I will not felt anything ever again....

   You see the photos, you see the pattern and think "Yeah, I can do this, it's not that hard!". Well, at least for me, it never turns out the way it's supposed to. After 11 skeins of wool that were not on sale, after putting all other projects in a time out, and after knitting like a mad woman for days on end, it's finally over.


   The giant purple bag came off the needles, and I took this photo:

    Then I folded it up and put it on the shelf. I wasn't going to felt it right away. I would rather felt it when Hubs isn't home, because he complains that I'm using the hot water and therefore using our oil unnecessarily.


    Well..... I couldn't wait. Last night I put it in the washer with a pair of youngest son's old denim shorts and three tennis balls that I have expressly for the purpose of felting. I had to run them through twice. This morning, I threw the whole mess into the dryer and hoped for the best. This is what I pulled out of the dryer about an hour ago...

    I put the yardstick in so we could all have a reference point to the original photo. It shrunk too much up and down, and not enough side to side. I am unhappy. I stuffed it with a couple of sheet sets so it had some dimension:

    I am seriously considering cutting a few inches out of the middle to make it shorter. I shall have to think on this for a while. In the meantime I think it's going in a time out of it's own....

An all projects update

   I am still knitting like a mad woman here. Unfortunately, every other project is in a time out. The Pi Shawl, the double knit pad for Owen, the legwarmers (remember them?), I'm sure there are more but I just can't recall right now. They are all in sleep mode and someday I will get back to them.


   Of course, in the meantime, I'm still working on the Huge Adventure Bag. This thing is taking on a life of its own. I am currently almost to the ends of skeins 7 and 8, with 9 and 10 ready to go. I still have 25 more rounds to go until I increase on the short sides for the handle attachment flaps. I would take a photo, but I really don't think it would make much sense to the eye. It would just look  like a giant mound of double stranded, purple stockinette, with four stitch markers  indicating the corners. 


    I'm still plugging away on the 36 inch circular needle. I did find a set of double pointed needles in the size needed, at Out Of The Loop, one of my favorite LYS's. I feel I should mention that Hubs actually volunteered to take me there! We were in Fishkill making a Sam's run, and he mentioned it, so off we went. While we were there, I decided to buy another skein of the yarn I'm using for the Pi Shawl, since I was concerned I would run out before I finished. Now I can make sure it's big enough to suit me.


    I may very well be out of touch for the next few days, as it's my turn to babysit little Owen tomorrow and Friday. I am out of touch with the internet while performing that task. I need to concentrate on the little guy. He's growing so fast! He's become so much more vocal, trying out his little voice! I have so much fun with him....

Giant Purple Bag Progress!

   It has been interesting, but significant progress has been made on the huge purple bag. It is one of the Adventure Bags from Noni, designed by Nora J. Bellows. The sizes amused me; they are listed as small, medium and huge.


   If you remember, I was only able to purchase five skeins of Patons Classic Wool in purple. Since then my good knitting friend Kim discovered one skein in her stash, and gave it to me. She's very generous that way, and a very good friend.


   The first two skeins got me as far as the entire bottom of the bag, picking up all the stitches around the other three sides, and six rounds up the body of the bag. I am seriously going to have to try and find a 60 inch size 13 circular. If anyone in my immediate geographical area has one I can borrow, give me a shout out! Crowding 208 stitches of two strands of yarn onto one 36 inch circular is a bit cumbersome. It's
 do-able, just awkward. Especially when you're trying to knit loosely.


    When I got the skein of yarn from Kim the other day, I got out the ones I was using and compared the color. You really want it to be close. In the dim light of her living room, it did not look even remotely close in color to the ones I'm using. However, once we got outside, Cherub and I both agreed that it was indeed a close match, and would not present a problem. Huzzah!

  
    I took a couple of photos, but it may not look like much yet. Once the body of the bag gets longer, it's shape should show up better. It's got stitch markers at each corner, so you can make out the long sides and the short ones.

    Someone at Noni translated the pattern into crochet, which I purchased as well. There is a big difference between the patterns, however, and it's one I am having a problem with. The knitted version of the bags has a rectangular base. The crocheted bags have a square base. I know you can make it any way you choose, but it strikes me odd that someone translating the pattern would change such an important detail. I checked, and on the pattern pamphlet, it states that the translation was done by Stacey Trock.