My first foray into design (sort of)

I'm still working on Malorie's school bag, but I'm tweaking the design. The pattern calls for a lot of extra knitting to make it a messenger bag, so I decided to cut back on one of the repeats and turn it into a drawstring bag. Malorie likes the idea and now I'll have enough yarn to finish it. I'm about three-quarters of the way done. I have about 15 days to finish it, which should be enough time. I've been knitting away at swimming lessons. It's a great place to knit, the kids are getting worn out and I can knit without any at home distractions.

I've started cables and I am surviving

Cable knitting has always scared me. I couldn't understand how to hold stitches back and work around them. Even watching episodes of Knitty Gritty still couldn't encourage me. But I found a pattern for Malorie's bag and it has cables. The Sweater Bag uses cables, but now that I've done socks I'm not so scared. What's the worst thing that will happen? That's right, I'll have to rip it out. No big deal, I've had to do it already. I'm getting fairly good at not losing stitches when I am frogging. I think I should be able to finish this project by the end of the month. It moves along fairly quickly. I'm using some really old Red Heart yarn (from my neighbor, see last post). It's not what the pattern calls for, but it's what I've got and I fairly close to gauge.

Monkeys done and now onto the next project

Okay, I have finally finished the Monkey socks! The second sock looks a whole lot better than the first one I did. My tension is better and my stitches are neater. When I blocked the socks you could tell the difference in size. There's about an eighth of an inch in size difference. That's okay though, I'm still going to wear them. At least I can say I've knitted socks. I think I may do some more later on, but for right now I need to get started on Malorie's school bag. School is just a month away (YEAH!!) and I found some yarn that I think will work for her bag.

My wonderful neighbor asked me the other day if I needed anything from garage sales. She loves to go look through other people's junk. I told her not really, but if she found any yarn, I would take it. Well 2 days ago she comes over with 3 grocery bags full of yarn. Granted most of it is synthetic, but there were 3 beautiful gray skeins of a wool/mohair mix. (I can't wait to use those beauties!) She had gone to visit her mother in assisted living and told her about the neighbor girl who is knitting. Her mother had her pull out the bags of yarn. She gave me all of it for free. I don't know where I'll use it all, but most of it is really quite nice. Malorie saw the yarn and picked out what she wanted from these bags to make her school bag. The only problem is that the yarn won't felt, but I think I can work around that. I guess I'll take a little from various bag patterns and put them together. The worst I can do is rip, rip and rip.

EEE, OOO, EEE (My monkey impression)

I'm almost done with my monkeys. Too bad they don't look as nice as everyone else's I see on the Internet. I just don't know if it is my yarn choice or my gauge. (That ugly "G" word rears it's ugly head again.) I'm starting to think about what next to knit. I need to make Malorie's bag, but I'm just not really feeling the urge to do it. Maybe I'll be inspired to do it once I've blocked the socks. These have been a great summer knit. I don't have tons of heavy fabric laying on me while I knit. I think that's why I'm dreading the bag. Next time I blog I'll have the socks done and pix up for viewing.

Sock Update

Well I'm up to the toe on my Monkey Socks. I just have to finish the toe and I'll have one sock done. They are turning out pretty well. Though when I look at others Monkeys they seem to be tighter. I guess I am a loose knitter. My husband came home the other day and saw me knitting with 5 needles and thought that I had a small torture device in my hands. (If he only knew that ripping out stitches is torture.)

I've been looking for patterns for a messenger bag for Malorie. I think I found one, now I just have to finish these socks and find some money to buy the Lambs Pride Wool to felt. I wish yarn didn't cost so much. (I wish I would have picked up a hobby that isn't so pricey.)

Pictures of the Purple Shrug

Here's Audrey in her brand new shrug. She likes it. (At least for right now she does.) It was a fairly easy pattern. It just took forever for me to be motivated to finish it. Now I'm off on my Monkey socks and have the first one two-thirds done. I need to start looking for bag patterns. Malorie wants a new book bag for school and she wants me to knit it. That means if Malorie wants one, Audrey will too. I'll need to slip something in for DH between projects. He was watching me knit my socks and thought they looked interesting. Maybe I'll give in and make him a pair. Only if he doesn't complain about my knitting and everyone growing out of what I make.

The Wicked Shrug is Finished!!!!!

The purple shrug is done!!! It's on my blocking table right now, so it will fit Audrey better. The picture is of the shrug before I sewed the seams. It was on it's first blocking and now I'm blocking it for Audrey to wear. Now I'm ready to start my monkey socks. If they turn out good, I'll give them to my sister. If they are crappy they will become mine.