I thought I'd post the progress on my Sophie Bag done with Patons SWS yarn. I have 19 more rows until I start working on the handles.

I joined Stuff Knitters Want and Gotta Have Exchange (Stitch Marker Exchange and More!). Should be fun to give and receive handmade stitch markers...and more!

I was so bummed that I didn't discover the International Tote Exchange II until it was too late to sign up...I was late by like 3 days! My name is down for a possible third run in the new year. I hope they do it!

Now I'm toying with the idea of joining the Ohhh Bag Me KAL. September's project looks like fun to try for this newbie knitter. I already have an idea in mind.

Well, here's my Sophie Bag so far:

For my Bag-A-Holic buddies, my current progress on my Patons SWS Sophie Bag. I'm about to pick up stitches all around. I'm liking how the colour changes, at first I thought it was unpredictable, but it seems to have reverse repeated itself! It's not perfect, but keep in mind I only started knitting for the first time a week ago!

(Edited to add that yes I realized I mistakenly knitted 5 extra rows than needed for the Sophie Bag!)

Just to show how much yarn one can get from thrift store wool sweaters, I'm posting a picture of the basket of yarn gleaned from 3 sweaters. The thing is, the pink one's from pieces were unsalvageable, the burnt orange's front has yet to be unraveled, and the green sweater was a child's size. These are destined to be turned into either felted bags, bowls, or my first pair of felted clogs.

Today on my Yahoo Bag-A-Holic group, all it took was for someone to mention the new Patons SWS yarn and that sent me on a trip to Michael's. I bought 2 skeins of Natural Earth and will use it to make my Sophie Bag. Can't wait to see how it felts!

Here's what I've scavenged so far off the wool sweaters I bought at a local thrift store. The pink yarn was from a J Crew sweater. There's still more to come of the burnt orange (Old Navy), and the green (American Eagle) coloured yarn, I've only just started unraveling those sweaters. The green is from a sweater that I washed incorrectly, it was on it's way to being felted. It'll be fine for a felted bag. In the end I'll have a heck of a lot of recycled yarn for next to nothing. Through this process I learned how to wash wool sweaters properly, and how to tell good seams from bad seams. I'm also getting quite proficient at unraveling!

The other night I was knitting in bed with my 9 year old daughter sitting beside me. She asked me if I would teach her how to knit. I told her to get some yarn and needles and I proceeded to cast-on a few stitches and showed her the knit stitch about 5 times in a row and then handed it to her. The kid just picked right up where I left off, slowly but surely! Now somehow she's inadvertently added a few increases since it's now wider than when she started, but I'm very proud of her.

The funny part is later on when I went to go to bed I walked by her bedroom to find her light still on and her still knitting. She said "I know I should go to sleep but I keep telling myself just one more row". I nearly fell off her bed laughing and told her she sounded just like a knitter!

I love having a new knitting partner!

Even though I'm a beginner knitter, I'm already showing signs of being an addict. Having one project on the go is NEVER enough, there must be multiple projects waiting in the wings. My Booga Bag is barely underway, and now I've collected what I need to start a Sophie Bag. Maybe it's the plight of the artist-at-heart, the incessant need to create, whether it's knitting, painting, photographing, baking, designing, or gardening.

Oh and my Bully Woolies "Round Tote" Kit arrived at my LYS. As a newbie knitter I sure am adventureous! That's me though, once I find a new obsession, I'm unstoppable.

I also tried my hand at making stitch markers. Most of what I got was on sale since I wanted to see if I could do it before investing in expensive pretty beads. The beads I got are faceted glass and are quite nice. It's a good thing they were on sale. Gotta love Michaels.

In the photo above, you can hardly see the stitch marker on my Noro Iro Booga Bag because by some freakish coincidence, it totally matches the lines of colour in the yarn!

I went on the hunt for 100% wool sweaters at our local thrift shops. My plan is to unravel them into balls for knitting. I want to see if I can experience the satisfaction of having nice wool for a few dollars. We'll see though if I can actually figure out how to unravel them! Well a simple google search came up with this site which might help: The Recycled Yarn Tutorial. I also found a great site about washing wool sweaters that I wish I had found before I washed the first 2 items. I did them in the machine (whoops!), and used Woolite which is actually a no-no, and they came out a little fuzzy. Let's just say they'll need one less run in the washing machine when it comes to felting whatever I knit them into. Either that or I'll truly felt the sweaters and use them for cutting up into flowers etc.

My First Official Knitting Attempts!

