So close

I just might make it. The Gran hat is done. It still needs the ends woven in and the button sewn on (I found a button on Friday - harder than I expected) but it's done.


The coffee bean socks have been zipping right along. They need only a toe, a little weaving and a quick wash. Easy.


The un-bloggable gift is where I may fall down. I worked on it till the small hours this morning, but it still needs several hours before it can be called done. This doesn't sound bad, I know, but my non-knitting life is starting to interfere. The wrapping and cleaning and cooking and requests that pull one away from the needles.

So tonight, yet again, I'll be plugged into some podcasts and knitting after midnight. I'll get it done. It might be close, but I'll get it done. I thought I'd kept the list short this year, and started in good time. Perhaps the knitting expands somehow to fill all available hours? No time to speculate now - must knit.

Yarn pr0n Friday

Though only just (and as long as you're reading this in the Western half of North America). The weather here has settled into West Coast Winter. It's gray and drippy and not really conductive to drool worthy yarn photos. I persevered though, because this is too good not to share:

Squee! Socks That Rock in Pond Scum, Scottish Highlands, Jasper Rainforest and Socktopus. I got a couple of patterns as well, but they don't photograph very interestingly. Adam (who knows how to keep his knitter happy) sent me a Blue Moon certificate in November and I dithered about colours for a while before I ordered. I'm so pleased with my choices. I think the Pond Scum (I love that name) will be a pair of Embossed Leaves socks. I'll be living very near the Chartreuse mountains in France so it seems appropriate that this yarn should be knit up there.

I'm in the early phase of deciding what to take with me and what will be left behind in storage. The smart thing to do would be to sit down and plan out projects, assemble required materials and stick to the plan. Any bets on how long that would last? When does the first Knitty of the New Year come out? Yeah. And then there's the whole book problem. I'm used to having all my resource materials at hand. I'm sure some of you have been in this situation before - any hints?

Returning to socks, the second coffee bean sock is started

and with the holiday knitting nearing an end I hope to have it done before Adam arrives. I notice than Simply Socks now has some of the Somoko. Try it, you'll like it.

Getting there...

Is there an inverse relationship between the amount of knitting and the amount of blogging? Surely this shouldn't be. When one is knitting a lot one should have more to blog. I think I'm running out of things to say about hats.

This one has taken forever to dry (it's winter, apparently) and so will be late getting in the mail. With luck it may still make it for the day.

Utopia Hat
by smariek
Cascade 220 Heathers

And the last gift hat of the season is cast on. This one with no cables at all.

Bright, isn't it? This one is for my Gran, and she loves her purple. Pattern is by Rachel and can be found here. Very quick knit in bulky yarn, the only challenge will be finding the perfect button. The knitting portion should be done by the weekend.

There is one more gift on the knitting list for this year, which isn't even started yet. Still, I think I might make it. Knitting all these gift hats, combined with the chilly temperatures, has had me thinking about a topper of my own. I have cables twisting in my brain and I should get them onto paper and onto the needles.

In fact, there has been lots of yarn activity here I just seem to be having trouble merging it into a cohesive post. Aside from the holiday knitting (and the non-yarn holiday planning), I'm in my last few weeks at my job and getting ready to move. Having small projects to work on has been good - I can't seem to focus on anything for more than half and hour at a time. I think for January I'm going to need something absorbing, yet not too trying to absorb my pre-move anxieties.

The mail this week included a package from Scappoose, Oregon so lighting allowing, there will be pr0n tomorrow. Maybe a book review too.

Times two

It's very rare that I knit a pattern twice and even rarer to knit a pattern twice in a few weeks. But the Christmas knitting makes us do unusual things. Having finished the second Basic Cable hat, I have started a second Utopia.

What can I say? A good cabled hat pattern is a good cabled hat pattern. With 20 days to go (and less, really, as these need mailing) I'm not feeling like it's time to innovate.

The three phases of coffee socks aren't Christmas knitting in the deadline sense, but they are distracting. I can't say enough about this yarn. It is so subtle and soft and lovely. The surprise?

Those are bamboo needles and I don't have to fly anywhere for weeks. I was very happy with the High Altitude socks, and I took some time to think about what makes the difference between a satisfactory project and a really great one. Obviously the end result is big, but for me, the process has a lot to do with it too. In the case of the HA socks, needle choice was dictated by the travel. I stumbled onto the Kertzer brand, which are a marked improvement on the Clover bamboos I've tried in the past, but I still considered them a stand in for my preferred aluminium double points.

