The Never-Ending Bag

I'm wondering if I will ever get this bag done. It is to be felted and, according to the pattern, will need 224 rows in order for it to end up being about 12" tall. I'm only on row 72 and in about 20 rows, I will begin increases every 12 rows. Will it ever end? Here is the pattern: http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/bags/s-on-t-tote.html

For awhile, I've been thinking that I would try really hard to finish this before I start (or continue) another knitting project. Well, there is an all-day, outdoor knitting event being planned for June 9 and I'm thinking I need to go ahead and get started on the sleeveless sweater that I bought yarn for on my vacation. I'm trying to hold off knitting that swatch, but I don't know how long I can control myself.

Strawberry Hat

Well, I did it. I finished the strawberry hat - late last night. I shouldn't have stayed up, but I was driven! :) It's not the best picture; maybe I'll have someone snap me in it one of these days.

Guess I'll work on the bag to be felted for awhile. I really need to start the pair of beaded earrings that I was asked to make awhile back. I need to have those done by the end of May.

I finished my pair of black socks a few days ago. Alas, one of them had a couple of mistakes that needed fixing. I'm grateful to the ladies at Saturday morning knitting at Panera for their assistance and encouragement. I made the repairs yesterday afternoon and am wearing them today. I was worried that I wouldn't like the fit: the leg part didn't turn out as tall as I thought it would and the foot part is looser than I expected. It turns out that they are comfortable and feel very good to wear. I'm relieved!

Part of the conversation at Panera was about how to avoid jogs when knitting stripes in the round. I'm working on a bag to be felted, so I thought I would look through some books to see if I could find the technique. I found it in the Knit Socks! book. I also found some other things I was tickled about.

On page 9 is a technique for doing a swatch for knitting in the round. I had heard of a couple of other ways of doing that, but this is the first one that appealed to me. I'm already trying it for my next pair of socks.

On page 13 is a fairly easy way to determine how long of a tail to have for long tail cast on.

The jogless striping is on page 127 and on page 133 is how to wrap and turn to avoid small holes when turning in the middle of a round. This was on of the problems on my black sock.

On page 96 is my next sock pattern: Checkered Textures.

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I enjoy Saturday morning knitting at Panera so much that sometimes I go back on Sunday morning, but usually by myself. So, that's what I did today. I was knitting along on my bag to be felted when suddenly the needle broke. Oh my goodness I couldn't believe it. This was a Denise needle, too! Apparently, I was using too short of a cord which meant I had too many stitches bunched up, so when I pulled them to slide them around, the pressure was just too much. I'm hoping that I'll be able to order a replacement cord, but I haven't checked into that yet.

I've decided that I have too many projects going again and I need to finish something. I choose the strawberry hat to finish next. We'll see if I can remember that long enough to make it happen.

Finished Socks

I finished my first pair of socks last night. I used Patons Kroy Socks yarn, size 2 dpn, and the Garter Rib pattern from the Sensational Knitted Socks book. They felt good when I put them on for the picture, although they might be a little loose in a few places.

There are a couple of problematic spots that I'm going to have to get some help with from a more experienced knitter. Then I can wash them and wear them!

A heads up: I pulled out the Halloween cardigan from the pile in the corner, and dug around for the pattern, so will be working on that soon. I'm still on the first sleeve, but I don't think I've posted a picture of it yet. Maybe I'll do that today or tomorrow.