Yarn Projects
My Most Recent FO

I picked up stitches on the inside right where the bottom met the side. First stitch of each row I K2Tog with body of bag, slipped last stitch of each row. It worked well. (click for enlarged picture)
I finished the felted handbag using mohair from Flying Goat Farm. I ran out of the darker brown just as I got to the handle break, so I switched to the orange there. I had a bit of orange left over, which I used to make a knit-in (garter stitch) interior pocket. I didn’t have quite enough to make it a good cel phone pocket, but it’ll be good for something, I’m sure.
The bag (pre felting) was a little bit lumpy and awkward, but I was sure it was going to turn out nicely.

Yeah, I know, if I was more consistent in my tension I wouldn’t have this much unevenness. BUT – I kept my floats short (see pocket picture above) and felting is a really forgiving process.

I’m very happy with the result. At some point I plan to seam up the swatch ans turn it into a change purse, but other than that it’s good to go!
Current WiPs
So – four project bags, four projects. From oldest to newest –
Mont Royal Socks
These are slow going, mostly because 1) I’m working on four projects and 2) they’re not mindless. This picture clearly shows the downside of the asymmetric toes – the stitch pattern is totally centered in the base pattern. It doesn’t bug me enough to frog and re-knit, but it’s worth remembering for the next pair. Anyway, the pattern is lovely, the CoBaSi yarn is doing the right thing, I’m happy with these, even if they won’t be done until (at this rate) mid – fall or so.
Fifth Doctor Sweater
This is the project I alluded to in the cockroach post. I’m knitting my husband a sweater. Now, there’s a knitting superstition that knitting your boyfriend a sweater dooms the relationship*, but I have it on reliable authority that that doesn’t go for spouses. Besides, over 24 years of marriage we’ve gone through so much (of the good and the bad) that I don’t think a little curse can make much difference…
Because it’s cotton I not only blocked the swatch, I hung it overnight before re-measuring it.
Yes, with cotton it really does grow and stretch with blocking and hanging. About a 10% vertical difference, enough that I know to knit it just a tad short. Not only did I get valuable information, I can use the swatch as a dishcloth (but I’ll hold onto it until the sweater is pieced and finished, just in case).
Casting onto a large project (like a sweater) always intimidates me a little, so I placed a marker every twenty stitches during the cast on, and double counted those stitches, to make sure I had the right stitch count. I’m not sure how much time it saved over double and triple counting the stitches straight off would have taken, but it did lower my anxiety level about the whole process.
This sweater is the Cricket Jumper from Joy Gammon’s The Doctor Who Pattern Book, because Five is his Doctor. You will notice it runs over $30 on Amazon, but I managed it for about $15 on eBay. I’ve been looking on and off for this book for years, and it looks to be worth the search. Joy Gammon did a lot of media fandom pattern writing in the 1980’s in particular, and the patterns are great (I’m so tempted by the K9 bag!), but she was basically writing with the target audience of not-necessarily-skilled costume and toy makers, so I read over the pattern with an eye for adapting.
The most needed change was size (I had to extrapolate one size beyond the pattern). I also added a slip stitch selvage. A little reading convinced me that the classic cricket jumper (which would be what Davison wore) would be knit flat in cotton, so that’s the way I’m making the sweater. I expect this to be done by mid to late fall, because it’s a big project and because I’m working on three others. There was a little bit of calculating to make sure the cables were properly centered with the new stitch count, but I don’t expect any serious hick ups. I used my LYS’s ‘customer loyalty’ discount for this one, but even if I hadn’t buying the yarn would still have been less than I’d pay for a decent cricket jumper off the rack.
Stereotypical
I’m making a case for my sunglasses. Once again, I’m knitting a pattern from Stiching in the Stacks. This time I’m making a case for my sunglasses. It’s a simple enough idea – two color outer case, change yarns and purl (or was that the other way around) and keep knitting for the lining. Close it up and there’s a lined case.
It’s a small piece, but I’m just planning to have it finished by next summer. The colorwork is pretty, but it’s not TV knitting.
Pineapple Sunrise
So while I was at Ocean City (watching the beautiful sunrises) I bought a lovely orange-red sundress. It’s pretty and floaty… and I don’t have anything to accessorize it with. Fortunately, it was always my plan to stop by Salty Yarns. Yes, they are a needlework shop, but they have a nice little room full of knitting yarn, including this skein of Kauni.


It coordinates with the dress, and it looks very sunrise like. I’m using the pattern I Promise You Pineapples by Justyna Kacprzak (it’s a free Ravelry download). I’m liking the effect very much so far. In fact, with the colors and the title of the pattern and the whole sunrise thing I just had to call it Pineapple Sunrise.
Then I asked my local bartender to make me a Tequila Sunrise with pineapple juice instead of orange juice.
It was beautiful and tasty both!

This is the last WiP I started, and the one I’m concentrating on. I want to finish it before it gets too cold to wear that dress…
Blog Contests and Giveaways
I didn’t win the fabric from Marshall Drygoods, or the One Skein Wonder book from Lisa Bogart. No new giveaways this time.
*Apologies for pedantry, but I can’t make myself not say that the superstition probably has a lot to do with the length of time it takes to knit a sweater vs the length of an average romantic relationship. I just can’t make myself believe that it’s anything more than that, but still, folklore is fun!
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