The more I worked with them, the more I warmed to them. I'm lucky not to bothered much by hand pain but I did find I like how light the Kertzers are, and though I suspect that I knit a little more slowly on them, I can knit for longer. That's the process part. I was more surprised by the product bit. My knitting, straight off the needles, was much more even, especially in ribbing. I initially attributed this to the elastic content in the Megaboots stretch that I used for the HA socks. A little swatching and experimentation, however, suggests that a stickier needle plays a part as well. Who knew?

So given the slick nature of the Somoko and all the ribbing I decided to stay with the bamboo DPNs. So far, so good. I've even been eyeballing a set of those Harmony wood DPNs from Knit Picks, having heard that they too are nice and smooth. I'm not the only one, apparently, since at the moment I'm on the waiting list to be emailed when they start taking orders (back ordered) again. It's great to see businesses serving knitters doing so well, so I won't complain.

I'm curious though, what are your favourite DPNs and why? Leave a comment.

Say when

Sometimes you've just got to admit when you've gotten it wrong and cut your losses. As enchanted as I was with the Shepherd Sock in Red Rover, the more time I spent with it, first photographing it and then casting on the socks, the less comfortable I started to feel. An inch or so into the ribbing I had to face facts. Parts of the Red Rover colourway are, in fact, pink. Oh I told myself it was just a bit of a faded red and remembered Meg Swanson's advice to "tell him it's raspberry". But in the cold light of the full spectrum lamp there was no way to deny it. Pink.

It wouldn't have bothered me were the socks going to a female friend or relative, but boys don't wear pink socks. So I frogged the little bit of ribbing, rewound the yarn and tucked it away in the stash. It's still lovely, it just needs to find the right project.

Adam still needs new socks, so there was a small falling down of the Fleece Artist kind. A skein of Somoko in Earth. So soft and lustrous. The colourway actually reminds me of coffee beans in all their stages. There's a little bit of green in there that looks like the fresh beans and it drifts through a golden caramel and on into rich browns. The darkest points have that silk sheen which is evocative of that slightly oily look of dark espresso roast.


And the hand is just beautiful. There is a bit of kid in there, but there is very little halo and it has enough nylon in it that it doesn't feel fragile. Too early for a full review yet, but if all goes well this one could go on the sock yarn lurve list.

The only downer is that it didn't suit the ringwood pattern at all. I'm working it in a nice, simple garter rib. And there's still a surprising thing about this project, which will have to wait one more post.

Deja Vue

The mossy cables hat joins the list of finished gift knits. I ended up doing 6 repeats of the cable, which makes it too long for me, but will hopefully fit the recipient well. Excellent quick knit. The Cascade 220 looks great, as usual.

Basic Cable Hat
from Stitch and Bitch Nation
Cascade 220 Heathers

The second of the pair is started, this time in Patons Classic Merino. I'm working this one on 4.5mm Addis, aiming for a slightly smaller finished circumference than the one above.


The lovely red Shepherd Sock is looking even lovelier now that it's wound and resting in the (rare) autumn sunshine. I've gone back and forth a few times on a pattern for this yarn. The colourway is not really variegated but there is a lot going on it. And the colour itself is eye catching enough that it's going to obscure detail. As is so often the case, I have returned to Nancy Bush and cast on the Ringwoods from Knitting Vintage Socks, though I'll modify the leg length. I can see these becoming my soothing go-to knitting in the stress of the coming weeks.

Though my reverting to knitting one of Nancy Bush's sock pattern isn't unusual there is one surprise about this project. That'll have to wait till the weekend.

Friday Yarn Porn (Saturday edition)

So I'm a little late. In my defense this yarn only found its way to my mail box yesterday, and by then it was really too dark to take photos. Today it was really too grey and rainy to take photos, but I did my best.



Two skeins of Shepherd Sock in Red Rover. The red is actually slightly subtler than it appears here. Adam picked this out for his next socks. I love these shifting tonal shades. Should be fun to knit.

And since I could scarcely just order two little skeins of yarn, I threw in a little treat for myself.