Here are the very first things I've knitted since teaching myself to knit last week. My daughter wants me to make another mitten to match the one I made since it fits her perfectly. The cuff seems a little small but hey it was my first try. The slipper is sooooo 70's! Stands to reason though since I used a pattern from an 1986 learn to knit book, who's patterns were obviously old even when the book was published.

I used Patons Classic Wool for the mitten, and Brigg's & Little wool for the slipper. I have serious doubts I'll be making a mate for the slipper, but it was good for experience. I learned to bind-off in this one.

I finished my "In Bloom" crocheted purse from the book
Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker that we're making this month at the Happy Hooker Chain Gang crotchet-along. You can look at Thursday, August 17th's blog entry below to see how it looked before I felted it. I bought some more of the Lamb's Pride periwinkle coloured wool to knit the flowers. I'm a total newbie at knitting but they didn't turn out too badly. I had to felt them over and over and wish they had felted some more. Perhaps I should have used bigger needles. The leaves are made from a recycled wool sweater I got for $2 at a local thrift shop. I love that green. I had previously felted the sweater and had it in my stash. I cut out some leaves and felted them again so the ends would curl a bit.


The fabric that I bought for the lining matched perfectly in the store but when I got home it didn't match as well! Oh well, it's a cute print with rubber'ish "sprinkles", reminding me of a colourful cupcake. I didn't quite get the lining into the corners of the purse but it'll do. I added a magnetic snap for a closure.

It was a fun project. I'm not much of a clutch purse person, but I hope to find an excuse to use it some time.

I must be crazy!! I just bought a knitting pattern on ebay for one of the most gorgeous felted bags I've seen so far....and I barely know how to knit! The seller (search "pippspurses") told me that the pattern has been used in a beginner class. Sold! I'll give it a shot and it would certainly provide plenty of inspiration to master the basics. Tell me this isn't beautiful:


Jennifer of Pippspurses can send the pattern as a file and offered to help me through e-mail should I get stuck. She offers this pattern on a regular basis so it's worth watching for. Or if you wish, she'll make one for you in your desired colours. Check her stuff out, she has other patterns too!

When I uploaded my crocheted purse pictures I found that I had some older photos that I hadn't uploaded yet. Just for fun I'll post one here. I love macro photography.

Here's the periwinkle crocheted clutch purse I'm working on from the book Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. That strand of yarn is all that was left. I added 5 extra rows than what is called for in the pattern, so I was pushing my luck as far as having enough yarn. Only thing is that I had planned to crochet some coordinating flowers onto the bag so now I have to decide if I want to spend $7.99tx on another skein (assuming the store has more of the same colour lot), or if I want to embellish it with something else. I'm going to felt it for sturdiness and then line it with some fabric.


Who knows if I'll keep it, sell it, or give it away as a present. So far it's awfully cute though! I hope the stitches still show up somewhat after felting.

I thought I'd post the crocheted bag I finished yesterday. I used Patons Classic Wool Merino in Leaf Green and New Denim. Two days after felting it was finally dry and I could attach the handles. The handles were made with a corking/knitting spool as opposed to knitting an I-cord. I have yet to master knitting so this was a good alternative. Silly me though, I had intended to have the stripes towards the bottom of the bag but inadvertently sewed up the wrong end! Of course I only discovered this after felting it. Oh well, it's not so bad and it's my first official bag so it was really just a practice run.

Overall I'm pleased and it'll make a nice little purse for autumn, or a grab-and-go project bag.

Well, off I go to work on my "In Bloom" purse!

She's started a Blog??

I had absolutely no intention of starting a blog until I was lured into it by the resurgence of my interest in crocheting. What does crocheting have to do with blogging you might ask? I stumbled upon what's called a crochet-along at The Happy Hooker Chain Gang Crochet-Along which happens to be working on the very project I was considering starting. So here I am starting a blog of my own so I can join in! Never say never!

Here's a picture of the 2 yarns that I'm considering, both of which are quite different from each other. I made the mistake of going to a local yarn shop and now I'm spoiled for shopping anywhere else. No more Michael's or Walmart. Hello $25tx skeins of heaven...yikes!

The Lamb's Pride (85% wool/15% mohair) is called Periwinkle and it's much more purpley than it shows up on my screen. The glorious Noro Iro (75% wool/ 25% silk) is colour #43. I adore this stuff. This is the the yarn that has prompted me to vow to learn to knit.

Now to choose which one to use to make my "In Bloom" crocheted purse out of the book Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.