Catch-up!

Ok - I admit it has been WAYYYYYY to long since I updated this post so I am going to try and do a relatively quick recap of the past month (or so) in my knitting life! My only real excuse is the crazyness of life with 2 pre-teen girls and ALL their activities!
The above pic is an inprocess picture of the Lucy Bag by Two Old Bags. I used bunches of "scraps" of cascade 200 wool left over from various previous bags. I cut of chunks and spliced them together to get the variagation - LOTS of work. I finished the bag this past Thursday and it is drying on the hearth. LOVE the finished product! I'll post a pic later. I did find as I was doing the handles that I royally messed up and instead of increasing to 120 stitches at the bottom - I increased to 160! I decided I wasn't willing to frog it back 12 inches and just adjusted the math on the handle placement to make it work. THe bag doesn't look too wide so I guess it worked!

This is the Orchid sample of the Vintage Bubble Bag. I tacked in cord in a spiral design before felting it which came out OK but I had to cut it out the cord after felting becuse it pushed through in a couple of places. The bag is not "perfect" but it will do. I believe I'll donate it to the silent auction for my college reunion next weekend.

This is the same bag in an ocean blue also made with the felting workshop. I sewed in a daisy pattern before felting.

These are DH's camo socks that I have been poking along on. The pattern is a basic garter rib. They are at 8 stitches per inch so are going fairly slowly.

This is the successful My Little Companion bag that I was concerned about in the last post. The Mauve is still Mauvey but the flower design pocket came out really well in my opinion! Pat G. bought it from me before it was fully dry! This is a great little "quick" project.

Ok - yet more....THis is the Vintage bubble bag AGAIN, but this time I actually followed the directions (who knew I could do that!) and used Cascade 220 AND Noro Silk Garden which is what has given it a lovely color variation and a soft slightly fuzzy feel! No plans for where this one is going yet - maybe when I eventually get my ETSY shop off the ground....

Very old pic of the "valentine socks" that I believe I posted about earlier. Very comfy.

The month in knitting also brought a fun workshop with Ruth, Mary, Nancy, Robin and Pam. That's where we made the Bubble bag. A couple of them came over a couple of nights later to finish off the bag and we had such fun. It was such a joy after a crazy day running the girls everywhere to be able to sit down with them and knit and talk and pull their bags together!

Mary and I road tripped to Webs to see the Yarn Harlot speak. It was fun, it was a mob scene, we bought more yarn than we needed. One of the pics on her blog is of the kids who were in front of us in the very long signing line! I was able to meet Mary's friend Lee who does the dancing crow blog about playning with color and fabric. Here is the link to her which I am putting in badly http://dancingcrow.typepad.com/my_weblog/
I have a lot to learn about making this blog thing work so it is "pretty"

Well I need to go and shower, do some gardening and get ready to drive to NY with my Mom so she can go to a b-day party for an old college friend of hers while I get to gether with an old college friend of mine. I do believe there is a yarn store in the plans.......

This is for you Mary!

Ok - I know it's been forever, or at least a couple of weeks since I've posted....All I can say is life! Although knitting has happened!

The pink "boob" bag is done and the nipple is not so obvious anymore - Thank God! The Pink and purple socks are done - Love that pattern by Anne Norling. Made another Vintage Bubble bag, this time actually following the directions and using Cascade 220 and Noro Silk Garden - I have to say I love the results even though the bag is not 100% dry yet. Very soft and the fuzz has a nice feel. It always amazes me the color change/softening that felting has on a project. When I first knit this bag the colors were prettty intense but after felting it the blue that was really bright and jumping out at me has faded into the rest of the colors and the varigation looks wonderful. Started another My Little Companion bag using the Luet yarn that i like so - not so happy with the mauve color that I thought i liked in the store - at home it looks so 80's Mauve....maybe if I throw some brown details into the finishing it will have a more updated look!

I know I have no pics this time - part of life being crazy - I'll blame Girl Scout Cookies (if you are ever asked to be a cookie mom - just say NO - major time suck!), work at school, tech writting work, Easter, sick family members, moving family members and a messy house! Yeah Life. Thankfully I have knitting to keep me sane - so to speak!

I went to Wright's outlet after school today to take advantage of their 25% off everthing sale (they are closing - very sad!) and scored yarn for 3 bags and a pair of socks, plus some fabric for that side of the stash - 1st day of the sale and the store already has the picked over feel.

Felting workshop making the Fiber Trends Fabulous Felted Tote had their last class over the weekend and the ladies were all very nice and we had a great time! They are all coming back for more which makes me happy that they are addicted as well! The Yarn store did well as well, all 3 of them purchased yarn for at least 2 more projects.

Well Mary since you are one of the only ones who reads this (hee hee) I hope my blather this evening brightens your morning!

Sick Saturday

Ok, Tell me this doesn't look like a big pink BOOB!

While laying in bed sick all day Saturday with a head cold I finished G's fairly ugly fingerless glove that are pictureless and may remain so...and I started the Tote Around by knitkit with some stash Galway Chunky in a dark Pink with a light pink stripes. The patern calls for doing 5 rows of knitting between each of the beginning increase rows and the result is...what looks like a nipple on the bottom of the bag! We have all gotten a laugh out of it but I pray that the "nipple" felts down so it isn't so noticable!