A GoKnits pouch! I've been coveting one of these for a while, but always convinced myself that my usual zip-top baggie was working fine. I saw the purple size small in stock when I was ordering the yarn and decided it was a sign. Haven't loaded it up yet (with the gift knitting in full swing, I don't have a sock on the needles right now) but the size looks great and the little internal loop to keep your yarn untangled is the kind of detail I like.

Yummy sock yarn and a well thought out knitting accessory: A good way to start the weekend.

Quick Trip

Gift knitting continues. Progress has been somewhat slower this past week as much of my spare time was spent filling in forms and collecting documents in preparation for a visit to the French consulate in Vancouver.

Travel knitting was a top secret project, seen here in earlier days.

And that's all your going to see of it until it has been gifted. Though of course everyone who has knit this pattern is looking at that k4p1 ribbing and going "I know what that is". Gotta love knitters.

The second gift hat is nearly complete. It's even farther on than this now, I ended up adding several repeats of the cable. The pattern (basic cable from Stitch n' Bitch) is seriously short as written. A quick Ravelry check confirmed that I was not alone in this decision.

The ability to do this kind of search is, to me, one of the most useful aspects of Ravelry. If there's a problem, I tend to assume that it originates with me, not the pattern. Having a quick way to find out that others have had the same issues saves much knitting anxiety.

Aside from the length foibles I am loving this pattern. I'm now planning another, though in a slightly brighter shade, for another person on the list. At first I felt like that was a little cheaty, but the yarn choice makes an enormous difference. The two hats will go to a couple.

I got some long anticipated yarn in the mail today, but too late to take photos for YPF. If I get a little luck with the weather I'll post photos in the next day or two. New yarn is a good closer to a great week.

Cover your ears

The gift knitting continues. I'm with Carolyn; this year it's hats.

The red cabled hat for the Aunt is done.

Utopia Hat by smariek
Patons Decor

Again with the boring flat photo. Must find better way to display hats.

I've been going back and forth a bit on how to deal with blogging the holiday gifts. The red hat is for an Aunt who I'm fairly certain does not read the blog. The next hat however is for someone who does look in on these pages from time to time. Gifts are pretty much all I'm working on at the moment, without them I will quickly become low on blog fodder. I've decided to continue blogging gift projects but in most cases I won't identify the recipient. Friends and family may read (or not) at their own risk.

Next up is another hat with cables. This one in Cascade 220 Heather, a yarn which I really like to work with.

It's a bit further on now but since the time change chances for good photos are few. I have been craving earthy greens lately and this one will suit the giftee perfectly. If I can bear to be parted from it.

.

What gets knitted in

Knitting is nearly always more than the stitches formed when needle meets wool. The knitted object, especially when gifted, also represents our time and our affection for the recipient. The wavy and woolly scarf was a particularly loaded knit.

It was birthday gift for Adam, begun much too late for the actual day, but in what I thought was lots of time before I would see him in September. Adam and I have spent most of the last nine months apart, which does leave me with some extra knitting time but is mostly very hard.

This scarf came to be my late night project. Something I could pick up at the end of my day and work on while listening to the radio. Something to quiet my brain. The late-at-night hours are sometimes hard ones. Days are full and rushed but when it is late it is quiet and there are few distractions and your mind can wander to missing someone. A lot. And I thought and I worried and I missed. I worked on it when I was exhausted and sad. All that went into that scarf. It absorbed a few tears as well.

I'm sure this late-at-night knitting for absent loved ones is as old as knitting . Because the act itself is soothing and a camouflage for day-dreaming and wishing. And hours knit away are hours of separation that are past forever. And when someone wears the knitting then they will know that you missed them. They will be warmer and somehow safer for your efforts. This knitted thing becomes more than the sum of its parts; what happens when needles meet wool.

Or so I hope. Maybe I'm just a knitting romantic. Either way, there is bound to be more late-at-night knitting, but that's okay. There is strength in it.

Socktoberfest

The high altitude socks have been completed before the end of Socktober. Only one pair for me this year. I'm extremely happy with them though.

Oak Rib Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch Softcolours

Aside from the previously mentioned toe modification and a slightly shorter leg these were worked as written. The yarn has a bit of elastic in it, which took a little getting used to (keeping an even tension seems to be key). The stitch definition is still good, though I don't think it would be ideal for detailed texture work.

A shot of the modified round toe for Sarah (who seems to have the cold now). There is still a little extra fabric drawing in towards the closure, but probably not enough to be noticeable. When I get a report from the recipient, I'll pass it along. These are now making yet another high altitude trip back to France to Adam.


