil

Couldn't they just carry ugly yarn? So today I ordered some of this:


Jo Sharm Silk Road DK Tweed in Emporio (maroon)

to make something close to this sweater:



Not sure where the yarn will live but I'll find a nice home for it :-)

Wow I just can't pass up great yarn for a great price.

Knitting like an insane person

I knit at every available moment these days. It's the only way I'll ever finish all this stuff by Dec 25th.

Tonight I'm going to start the second of 2 felted back packs I'm making for my cousin's kids. Last year I made each of them a scarf and they were both really into the fact that I had made them... so this year they get a more complicated project. I'm a sucker for people that appreciate my work. The kids are 8 and 11 and lots of fun.

I'm also going to start an Irish Hiking scarf for my brother this evening. My dad is the only real issue. I have no idea what to make for him. I may just make him a scarf and hope he wears it a couple times a year. He appreciates the work... just isn't much of a scarf or hat wearing kind of guy. He's also too warm for a nice hand knit sweater... not a sweater guy.

The poncho pictured below is no longer with us. It's now about 5 inches of a circular poncho with a cable running up the front and back. It's turning out much better (well, better meaning more appropriate for my cousin). I think she'll really like it.

Ok back to the needles!

Ruffles done!

I need to take a photo but I finally finished the ruffles scarf from scarf style. It's for my mom for christmas... one more christmas gift done :-)

Now I think I'm going to pull apart the lace/cable poncho I started for my cousin. It's about 25% done but I think I got carried away with the cables... it might be a bit too fussy for her. So I think I'll make the yarn harlot poncho with one of the cables down the front and back. It should go pretty fast (I hope).

This is what the poncho looks like so far:


and although I think it's pretty... it really is too busy for my cousin. Oh well... it was my first cable attempt so at least something was learned from this project.

New projects from the winter Interweave Knits!

I must make these.... as soon as my christmas stuff is done :-)

Christmas Gifts

I'm getting a bit worried... not sure I'm going to get all of my gift knitting done. So far I have 4 Sophie purses done, a poncho (and a half), a scarf, and most of another scarf done. So I still need 2 felted backpacks, half a poncho, and 6 more sophie purses.... so if I quit my job and knit all day long I might be able to finish :-) Oh yeah and I need something for my brother and dad as well. Hmmmm ok I'm going to get back to work now.

Couldn't resist......

Before I cut myself off from buying any more yarn I ordered 3 skiens of the above yarn and 2 skiens of the merino handspun in natural from http://www.handpaintedyarn.com/. Well they finally arrived on the 3rd. I copletely loved them both. But REALLY wanted to make a sweater out of the pesto colored stuff rather than a scarf like I intended... So I promptly ordered 7 more skiens and broke my yarn diet. And by the way... the sweater is totally going to be for me.

It's such yummy stuff..... ok back to my yarn diet.

Progress photos

I've started so many new projects lately... I'm a bit out of control. But many on them are christmas gifts so I guess starting them all at the same time is ok :-)

Here is a spin off of the irish hiking scarf with a different cable. I'm using some blue sky alpaca that I bought a really long time ago. It feels great... really soft.




And here is yet another scarf from the scarf style book. It's Vintage Velvet. The touch me yarn is awesome. I had 5 balls in my stash that I picked up on sale about a year ago. So I'll be putting stripes in this scarf:



I've also finished another sophie bag in pink cascade 220 and started yet another. The current one is made from Araucania Nature Wool in olive green with a couple oatmeal colored stripes.

The ruffle scarf is moving along nicely. I worked on it in the waiting room at my Orthodontist's office today. She is also a knitter and oohed and ahhhed over it. She's going to the buy scarf style book now as well :-) I think I'm a knitting related pusher as well.