Chicago Yarn

While I was in Chicago I found this great little yarn store called "we'll keep you in stitches" at 67 E. Oakes. Betty is the owner of the store and she has been selling yarn for the past 30+ years. She's great. At first she just let me wander. Then she pulled somethings out to tempt me. When I saw this Coventry yarn by Trendsetter. It is delicious. It's pretty and it feels great. So I had to find a pattern. Hmmmmmm. How bout something different? Maybe a purse? Ok, ok, purses are a weakness for me. But in my defense, they are easy, quick and they always fit.

Here's the front pieces. I am now knitting the back and then there is the finishing. Argh, not my favorite thing. But hopefully it will be quick and easy to finish, or you will hear the whining.



I found the pattern in Berroco Bags #251. It's supposed to look somewhat like the picture below. Except the yarn is different, making the bag a bit larger than the one below. But hopefully it will all work out and look very cute when it's done. We'll see. Or I will just have to rip it all out and try something different. I really liked this yarn and think that I bought twice as much as I'll need, so I'll be looking to make some other fab accessory.

It's not a rug

It's a trivet. And it bears absolutely no resemblence to the pattern in the book. The book is Leigh Radford's One Skein. I really liked the last project in the book, the Labrynth rug. Which obviously this is not. As I was digging through my stash, I found this yarn, which is beautiful and soft and I have a ton of. so I thought, Why not? I'll try it and if it works I will have a rug for Katie's room. Also I had 3 days of training and needed something mindless to knit. No charts, no counting, easy. Since this isn't the recommended yarn I had to go down a couple of needle sizes (actually making the whole rug thing take a lot longer to knit) For the pattern you have to knit for 19 1/2 yards (don't know why it's not just an even 20). So I made it about 3 yards before deciding that having 16 1/2 more yards was not going to make a very interesting looking rug. Anyway, I needed to sew it onto a cotton cord and then sew it together. And sewing, not my most favorite of activities. I decided to make this into a trivet to see if it was going to be a drag to put together. And it wasn't too bad. So I may someday attempt a rug, but I will stick to the pattern and use a variety of yarns that change randomly. But when I do start it, I am anticipating that it will take months since I will have to be working on other projects along with it so I don't totally lose what little mind I have left.

Spring Fling bag 3

So, I really like knitting this bag, especially since I have gotten a little more creative with the yarn combinations. Not that I need all of these purses, personally. My thought is to hold on to them and possibly participate in Rags next year. Rags is a fundraiser for the YWCA. But if I lose steam and don't produce enough, I know enough charity auctions that I am sure I find nice places to donate them to.

The yarn on this one was a bit over the top (not even admitting to how much it cost me). But when I get an idea, I just have to see it thru to the end. I really like the way it turned out. The next one that I have started is green. I'm really hoping that I don't like it to much so I won't be able to part with it. Oh well, it's a quick 2 day project, I can always make more.

Spring Fling bag 2

So a friend at work, Tara, asked me if I could knit something for an elementary school auction. What could I make? It needed to be impressive, but it also had to be easy and quick. Ahhh, my Spring Fling bag from the Pursenalities book. The I found all of this fun yarn & I thought I might do a little mixing and matching. I think it turned out great & it was really fun. This gives me a new idea, I'm thinking there will be more Spring Fling bags to come.

Rose bag substitute Spring Bouquet

So I love the Rose bag, then I heard that Nicky Epstein was coming out with another book, Felted Flowers. That gave me an idea. I could knit the body of the bag Spring Green and then just make a bunch of different flowers out a variety of different yarns and then put them all together like a Spring Boquet.

Rose Bag

Another bag from Nicky Epstein's book is the Rose Bag. (Don't worry I don't plan to make all 15, but I think I will stop after 8) The example in the book was made out of lavendar and purple. But I thought black and white with some super fancy beads would make a great evening bag. Then I thought to add one red rose for a little excitement. It turned out great and was super fast to knit. even the 30 roses went pretty quick. This was a lot easier to put together than the Wisteria.

Katie's First Scarf

Katie's a knitter now (yeah)! This was her very first project & it is remarkable. She took to knitting right away and is a very even knitter. Now she has begun project #2, a felted bag. She needed to learn how to purl and she couldn't wait for me, so she made friends at the local knitting store & viola', she's a knitter and a purler. Can't wait to show off project 2 when its all done.