So far I've resisted the siren song of the lace knitting and cast on for the first Christmas gift knit. Another hat. I love to cable and this one is going quickly. It's easy to be optimistic in the early days, isn't it?

This yarn turns out to be an excellent match for the little Japanese maple in the front garden. This is the last tree to turn in the autumn and with the time change coming this weekend, it really is starting to feel like winter is on the way.

The Signs of My Undoing

Anne Hanson, genius lace designer has done it again. If you haven't seen the Cluaranach, go now. Right now. I'll wait.

Gah!! The thistle pattern! The Scots Gaelic! The wearable rectangularnes. I'm in lurve. And (and!) I have yarn in the stash that may have been waiting for this pattern all its life.

Must....knit....Christmas gifts.....

Gah!

Quatre

The little hat is finished and embellished and ready to be popped in the mail to start winging its way to the birthday girl.



The basic template is the Inca Snowflake from Itty Bitty Hats. The edging reveals my lack of dexterity where the crochet hook is concerned, but I'm really happy with the overall result. It is being modeled there by a one liter wide-mouth Nalgene bottle, which doesn't really help the shape. Here's the flat shot.


Still cute. However if hat knitting is going to continue at this pace, I'm going to have to think about getting one of those Styrofoam heads. Where does one even look for something like that?

I've been searching through hat patterns on Ravelry and plotting more gift knits. This may reach knitting jag proportions.

Joyeux anniversaire, Jeanne!

Blank Canvas

Once I recovered my senses enough to knit straight I zipped through the little hat in just a couple of evenings.


Doesn't look like much yet, but there is embellishment yet to come. That's the fun part.

The yarn is Patons Decor, which is 75% acrylic. Does anyone know if they've changed the 'formula' for this? I used Decor a few years ago for a couple of kid projects (washability, ya know) and didn't like it at all. Squeaky, sticky, kinda stiff - the usual complaints about the genre. This ball (and the three others I picked up recently) seem better. The label still lists 75% acrylic 25% wool and says it's machine washable. It's not something I'd use for a real garment, certainly, but the hand isn't all that bad.

The second high altitude sock is nearly complete. The pattern calls for a round toe, which I've never used before. It's easy to work and looks kind of cool so I'll be interested to hear if the fit is as good as my usual toe. I did modify it slightly: I don't like the little hole that inevitably results when drawing the tail through live stitches to close the top, so I reduced down to 16 sts as directed by the pattern, then closed as usual. Sort of a modified round toe, I guess, but I find that little flat bit pleasing.

I finally got a copy of the Interweave Knits Gifts Special today so now I can start my holiday knit list in earnest. I'm thinking more hats.

Brain Fog

I have the cold. It seems to be going around and I (foolishly) thought I had dodged it. No such luck. Whether to blame the recirculated airplane air or variety of contaious people I have contacted since my return to Canada seems irrelevant now.

I should have seen it coming. I was willing to attribute the tiredness to jet lag, then I started craving sugar. Then the stupid knitting mistakes. I cast on this hat late last week, a gift for someone with a fourth birthday coming up.

Those sticking out bits on the sides will be ear flaps. I strongly considered ignoring the pattern, picking up stitches and adding them at the end. But there is an edging to come, and to keep it smooth I followed instructions, knit the flaps first and held them on DPNs to be joined with the cast on row. And join them to the cast on row I did. Backwards.

Twice.

Clearly the virus had already begun it's invasion. The flaps are on the right way round now, but the brain fog remains and means that progress has been somewhat slow. Must get on with it though, the gift knitting season is truly upon us and I already feel like I'm behind. I'm trying to keep my knitting list manageable this year. Any bets?

Actual knitted things!

The Fabric of the Cosmos bag was in fact completed and felted in time for my departure. I was concerned that I may have over felted it, in fact, but I've decided that I'm really happy with the results. Those big, wide stripes are so little now! It's a good, useful size for carrying a book and MP3 device and sock in progress (the necessities of daily life, in other words). The straps have stretched out a tiny bit, but I can always re-knot them. I'm calling the bag a success and suspect that I'll get lots of use out of it.


