Sharp Needles Ahead!

Okay, I may end up having to admit defeat before long. I’m sooooo sick of the dimple socks. I’ve never knit more than one pair of socks of any one pattern let alone to knit THREE socks in quick succession. I haven’t been able to get myself to even cast on DH Dimple #2.

So, I cheated somewhat. I say somewhat because I said I wouldn’t *cast on* for anything new and I haven’t done that. Instead I dusted off something old and got to the finishing of it. Okay, well according to the pattern it was completed, but it seemed like a wonderful canvas for some artistic embellishing. So it never made it to the side bar FOs like it’s mates who were felted at the same time. So, I pulled out Lucy and the roving and I had picked up to embellish her and got to work yesterday afternoon.

This is only the beginning. I think the needle felting *may* be about done, but I intend to also do some embroidery and beading to add the more detailed elements to the paisley on the bag. I do have a tip to share with you though. Those who are familiar with needle felting know that you need to have some foam or that on the back side to absorb the needle after it passes through the wool. With this bag I thought it would be troublesome to try hold it flat over a hunk of foam so I used this…

It’s a foam soccer ball. Like the former “Nerf” balls. Though in my quest to find one I discovered that Nerf doesn’t really make those anymore. This is made by Poof and was still kind of hard to find but you can order direct from them (just follow the link). But, one day during Christmas shopping season my local grocery store had a two-ball box with this ball and a football in it. I think the football will be great if I wish to embellish a Squatty or similarly shaped purse sometime. The soccer ball is a touch smaller than I was aiming for, but it works just fine and actually probably is easier to get inside the bag than if I had found a ball that was bigger because I forgot about the opening being smaller than the actual bag.

Have a great weekend everyone! And send me vibes to get me casting on and knitting DH Dimple 2! ;-)

May I Present…

Scrappy Squatty Sidekick, Worstead Lucy, and Not-so-Squatty Sister Sidekick
(please disregard the keys dangling from the flap on Scrappy, as it needed weight to block it into proper position)

Here they are blocking. I never thought I’d have use for every single plastic shopping bag we have stock piled in the house. Yes, we use them in about every trash can in the house, and we try to remember our string bags as often as we can but they still seem to build up. But, with THREE felted bags to block and dry I have used very nearly every plastic bag in the house!

Scrappy ended up quite a bit larger than the original Springy, but I think it will be a nice size. I did two rows of single crochet around the flap in the Brown Sheep Peacock to blend in with the button loop and I really like that look, though it did require a bit of man handling during the felting process.

I’m quite happy with Lucy. I think a soccer ball would have been the perfect blocking item for this one, but there are no soccer balls around casa Schueler. So, plastic bags will have to do. Now, I’ll have to make some snazzy pin or something to put on the short handle… Or perhaps a row of 3 hand made buttons???

The Not-So-Squatty Sister Sidekick is nice. It is indeed roughly 1 inch deeper than the original Springy. If I were to do this again I’d widen it a bit as well (like Snow did on her Bloated Squatty) now that I know how much yarn there still is left after deepening it and lengthening the strap and flap a little. The deepness without additional widening is not nearly as fun of a shape I don’t think. I have in the last couple of days become a little concerned that it may be a bit too green, but the other option I’m almost positive was way too blue and dark. I think this was the best choice.

Now comes the fun part of finding the perfect finishing touch for these bags once they have dried. Buttons for the Squatties and perhaps buttons or a pin for Lucy… Or perhaps Lucy wants needle felting embellishment?? Of couse that requires further acquisition - felting needles, foam, appropriate colors of felting fleece etc… We’ll see…

A lot of fulling going on…

Well, Saturday I squeezed in finishing the straps for the worstead Lucy. I decided on making the standard worstead version instead of the tall. Then I’ll have one for reference and if I want a taller one I can make a taller one! I didn’t *quite* use two full skeins (not there was enough left worth weighing or measuring).

So, yesterday around noon I cast on for a Not So Squatty Sister Sidekick. When Amber requested one she said she wanted it a little bigger. I asked her to show me what a little bigger was and it was really only about 1 inch taller or so and no wider. I thought since I had made a yarn substitution on my own Spring Squatty that using the Manos del Uraguay would roughly give me that inch. I mean, it seemed my Squatty was much smaller than Amanda’s. However, we put them side by side and they really were more or less the same size! So, I made some modifications - I added one extra row in between all the increase/decrease rows and a couple in the straight section for ten additional rows. She also wanted a wider flap, so I pretty much followed the directions, but started with more stitches. It ended up the flap was only another ten rows long, so I think it should hit at the right spot on the purse.

I’m sooo proud of myself! Her birthday is more than two months away and I’m nearly done! Granted I’ll have to locate the perfect button after it is fulled. But, I’m well ahead of the game. She’s been really into wearing turquoise and a chocolate brown so I’m kind of contemplating making the sport weight Lucy for her in a chocolate brown as the surprise element in her birthday gift. She likes smaller purses/bags so I think that will definitely be the right size. She never even saw the pattern while I was home (and she doesn’t have decent enough Internet to ever read my blog) so it would definitely be a surprise. I wish I had access to her cell phone, I’d make a cell phone cozy with the left over Manos I have…

I picked up some additional zippered pillow covers and the color catcher sheets at Target yesterday so I’m hoping to finish the very first ever Squatty I cast on (with the garish stripes) and then I’ll full all three bags at the same time. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to wrap that one up today while taking breaks from cutting massive amounts of paper.

