In My Knitting World

I honestly do not know where the past few days have gone! I've been wanting to get these photos up of all the fun stuff I knitted/completed while visiting my family in Myrtle Beach but I haven't had the time or energy. I've been feeling kinda blah the past couple of days. But alas, I knew no matter what, or how I felt, I would post them tonight.

So here is the before photo of my completed Felted Tote Bag (green) and Felted Sheep Tote Bag (sapphire minus the sheep) right before they hit the washing machine together:


And here are the final results:

I would first like to thank Mary Beth, my bestest sister, for taking the time to felt these bags for me the night before I got on the airplane to come back to NYC! I know we were both exhausted from our day at the beach and evening of shopping (I know it was a "tough" day for us, but hey somebody had to do it, right?). Mary Beth did all the felting work while I captured the experience on camera to scrapbook (Be on the lookout for the completed spread in the weeks to come). The bags turned out beautiful. I am officially crowning my sis as the "Felting Queen". I can't wait to start using them.

So what else did I do while on vacation? Well I completed knitting this small soft drawstring pouch(from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" book). I knitted this little project up so fast that by the time I was going to put up a progress bar, I was already done with it. I knitted this using yarn from my stash. I had one remaining skein of Plymouth Indicita Alpaca leftover from a shrug I made a couple of years ago. I ended up gifting this bag to my boyfriend yesterday. I had bought a couple of Myrtle Beach souveniers for him and wrapped them up in this. I am planning on adding some lavander (his favorite scent) to the empty bag to keep as a smell goodie next to his bed.

Oh yeah, I also worked on my Monkey socks. This picture is the stage my sock was in when I left Myrtle Beach. Country Garden has all 6 repeat patterns completed in this pic. As of right now I have finished the heel, flap and working on the gussett right now. I'll post an updated picture later. I am really loving the way this yarn is knitting up. The colors are truly beautiful. I can't wait to finish the pair so I can wear them.

I also started another Christmas gift while I was away. It's almost done. I ran out of yarn just before the end. Shameka had used the exact same yarn that I am using for this gift so hopefully what bit she had leftover will be enough to finish this project. If so, I will have 1 completed Christmas gift and many more to go!

Felted Tote Bag - Ready to Go

So I am wondering why the heck it took me two years to finish this bag?!?!?! I spent an hour and a half this afternoon finishing the second strap and grafting in all the yarn ends. That's all it took! I guess procrastination was my biggest problem when I left this bag unfinished. But that doesn't matter anymore because it is one step closer to being completely done and ready for use.

So MB, thanks in advance for letting me utilize your washing machine when I come home in August. You know you are the felting pro!

This is now my sixth tote bag and I feel I can knit this pattern in my sleep. I think I need to move on to another pattern now. What shall I tackle next? Hmmmm....Suggestions anyone?

Felted Tote Bag - Almost Complete!

Several Christmas' ago I decided to knit alot of my gifts. The one item I felt all the ladies in my family would love was the Felted Tote Bag by Two Old Bags. In a total of 3-4 months I ended up knitting, and felting, four of these bags (plus I knitted myself one while I was home visiting over Christmas for a total of five). Each one was unique in that I chose to use a different color and brand of yarn for each bag. I used Manos del Uruguay, Cascade 220, Lions Pride Worsted and I know there was a fourth but it is totally escaping my mind right now. Anyway, what was totally cool about doing a different yarn for each was seeing how each one felted. The winner of the best felting yarn was definitely the Lions Pride Worsted. My sister and I were amazed how easily this yarn felted in comparision to the others.

After some time had passed I set my sights upon knitting another one of these bags for a close friend as a surprise. Unfortunately my friend got ahold of the pattern and decided to knit one for herself in the colors she wanted (hers was really cool because she decided to use multiple color yarns to stripe the bag making it really unique). So I decided not give this bag to her anymore. I would do something else.

So to this day the bag is about 90% complete. I am half way through knitting the first strap. Well I am hear to tell you that this bag will be unfinished no more! There really is no excuse since it is sooooooooo close to being done. Besides, if I finish it before I go visit my sister in three weeks I can felt it in her washing machine, instead of risking it at the laundry mat (which by the way I did for the very first bag I completed) I really couldn't have my sister felt her own Christmas present, right?