Felted Bags

When going through the yarn stash that I inherited from my mother-in-law, I came across a bag full of tapestry wool. I think she used it to hook rugs. Some of it was cut in lengths, but some was still in the skein. I thought it might be good for felting since it is 100% wool. So, I knit up a little bag and threw it in the wash. It came out beautifully. I used the jewelry bag pattern from Felted Knits by Beverly Galeskas. Since the first bag turned out so well, I tried a smaller gift bag from the same book.

Oh, the fun I will have with this yarn! I think I might even try dyeing the pale skeins into something more colorful.

Progress

Believe it or not I actually worked on the Flower Meadows Shawl yesterday. Only two more pattern repeats to go and then the border. One day it will be finished, but not today. Today I'll be doing this...

...only this time it will be bread and butter pickles.

Hats!

As you can see, it was a good weekend for knitting hats for The Preemie Project. We traveled to Brownwood, Texas to attend my son's band/drum major camp performance. And, since that's six hours from here, I was able to knit quite a bit while my husband drove. These hats bring the total number to fourteen. I haven't set a goal yet. I'm just planning to knit as many as possible. It's fun to try new patterns for these little hats. So if you want to try them too, read on. I made some modifications to match my yarn and the size I wanted, but I won't go into all those details...just some general notes. The square Jester Type Hat (the blue one and the yellow one in the middle) has become one of my favorites. The square blue and white striped hat is a little different and is loosely based on this pattern (click to see the cute baby even if you don't want to knit the hat). The solid pink hat is a spiral rib design (nice pattern but I think I will make a few changes in the way the decreases are knit next time). The small green one can be found here (I'll use a different ribbing next time-- this one was too much work). And of course, the tried and true rolled brim will always be a favorite.

Quick Knitting

I really like the way these booties/socks turned out. (Knit from Bernat cotton tots yarn, using size 5 dpns.) The pattern is from the book Knits From The Heart by Kristin Spurkland. The sub-title is Quick Projects for Generous Giving. Quick knitting is what I'm all about so far this summer. I'll get back to bigger, more involved projects later (like my Meadow Flowers Shawl). But for now, there are several other projects in this book that I would like to try...a couple of hats, baby blankets, mittens and more. The author had in mind knitting for charity when she came up with these patterns. Some of the hats are even written in preemie sizes! And, she included tips on sizing the patterns up or down. In the back of the book is a list of national charitable organizations that accept donations of hand-knit items. This is the first book I've seen that encourages knitting for charity. Definitely a good addition to my knitting library.

Teddy Bear

You can find the free pattern for this teddy bear here. I knit mine from Red Heart Casual Cot'n. This is a heavy worsted/bulky weight yarn with a lot of texture. I like the way this yarn gives the bear a homespun look. I used size 6 dpns and knit in stockinette stitch instead of the recommended garter stitch. And, when the pattern said to knit for 1?"(3 1/2 cm), I just knit until the proportion looked right. For me that was about 2 inches. This bear turned out to be 11 inches tall, but you could make it just about any size you want by adjusting the yarn and needles. It was fun to knit, but just know that you might have to play around with the pattern a little to get the look you want. The arms turned out a little long, but I was able to fix that when I did the seaming. Next time I will probably cast on fewer stitches for the arms. I originally thought I would give this to one of the new babies at church, but would it be wrong to keep it for myself? He's sitting on my desk now--sort of a knitting mascot.

Happy Anniversary

Today my daughter and her husband have been married for two years. Time goes by so fast. I remember the summer of 2002 when I stitched this sampler. I would wait until my daughter left for work, then drop everything and embroider on it until she came home. I made sure she didn't catch me working on it. It was easier to stitch once she returned to college in the Fall. I had never done hardanger before, so I was a little nervous when it came to the cut work. It wasn't as hard as it looked and I was happy with the way it turned out. It was a little difficult to photograph, but maybe you can get the idea of how it looks. Happy Anniversary to two of the greatest people I know!

More To Come

This is hat #7 for The Preemie Project...with more to come. It's about all the knitting I can manage when I'm in the kitchen all day chopping up this...

To make this...

I made two batches today and one earlier in the week. That's about 15 pints of salsa in the freezer...with more to come.