I got my Ram Wools catalogue in the mail today. In case you didn't know, I've only been knitting for a couple months and my biggest accomplishments have been knitted and felted bags. A cropped Lopi hooded jacket has caught my eye and I'm wondering if I'm up for it. Its classified as "Easy". I'm sure that's a relative term. If I can convince hubby to buy it for me, I might give it a shot:

I thought I'd post a few pictures of my growing stash. Michaels had Patons Classic Merino on sale last week so I got a few skeins, though not as many as I really would have liked to have gotten. I envision a few Fair Isle bags.


Now this picture is a little embarrassing because it seems a little, um, extreme (purchase c/o Mr. Visa). One our our local dollar stores here in Canada brings in wool from Briggs & Little every fall, for $3 per skein. If I could get more I would, and believe me I will try! It's a lot of wool for one person, but I have thoughts of some day designing and making bags to sell. I have too many ideas and desires for knitting bags, way beyond what I personally would need.


Below is the finished/modified Teeny Tiny Tote that I made for my daughter. I love it and want to make something for myself out of the wool that is left, but I think I might need another skein, maybe not. It's Noro Kureyon colorway #92. Maybe I'll make myself a larger version with 2 flat straps replacing the cord style ones. A friend at church yesterday asked if I'd make her one, that she would pay me, but I think I'd rather make a note of her wishes and keep it in mind for a Christmas present. Not that she and I exchange gifts, but being paid to make a bag adds an element of pressure I have no desire to feel. I want to make something for the pure joy of it. If someone wants to buy it then, well be my guest! LOL!


This is my current project, I FINALLY started my Bully Woolies tote. I'm lovin' the colours in this thing and this will be mine, all mine. I had to frog the entire bottom of the bag because I did it wrong. I was thankful to have realized the mistake now and not after felting! The bag is worked from the top down, which was new to me. I love how the top edge is worked, you *K2, P2* the first row, then K the second row. Repeat these two rows 2 more times, increasing by 3 stitches on the last row. No roll whatsoever!




I so love this knitting thing. I feel like my creative side was lying dormant for the past 13 years while my kids were young. Now with a 13 year old and 9 year old, I can start exploring my own personal passions.

Here are my latest projects, a bag for my 9 year old daughter loosely based on the teeny tiny tote, and a Sophie Bag with a flat strap. My daughter's bag will have either a heavy artsy pin or a hand painted ceramic button to keep the flap weighted down. I used Noro Kureyon, colourway 92.







I had originally planned on having a flap on the Sophie, but I'm going to either add a toggle style button with a crocheted loop, or I'll crochet a chain and loop a circular stone embellishment on it to keep the purse closed.

Here's my latest WIP, another Sophie Bag done with Paton's Classic Merino in Denim Marl. I wanted to see if I could do a much better job than I did on my last one/first one. I got the body of the bag done in about 24 hours (minus sleeping, eating, surfing etc.) but I have a feeling the rest will take a little longer. I was about 3 inches into making the first I-cord and realized that I must try something different because I was getting that unsatisfied feeling. Why keep going when you're feeling that way. So I ripped all the way back to the last row. After doing a bit of math, I decided that I would do a seed stitch (flat) strap, and even add a front flap. Now I have to go out and buy 9" size 10.5 knitting needles (my knitting tools arsenal is small). It'll be slow going doing k1, p1, k1, p1....but I'm too curious to see how it'll turn out. Oh and I definately need another skein of Patons.

My only fear is that it will turn out to be a small purse. I still haven't gotten a grip on that, whether I should knit double stranded, or bigger needles/more yardage (more money!). The only way to find out is to just do it!

I thought I'd post a picture of the Fair Isle bag in it's blocking phase. I should mention that this is basically a modified Booga Bag.



I'm quite excited about this technique, it's very forgiving since it ends up felted.