Since the bag is so big and since to me it is very noticable I am uncomfortable bring it out in "public" to knit on so I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to find the size 4 12" Addi Turbo needles that I know I have and the Ann Norling Play on Rib Sock pattern so I have something to work on while attending the Girl's Girl Scout International Festival (unorganized, long, barely practices horrible signing etc..) so I ended up running to the yarn store to buy another needle and pattern only to have left the yarn at home....... Well at least both projects are from stash yarn.......

Darling Husband asked me today if I had buyer's for any of my bags - the answer is "No, but I have on my To Do list to get them on Etsy!" I just got "The Look"

Finished Socks and What If's

YEAH! There done, done done! I don't know why I didn't enjoy these socks that much - must have been the double decrease and the fact that they too so long to knit and I've become addicted to quick gratification projects that don't take 2 plus weeks to make! I finished them early Friday morning and wore them to work to show off - of course saying Yeah I don;t have to swear at them anymore.

Thursday night I went to Worcester to get my hair cut and the place that I go has the parking lot behind the building so I have to walk through a alleyway to get into the salon - albeit it's a VERY NICE alleyway with arbors and plantings but still... DH of course reminded me to "Trust no-one, Suspect everyone!" his standard paranoid cry. SO as I'm thinking about walking through the alleyway I'm doing the "What If" game in my head and I realized that I would probably tell a mugger to take the wallet, the phone and the assorted junk but could I please have the baggie full of yarn becasue I think the trauma of having to re-make the 3/4 done Jaywalker sock would kill me- and oh yeah - the felted purse too? I do believe that I'm officially obsessed!

Knitting Tea Party

Today was a fabulous day for knitting! After running some errands for the family this A.M. and some baking 2 of my knitting students came over for the afternoon and we had a lovely time knitting and chatting. The above pic is from class a few weeks ago.

As I was getting ready for them (i.e. cleaning and stash and dashing!) G. said - Mom you're having a "Knitting Tea Party!" I think the name will stick and I'll try to host one once a month or so. Pat was working on her scarf and learned how to start a new skein of yarn. Mary was working on several projects as always! She's made it to the top edge of the Lucy Bag that she's making for her daughter - looks great, bound off her gorgeous alpaca scarf (I'm liusting after the yarn!) and we spent a bit of time trying to figure out what's what with her socks. We'll look at them again on Tuesday!

I of course continued to work on the Jaywalker socks...and they continue to drive me a tad crazy...David asked why I don't just give up on them....Silly Man! Well I can only figure out how to get the pic's at the top so look up there to see the pretty things are driving me whacko! At least I've gotten the heel turned and will work on the gusset until sleep overcomes me.....

Little Knitting Friday

Well not much knitting today - just a couple of rows on the Jaywalker Socks that are driving me crazy. The pattern isn't difficullt and the results are pretty but I HATE to do the double decrease that happens every other row - If I was working on larger needles it wouldn't bug me so much but it's a pain on the size 1.

Major crafting accomplishment of the day was learning to add the Flickr badge that now shows on the Blog! I'll have to modify the content on Flickr so that the photo's shown are more WIP's and FO's and less Stash. I'll also have to get more photos taken!

Rest of the day was spent in the usual Michelle ways - work, knitting at lunch, work, Passing R off to Girl Scout activity, buying b-day present for Sarah who's birthday is actually today! Poor Thing only has a b-day every 4 years! Getting ready for Girl Scout 80's dance which brought back tons of memories from the High School and College days - I actually wore one of the 1st sweaters I ever finished - a Teal Tunic with some cableing that I made from an old Rowan pattern - I never had the heart to "retire" it even though I haven't worn it since I was pregnant with G 10 years ago! - I'll try to get a pic that a friend took and you can all be scared of a 40 something rocking out to Walk Like and Egyptiam amd Walk This Way!

Came home to the sad news of the passing of Lollipop the mouse - G's dealing well with the news - of course now we'll have to bury her tomorrow in a snowstorm............

Looking forward to getting the house clean tomorrow, maybe getting to the garden show in Worcester and having some knitting friends over Sunday.

First Post!

Well this has been something that I've been meaning to do for the past 2 months!

Why am I blogging? Well the answer has to do with my insatiable obsession with knitting! I want somewhere to post pics of my finished objects (FO), frustrations over projects, joy over results and my general fixation of the craft.

For those who haven't met me yet I began knitting back when I was a teen, never got very far with it until I was in college, was insatiable for several years during and after college. Took several years off to date, get married, have some kids, buy a house and do some work. Always did some knitting here and there along the way. A sweater here, pair of mittens there, then along comes my step-mother and introduces me to felting! Well that was the beginning of my descent into this obsession!

For the past 2 1/2 years I've gone from an occasional knitted project to a list of current projects in process and several in the queue! Now in addition to knitting for my family I teach knitting, run felting workshops and am trying to sell my felted bags.

As I get better at this blogging I'll start posting pics of in process and completed projects. Rants and raves of not enough time to knit enough, other crafty projects that I get sucked into - Yeah I also quilt, scrapbook, sew, do primitive stitcheries and cross stitch - although not as obsessivly as I knit!