Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Odds and Ends


I felted my bag on Monday and LOVE it! I am going to have an acrylic piece cut for the bottom to stabilize it more, but I think it will be a perfect book bag. The colors are very me! It really was fun to knit a bag after all the sock knitting I've been doing lately. If you missed a previous post, the pattern for this bag is 'Baby's Got a Brand New Big Bag' by Maia. I used Paton's Classic Wool with just a little Andes wool that I had left over from my felted clogs I made last fall. I double stranded my yarn and used size 15 needles. It's quite a large tote!!





I also finished my Fetching Fingerless gloves. They are so warm!! It is very cool out this morning so they are perfect!! They will be especially nice when I start working again mid-January in the tax office. My hands always freeze at the computer!!





I decided to start the second side of the circle tote, even though Sheri gave me permission to not hurry, since my socks won't be ready by next weekend anyways. (I thought I could earn extra points by being the first one done with our deal!!) So I cast on and got about half of it knit yesterday and realized that my gauge is WAY OFF!! I had knit the first half in June (BEFORE I started knitting socks) on size 10.5 needles. Then I knit all those socks on tiny needles and I think I became a tighter knitter!! Anyways, I don't know if you can really see the problem from this picture, but I am over half way done and it is just a little over a third as big as side 1!!! (And when you look close the knitting is obviously much tighter even though I knit it with the same yarn on the same size needles!!) What is a girl to do???? I think I will set it aside for now and cast on a pair of Monkey socks. That will make me happy!!

Oh, and shopping makes me happy! I decided to go into the town of Galena yesterday which is full of fun shops. I wanted to go the the yarn store, but remembered just as I got there that it is closed on Tuesdays! Bummer. Before I knew it, I found myself in my favorite store purchasing a coat. I confess, I have an addiction to coats. I don't know why. Some women collect shoes; some purses; for me, it is coats. (I think it's because I'm always cold and always wanting to get warm.. which coats are good for!!) So here it is.

When I confessed to Steve that I had bought yet another coat and showed it to him, my very own 'Mr. Wonderful' said in his 'Mr. Wonderful' voice: "I don't mind that you bought that coat one bit. It looks really good on you". I think he's getting it!!




Well, off to cast on some socks. Any advice on my bag dilemma would be appreciated! Have a wonderful day!!

Until Next Time...

11 comments:

toowooly said...

love love love your bag all felted up! did you carry a variegated paton (doubled?).
love love love your fingerless gloves!
love love love your coat!

Anne said...

I love the tote, gloves and new jacket. My only suggestion for the circle tote is to start over in a bigger needle size. Great job on everything!

Anonymous said...

the bag came out cute! my mom thinks you're very artistic-- i think she really liked the ones with the circles....

you've been a busy girl! and on a blue kick... do you find that you go through waves of knitting with similar colors?

Mitchypoo said...

Love the bag, it's really cool and now I just have to knit one!

Re: the other bag...oh my. The only fix I know is to reknit the other side. Your gauge can definitely change after knitting on small needles.

Your coat is really nice!
Your KCS3 pal!

Unknown said...

cute coat marmie!!!! I love the tote too!

marit said...

Great tote, great gloves, great coat! And the cirkles? I know there is only one solution that will fix it...

Jknits said...

That's quite a problem.
You could take the smaller piece and turn that into a cosmetic bag -fold it in half, sew up the sides, felt it and add a zipper. Then you could knit a new side for the bag on bigger needles. The coat looks great - everything else does too.

Anonymous said...

I like coats too and I think for the same reason. I tried to find one tonight but no go.
I really love your tote. I am in the market for a new library bag, perhaps I'll queue it up.

No good ideas for your circle bag, reknit the second piece on bigger needles or felt the 1st side first?

rohanknitter said...

Such a pretty bag, I really like those colors. The fetching gloves are very nice too - just right for this time of year!

I LOVE that coat. No wonder you couldn't resist.

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

The bag looks great, and the colours are fabulous together.

Love the Fetching. I'm thinking about making a pair of those to wear around the school when winter strikes...

The coat is fabulous and does look great on you!

Karen said...

Love your new bag, the colors are great. And your Fetchings are well fetching. I say start that side of the bag over and loosen your grip or use bigger needles. Your new coat looks very nice.