I went into my favourite LYS (Cricket Cove) this past weekend (I have to be careful not to drool on things when I'm in there!!). A week or so before this I bought a copy of Fiber Trends felted clog pattern there. This time I got some Alafoss Lopi to make my first pair (for hubby). The colours he chose were Grey Green, and Forest Heather. As a new knitter I've never used this yarn, and I look forward to trying it out. I also signed up for a felted clogs class. I could figure it out on my own, but this way will be much more fun. I can't wait!


I finished knitting my Fair Isle bag. For the top edge, I knit 1, purl 1, before binding off. This helped a little with it rolling over. I was quite nervous about throwing it in the wash, especially since my last felting project (see little Sophie Bag below!). Its turned out great so far. I can't wait until its dry! I ran out of Patons dark grey, so I have to get more to do the straps.

Here are a few before pictures, the first one shows the inside, plus my poochy!:

Okay, here's what I've been up to lately. For one thing, I discovered that I've been doing the knit stitch wrong. As a newbie self-taughter knitter, I suppose this is a risk you take. The discovery was made while watching Philosopher's Wool video clip on how to do the Two-handed Fair Isle Technique. You can probably see the bias I had going on my pre-felted Sophie bag in the previous blog entry. So now I have my Noro Iro Booga Bag that I had been working on needing frogging. If you look at the picture below, you can see where I attached a twist tie to mark where I starting knitting correctly. What a difference, DUH!!



A closer look:



Oh well, I'm happy that I saw the light. I can now say that I am a continental knitter, where before I just figured I had my own style.

Here's my latest project. I mentioned previously that I was going to do this bag for my Bag Me KAL. Here's how it's going so far. It will be felted and I must say that if this works out there will be more to come. Maybe next time I'll show what it looks like on the inside. I'll be lining it but I don't think it looks half bad for a beginner.



Here's my latest handmade stitch markers:



Oh and I've got to show off my latest recycled yarn from a men's wool sweater I got at a thrift shop. Sorry to say I didn't take a picture of the sweater first, but so far I have 5 skeins at 272 yards each. I love this colour and have had my eye out for something like since the start of my knitting journey. I see a Sophie Bag (knitted and felted properly this time), and I'm not sure what else.



Well I have some major catching up on reading fellow knitter's blogs....I've been too busy knitting so I'm behind! A good excuse to brew some coffee. Thanks to all who leave comments, I find them very encouraging and love having an excuse to see what you are also up to with your projects. :-)

A short while ago I threw this bag into the wash for felting:





Well, any fears of Patons SWS yarn not felting has totally left my mind! I now have a cute little purse, big enough for my wallet, the cellphone, a package of gum, and lipgloss. Figures I'd get this felting thing down THIS time, when before it always took about 3 runs in the machine. THIS time I added the pair of jeans, I also soaped up 2 faceclothes with a sunlight soap laundry bar instead of using baking soda. I walked away. WHAMMO! One run and we've gone from shoulder bag to wrist bag!





Note to self: CHECK felting process instead of throwing caution to the wind! This little thing WAS 12" wide and 12 1/2" long (excluding straps). It is now 6 1/4" wide and 6 1/2" long.

In reality I laughed my head off as I pulled it out of the pillow case. It's a good thing I wasn't in love with the colourway and looked at the whole thing as an experiment. Just seems like an awful lot of knitting for such a small bag!

My latest project is for the bag KAL I just joined. The challenge is to knit and felt a bag that has colour work. An image, wording, whatever you want to knit into it using a chart. Being a novice knitter who only began knitting for the first time a short while ago, I haven't had the chance to add this technique to my arsenal of knitting weapons. After days and days of searching and thinking, I've decided to try my hand a Fair Isle as opposed to my first choice of intarsia. This pattern below will be worked with Patons Classic Merino in dark grey and leaf green. You should be able to click on the link and get to the site where I found the pattern.



I knitted and frogged, knitted and frogged, until I finally decided to knit in the round. This way the pattern will be all around the bag. My plan is to sew up the bottom in the end. Maybe I'll put a rectangular bottom in it, I'm not sure. All I know is knitting in the round is much easier than going back and forth on straight needles!