Green Purse for Me!

I finally knit something for me. This is the very first thing I did for myself! I was trying to make a purse like the one I had made for my neice...

however, as per usual, it didn't turn out like the pattern...
After I felted it I ended up with a long narrow purse. No way was a button closure going to work here so I ended up putting in a zipper.
Not my best zipper work but it's very functional and I really like the end result.

Mom's Birthday - Knitting Tote and Socks

I can finally show my mom's birthday gifts to you. She had her birthday this past Saturday. I made her a Marsupial Tote out of the Stitch and Bitch book but I made it a little longer to hold knitting needles. I call my variation the "One Project Tote Bag" as it will fit one knitting project on the go quite nicely. The colours match a felted purse I made her for christmas. I used Briggs and Little wool and it took a long time to felt. I put it through my aggitation cycle 4 times before this pic was shot.

Once I gave the bag to my mom we talked about the handles. They turned out just like the picture in the Stitch and Bitch book but I don't like the way they curl up. Mom mentioned sewing them up to go with the curling so they would be more like cords. I wasn't happy with the felting of the bag either so I asked her to let me keep it. I sewed up the handles and felted it 3 more times. Now I am happy with it. I also made her socks. I followed the Thula pattern from knitty.com. It said to stop making the foot 2 inches from the length I wanted it to be. But then the knitting of the toes only took 1.5 inches to knit. So I ended up with a sock that fit me perfectly but would have been too small for my mom. So I knit the second one bigger and it fits her perfect. I'm still working on her second sock. I wonder how long it will take me to complete the second one for me.... The yarn is a 75% cotton and 25% acrylic. "Ecofil" it's called. It's made of recycled material. It's a nice warm sock. The pattern is really nice, I love how the heel turns in it. And it would be a good base for me to start making adjustments to change the look of the sock.

Baby Stuff

It started with a hat. How cute is this?! And it was so quick and easy to do. And I had lots of the yarn left over.

So I thought I'd do some booties. I still had almost half a ball of yarn leftover.

So I did a bib too. And I still have a bit of yarn leftover but I thought that was enough.

So here's the gift package. I already had the cookbook. It's a great cookbook for new parents, even if they don't cook. It's my way of trying to prevent more "chicken nugget" kids who are destine to live shorter lives than their parents due to those awful processed foods. There I said it! It's all going out in the mail today. I hope my cousin likes it.

Nan's Shawl and other April projects

So my nan's shawl is done. I am putting a button on it so it will be more wearable for her. Actually, I think I'm going to put 2 buttons but you get the idea.
Next project is a hat for my cousins new baby boy. I love the colours in this cotton yarn. I don't like to make anything synthetic for a baby... given my grandmother's and my own allergies to synthetics. I also have a cookbook for baby's first 3 years to add with the gift. Healthy eating starts right from day one!

Nan's Shawl

I started a shawl for my grandmother's birthday. She is always cold so I wanted to make something that would go over her shoulders. And she is allergy to most synthetic fibers. I found the most amazing cotton yarn at Tangled Skein in Dartmouth. It's from Blue Sky Alpacas. I'm totally in love with it. It knits up like a dream! I was going to just knit one long rectangle but I would have ended up using a lot of yarn. So I decided to do 2 panels. Here is the first one. The stich pattern is called Leaves of Grass and I got it from the Lion Brand website. It is really fun to knit up.


Do you see the mistake on the second row of the pattern? In the old days my grandmother would have spotted it in an instant but she is a little less detail oriented these days....

Stay tuned for the finished product!

Second Scandanavian Hat

Here is my second attempt at a lopi hat. I'm pretty pleased with it. I designed the colour pattern myself. The inspiration was Sweden's national symbol, the Dala Horse. Tim says they look like Bouviers (our dogs) but I say they look like horses.

And this time I blocked the hat. It was really curling up around the edges. And low and behold - it looks like the picture in the pattern!

On to my next project. I'm dying to do cables. In my Stitch and Bitch Nation Book they have a project for "mini' cables. You don't need to use a cable stitch holder. It's a great intro to cables. You can get used to the concept pretty quickly. This yarn doesn't show the cable really well but I like the overall effect. I'm making a scarf. Pretty basic but I do like how this pattern is working with this wool

The colour is off in both of these pictures. It's a nice sage green.

One Scandinavian Hat - Done!

Okay, does this hat -
close up view, same hat -
look anthing like either of these hats?
No?! I did use the yarn and needles the pattern called for so it shouldn't look this different. But it doesn't matter, Tim likes it and that's what counts. I'm trying another version with Dala horses in place of the birds in the one to the right. I also have to make a slight adjustment to fit Tim's head better. And the ear flaps are going to be a bit smaller. But otherwise it should look just the same! Yeah right!