The secret unblogable knitting on the other hand was not finished before departure. At some point when I was knitting exhausted at 3 a.m. I decided that I had to give up. It just wasn't going to happen. I did finish it while in Grenoble though. Here's a peek - a full post is coming on this soon. It's s scarf for the coming winter, accurately described by Adam as being both wavy (his department) and wooly (mine).


The Beryl socks were finished as well and seem to have been a big hit.


The Socks that Rock Midweight does work up thick and results in a cushy sock. Despite my yardage worries there was plenty left over so I probably could have gone an inch longer in the leg. My only minor issue was that there was a lot of change in the colour way from the beginning of the skein to the end. Some of this is to be expected with the hand paints, of course, but for whatever reason this was enough to make me batty. I ended up cutting out some largish sections and weaving a lot of ends on the second sock to get a better "pair".

In another example of my personal knitting lunacy I stayed up the night before I left and cast a sock onto bamboo DPNs for plane knitting. Typically I would rather drive tiny bamboo DPNs under my nails than actually knit a sock with them. Once again though I have been pleasantly surprised by the superior smoothness of the SR Kertzer brand. I was concerned that my usual aluminium needles would raise additional suspicions at the security scan. I have no idea if that would have happened or not, but the sock beginnings on bamboo got through without any comment.

So I knit on them on the plane, and I knit on them in Pearson International (layover) and on another plane and on the TGV and even on the regional Rhone-Alpes train between Lyon and Grenoble. The pattern in Oak Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, but they have been nick-named the High Altitude Socks, and they'll be my Socktober project this year. The yarn is Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch softcolor. The colours shift in a pleasing and subtle way.


First one all done and second in the gusset shaping. Sorry about the iffy photo. Though it still felt a bit like late summer when I left here, I returned to autumn in full force and it is a dark and stormy afternoon.

This post makes me look much more productive than I've felt. That chevron scarf I was going to knit while I was away? Well.....that's another story for another post.

Apologies

So not only did I fail to blog before I left for France, I didn't blog while I was in France. Despite assuring several people that I would (and therefor leading my brother to read a knitting blog, something which he normally would not do).

What can I tell you? It wasn't lack of time or lack of knitting or even lack of Internet access. I just didn't know where to start and so I never did.

There is a lot of change happening in my life right now. And while it's all good, it's a lot. Some of which can't yet be shared here. But this is above all a knitting blog so there will be knitting posts in the near future. Really.

How was France? France was awesome.

Bad Blogger (no cookie)

As Violet would say.

Where is the time going? September seems to be whooshing by at an alarming speed and though I've been doing plenty of knitting there doesn't seem to be a lot to show for it. The second Beryl sock is past the heel and gusset and working towards the toe.

I love this green, but it's difficult to photograph. Another few hours should see these done.

Part of the apparent lack of knitting progress is that there is secret un-bloggable knitting. Not a job, alas, but a gift for someone who reads here. The knit itself is not difficult, though it requires full attention. Interestingly, though, the project has become invested with a surprising amount of emotion and I am plotting a full post on this after it has been gifted.

I received a package from Simply Sock Yarn yesterday (surely I am not the only one taking advantage of the strong loonie in this way?). Amongst the contents were these two skeins of beauty.


Fleece Artist Merino, one of my very favorite yarns in Amethyst (r) and Cosmic Dawn (l). Yes, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and knit me a Chevron Scarf while I'm on vacation. The example in the book never really spoke to me, but having seen some of the amazing examples on Ravelry has pushed me over the edge. The knitting itself should be unchallenging (ideal for holiday knitting in fact) but using this much colour...yikes. The Amethyst is pretty much what you see here, but there is a whole lot going on in the skein of Cosmic Dawn. I'm way outside of my comfort zone here, but that is part of what travel is about, I think. Doing things differently than one might at home.

And speaking of travel, I have a staggering list of things to do before I leave - I haven't even packed my knitting bag yet. Best get on that, non?

M & Ms and I-cord

My friend Pepsi (not his real name) estimated at the time of his thirtieth birthday that by that point in his life he had almost certainly eaten his weight in M & Ms. He further anticipated that he will repeat this feat over every following decade. Pepsi is a big guy so that's a lot of M & Ms (these facts may not be unrelated).

That little factoid crept into my mind since in the past few days I have knit more than my height (in fact more than Pepsi's height) in I-cord. It's one of those rare times in the knitting when it's okay to knit too much (it'll be cut anyway) so I have decided to err on the side of too much, rather than run short. I want the handles of the fabric of the cosmos bag to go comfortably over my shoulder and I-cord always looses a lot of length in felting.

