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.

A surprising thing happened...

   Last night, at some random point in the evening, I became aware that I heard counting... "24, 25, 26..." Then I realized it was my own voice! Gradually the cloud lifted and I could see that I was in the middle of the cast on for the purse that has been calling to me so seductively. 


   My subconscious knitter had made me get up, get the yarn out of my stash, find the right size needle, and start casting on the stitches I needed to begin making the purse. I was completely shocked. Never-the-less, I kept going and worked on the purse base last night, then finished it this morning. Clearly, the subconscious knitter has gotten her way. It seems she is very strong willed.


    After finishing the base for the medium sized bag, I picked up the stitches along the other three sides of the base, and knit one time around. This whole time, I had been muttering to myself that it's not big enough. That one time around verified my thoughts. After this thing in it's current state was felted, it would be way too small. It looked to me like the base was already the size it was supposed to be after felting. I also felt that the needle was too small.


   So.... I frogged it. I then searched through my needle collection, and realized that I didn't have the bigger size 13 circular needle that I desired. I remembered that I have some straight needles in an old knitting bag, so I looked in there and lo and behold, I found two short size 13 needles. The don't match, one is plastic and the other is metal. But that doesn't matter at this point. They are usable. I didn't find any long needles. So the short ones are what I went with.


    I cast on the stitches for the bigger purses base at Bonny's house. They barely fit on the short needle, because the pattern calls for two strands of yarn. Either way, I'm using them until I can get to a craft store and purchase circular needle of at least 32 inches in length. I just can't work on it too much. Hopefully tomorrow I can get to a store and make the purchase. I'm hoping to find more wool, as they didn't have enough when I made the original purchase.


    Hubs just read this and is shaking his head... now I'm not sure it's gonna happen..... Oh well. I will keep you all updated!   

new projects started

    Today was quite the day. I got to spend some time with my daughter, doing my favorite thing. Yarn shopping! We found yarn for her sweater, and some for a new one for me too!


    Hers is a really pretty dark purple with a little dark blue speckled into it. Mine is called hot pink, but it's a little bit darker than that. I love it, it's my favorite color, along with purple.


    I have actually done the gauge swatch for Sara's sweater, and cast on both already!
I want to do mine, but feel guilty about it, so I'm gonna try and do both, working on each one a little bit at a time. It's going to be confusing, but I'm willing to give it a go.


    I'll keep you updated on my progress!

The Potholders are Done!

    At long last, the pot holders for my daughter Sara are done! I finished up the last one yesterday afternoon at friend Bonny's house. I have since started on a pair for myself. That is, if my hands don't hurt too much!

  
    As a reminder, here's a photo of the first one -

    And now the unveiling of the second one!

    And finally, a photo of the two of them together!

    May she get good use out of them, and never get burned! I started making the ones for myself, and here's how the first one looks so far:

    I am not caring that the purple in the variegated is almost the exactly the same as the solid purple. It makes it look a bit wierd, and you can't even tell where the nose is! At some point when it's finished, I may take some white and outline the nose.

Updates, Photos and More!

    Good news! The blanket for the young son of my hot fantasy boyfriend is almost half done!

    And, the paint colors for my craft room have been tentatively selected! It's a darker purple for the bottom, and a lighter one for the top and ceiling.

    As teenagers love to do, my beloved youngest put lots of stickers on his bedroom door. Now that it's to be my craft room, I have been peeling them off, with some success. Most of them came off, but there are a few that need extra help. Here is the door, I put the sheep on there...

    And lastly, since son and girlfriend are no longer here, my cat has become extremely needy! He wakes me up in the middle of the night to be loved. He's almost always trying to get my attention. So Julie, if you are reading this, you need to come visit Ozzy, he really really misses you!

    In this photo, he looks pissed because he doesn't like having his picture taken, but trust me, he's sad and lonely. But you can't pick him up, or put him on your lap. It's gotta be on his terms or he will run away from you. He's not just really cranky, he's getting old.
 

Sorting out plans for my craft room

    These last few weeks have been incredibly intense. I am constantly thinking of what to do in my craft room. The other day, I asked Hubs if we could paint the room, and after a positive answer, my thoughts really exploded.


    Hubs did tell me that my bookcases from the den have to go in there, but that's ok with me. There is one wall with no windows where they would line up nicely. If they don't all fit, I will find room for the rest. There are only five, after all. Although I really need a couple more.


    I would like to take the doors off the closet, and put shelves or something in there for yarn and WIP storage. Then I thought about lots of little hooks all over the wall to hang individual hanks or skeins.


    But color? My mind is going wild. I've started asking friends for color advice. So far, I've gotten purple. I love purple, but not too dark. I thought about maybe a nice dark purple on the bottom of the walls, with a lighter purple above. Then I thought about painting sheep on one wall. Or a painted tree in one corner, with the green leafy branches going out on the ceiling. There are just too many darn options!


    The room is currently a medium dark blue, which really isn't too bad. I could work with it. Here is what it looks like:

    It's really a nice blue. It would make a nice sky color. I do want to paint the ceiling, though. I guess I'll just have to see what I can talk Hubs into. I went to the store today and got some paint chips. Purples, and a couple orangey yellow ones. Just in case I want to paint a sun. You never know. It might be fun to paint the whole room a nice bright yellowy orange!