Tonight is SnB, baby! Wooo hooo! :-) (Of course that also means it is cheesemaking day…)

Tea Time Tangent!

As I mentioned yesterday, we ventured to Boulder for dinner with our visiting friend, John. Boulder has a sister city in Tajikistan named Dushanbe. They have a tea house in Boulder from Dushanbe by that name.

It was built in Dushanbe and carefully dismantled and shipped here (Boulder in return is building an Internet Cafe). It is a feast for the eyes both inside and out…

There is a gorgeous fountain around which are situated the many tables. There are I believe 8 support posts, each one hand carved with a different design on each every couple of feet. And, the ceiling is painted in bright designs.

The menu is truly International with plates from Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Tajikistan, India, Thailand, China, Armenia, Persia and more. When it comes to speciality drinks and the dessert the focus was on using their teas. So, we started the dinner with Armenian Maza and some of their special Peach Tea infused sangria.

Needless to say, we didn’t have any troubles making a dent in that pitcher of sangria by the end of the main course! DH had Persian Vegetarian Koofta balls with fried grabanzo beans and wilted spinach, John had Tajik Plov (a rice dish similar to Indian Byranni but with Middle Eastern spicing and served with grilled beef) and I had Cuban Picadillo de Carne. Everything was WONDERFUL! And, we all ordered dessert and shared them around the table.

Here the boys are in post-dessert bliss.

Following the massive amounts of awesome food and good drink we decided a stroll on Pearl Street would be prudent before the drive home. I enjoy seeing the occassional street performer (on a Tuesday night around 10:30pm it is occasional), though am always made a but uneasy by the panhandlers.

I couldn’t pass up this photo opportunity…

John Riding Bronze Beaver

Okay, so I’m not completely off topic - I knit on Lucy on the way there. And, are there any lace shawl/stole patterns that are available for immediate download upon purchase? It seems there isn’t, but perhaps I’ve just missed them? I’m an instant gratification type of gal, what can I say??

WIP Monday!

Any guess what this is? That’s a pair of sunglasses for scale…

It’s the Lucy Bag that I bought the pattern and yarn for at Uniquely Knit in New London, MN while I was visiting family. I love the heathery nature of the Cascade 220 Color 9454. It has such depth and range of colors in it. I can’t wait to see the felted result of it!

Yum!

I have completed the first skein of 220 and am at row 71 of 100 or 120. I haven’t decided yet if I want to do the “tall ball” version or just the regular large. At the show I saw a completed one, but it was knit out of Lopi instead so I’m unsure about its size in comparison to the use of the recommended yarns like Cascade. I’ll make the decision once I get to row 100. I have 4 skeins of yarn so I have more than enough if I want to do the large version.

I started this on Friday night. On Saturday we drove to Colorado Springs and back for a nephew’s 17th birthday party (which he hardly attended and was silent even when he was present) so that allowed for quite a bit of knitting. Though it was dark and I was exhausted on the drive home so I only knit on the way down.

I used my Sophie bag this weekend. I’m not fond of how it hangs when I have my things in it. I think I’ll be adding some sort of fastening system to it so it hangs nicer instead of gapping open all the time. I’m undecided if I want to add a button closure or maybe just a magnetic snap??? I’ll probably give it a few more days thought. I’m also contemplating some embroidery or needle felted embellishment, but I’ve not completely decided on that yet.

I’ll be working on a Sister Squatty once Lucy is done. My sister wants a squatty in a turquoise color. So, I picked up some Manos del Uraguay Color D to use for hers. She wants a couple modifications to it. But I’ll do that up here soon so it’s all ready for her Halloween birthday. She also mentions something about slippers, but when pressed for what color she’d like she said she was just kidding. So, I’m thinking I might make her some Fuzzy Feet for Christmas. It’s early enough I should be totally stressing myself out with pressure knitting and it would nice to return to the mostly handmade gift giving.

I’ve been all about the large needles and fulling/felting lately. I think that I’m sick of the Flatiron socks because it took me so long on the first one (and even on settling on a stitch pattern). But I think I’m also not picking up the tiny sock needles because my fall last week had me pinching a nerve that made my left arm semi-tingly and that was exacerbated while knitting on the trip home. So I’ve not picked the sock up since I got home! That’s pretty unusual for me…

There it is - all 3 or 4 inches of the cuff. *sigh* There is still quite a ways to go on that bugger. Perhaps part of my lack of progress is the fact that I don’t EVER wear socks in the summer. It’s quite likely that socks won’t see the light of day until early October. And, while I enjoy the process, it’s the wearing and showing off that pushes me forward to the finish line. So, perhaps the fact that I could finish these socks and they could languish in my sock drawer for a good 6 weeks or longer is also part of my lack of progress.