The Beryl socks have finally hit a stride and are moving right along. The mid weight STR is working up at a significantly larger gauge than I had anticipated. Now that I've stopped fighting it I can see that the end socks are going to be lovely and cushy. The yarn has a nice hard twist so the stitch definition is fab.


See? Nice. This sock progress shot has been brought to you by my new camera. I'm still getting used to it, but I'm pretty pleased thus far. Macro goodness!

And with the new camera we finally have a FO shot of the mercury twist socks. It's vexingly difficult to photograph ones own feet in a pleasing manner.


See how the cable takes a funny little jog over the heel? I should have fixed that. Overall though I'm very happy with them. The pattern is Cable Rib socks from Favorite Socks and the yarn is Patons Kroy (4ply) in Mercury.

The evenings are getting cooler here and it's only two weeks till I head to the Alps. Woolly socks are definitely back in the wardrobe rotation. This makes me happier than it probably should.

September already?

Knitting progress has been good this week: The body of the Fabric of the Cosmos bag is done. It is comically large and floppy as all pre-felting pieces are.


No, I haven't finished the book. I'm still working on it though. I would say so far the reading and knitting experiment has been a qualified success. Next time I'll maybe go for slightly lighter reading matter. The knitting is a bit substandard as well. Some of the sloppiness is due to the loose pre-felting gauge. The tension just isn't consistent. In this case it will all even out in the felting. The colour is a little truer in the first photo.


Before felting however I must knit a whole lot of I-cord for the handles. I was all set to whine about the length of the I-cord, but I am humbled in the face of Ann's edging. Ann's steadfastness in the face of miles of garter stitch remains an inspiration to us all, I know. Still, it's lots of I-cord.


The black yarn and overcast skies conspired to make for difficult photography....sorry.

The three day weekend let me get a start on the STR socks. Several times in fact. I can report that if nothing else, the yarn holds up well to frogging. Not enough to show yet, but I think I'm on the right track.

Now what?

The second mercury twist sock is about here ( a little past here, actually, blogging having been delayed slightly by real life).



An hour or so of tennis this evening should see these done. I'll save the finished object photos till they've had a soak and block.

Next up I need to figure out what I'm going to do with this:


The skein of STR medium weight in the Beryl colourway that Adam picked out. It's only 380 yards, which isn't a lot for a pair of men's socks. I'm thinking of something with a bit of texture that won't get lost in the colour shift. It'll have to be a fairly speedy knit as well, this skein needs to be completed socks, ready to go, in a little over three weeks.

Suggestions? I'm off to troll Ravelry for inspiration.

Thirty-two

Today we take a break from your regularly scheduled grey knitting to wish a happy birthday to my brilliant, funny, handsome and hand knit appreciative better half.


Happy Birthday Adam! Here's to another amazing year.

Read, knit, repeat

I'm making progress on the Fabric of the Cosmos bag and the book as well. It's slow going so far. I haven't given up much in knitting speed, but the reading is slow. I'm still needing to look away from the book several times a round and every time I look back, it takes a moment to find my spot. This can't take more than a few seconds, but it adds up. I think I'm getting faster though, so I hope perseverance pays off.

The pattern is based on the Booja Bag, but a little bigger all round. I knit the base in the solid charcoal and then picked up all around and began the body of the bag in the self striping slate colourway. And look: colour


I'm putting in two-round stripes of the purple here and there. Randomly. This is another challenge for me; I'm not good with random. So not good at random, in fact, that at one point I considered using a d20 (*ahem* nerd) to determine the stripe placement. And yes, those are bamboo circs. My usual Addis were too slick for the yarn and limited attention. These are the SR Kertzer bamboo which I'm liking much more than Clover. They seem smoother and slightly pointier.

The yarn is so soft and lustrous that it's almost going to be a shame to felt it. That's still some distance off though, I'm estimating that I'm about a third done. It remains to be seen whether the yarn, the book, or my patience will run out first.



Usually I'm a process knitter but since I want the bag for a specific use, I'm motivated to get it done. The Fall knitting mags have been making their way to my house over the fast few weeks and are combining with the cooling weather to give me a touch of startitis. I'm craving something tweedy and cuddly. I guess it's that time of year.