fo - booga bag!

I am so proud of this thing, I just can't tell you.





I included the Sims CD case for scale. You can see it's not quite the full size as given in the pattern, plus I attached the handles a little differently. I wanted it to be a bit shorter and wider. It's got a piece of thinnish cardboard in the bottom to hold the shape, though it's not attached in any way.

I'm going to make a pink version for my sister Renee next. AND I've now got one Tempting sleeve finished and the other started on DPNS. Wish me luck!

booga update, blanky pics

The Booga Bag is almost finished! I felted it yesterday with 4-5 towels in hot water and some Tide. I added about a gallon of boiling water from the stove to the first cycle. I put it through twice before unpinning the pillowcase, and it looked pretty good! It's blocking right now with a small cardboard box in it, and safety pins holding the corners together. The I-cord was especially neat, it felted up so nice and hid all my lame mistakes.

I'll have more pictures of the FO soon. In the meantime, here's some of my last completed project, a blanky made for our friend's little baby Maya Linda.







The little orange kitty was part of the gift, it was soooooo soft to the touch. As you can see, Smokey wanted the kitty for himself. He was pretending he wasn't that interested, but as soon as I snapped the picture he grabbed it and ran.

works in progress

I have two projects on the needles right now, and both have pushed me to learn new things. The Booga Bag is my first wool project as well as my first felting project, AND I learned picking up stitches and I-cord while making it. It's almost ready for felting... maybe four more inches of height and I'll bind it off. I used the recommended yarn, Noro Kureyon, in colorway #55. I'm really happy with the color, I was worried it would be too drab but there are all sorts of blue and red tones to the browns and grays that make it really interesting to look at. I think the picture I just took captured that well.



And here is my very first sweater, knitty's Tempting, which was also my first project on circular needles (and DPNs). I'm making it in the recommended Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, colorway #612. I love the Cashmerino, it's very plush and easy to knit. The first picture is from a month ago, when I first started on the body. The second picture is current!





You can see the beginnings of a sleeve there on the DPNs. I must have frogged it and cast it on 5 times before I got the hang of them. I think I may have been dropping stitches between needles, since my rib pattern kept coming out wrong. But I have about three rounds of non-messed-up-2x2 now, so I think this is the time it's gonna stick.

This week the yarn arrived for my next three projects. I'm making another baby blanky, in turquoise, tangerine and lemon yellow, this time in Debbie Bliss Cotton DK. The baby is due in July, so I thought the summery colors would be nice. Then I ordered two balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in "Pearl" from a seller on eBay who was offering free shipping from the UK! It arrived in less than a week, I was amazed. That's going to be a lacey scarf from the Last-Minute Gifts book. I'm making it a little wider and longer than the pattern calls for in hopes of using it as a wrap/shawl for Dad's wedding in September. Finally, I ordered some inexpensive wool from Elann.com to make a striped Booga bag for my sister in various shades of pink.

I like having a backlog of projects, it's a very satisfying feeling for some reason.

my knitting library

Knitting for Dummies
Pam Allen
ISBN 076455395X

Before I was using the internet for knitting info, and before the advent of Stitch N Bitch, this was the first knitting book I purchased. The description and illustrations of the standard cast on method were especially helpful!


Complete Idiot's Guide to Knit and Crochet
Barbara Breiter, Gail Diven
ISBN 1592570895

What I do with these all purpose books is this: whenever there's a technique in a pattern I haven't used yet, I get out all my how-to books and compare the instructions. One book's pictures might help me figure out another book's illustrations or vice versa. I figure if I have nine books open to the page on picking up stitches, odds are I'm going to understand one of 'em!


Stitch 'n Bitch
Debbie Stoller
ISBN 0761128182

Now almost a cliche among younger knitters, Stoller's book was the one that exposed me to the new wave of knitters, a large group of women (and men!) my own age looking for non-grandmotherly patterns. It also introduced me to the community of knitting in the form of the Stitch N Bitch groups - though I still have yet to attend one of those! Tons of internet links got me started on shopping for yarn online and browsing other people's blogs.


Pipsqueaks
Kim Hargreaves
ISBN 0952537575

This is the first book I bought for a particular pattern. I had been looking for a simple baby blanket pattern and found pictures of a finished "Peaches" blanky from this book in someone's blog. This was my intro to Rowan yarns and designers, and it was a great experience. The Peaches blanky has become my signature baby gift, I've done six of them now and I have fun swapping colors and substituting yarn for each one. I haven't tried the other patterns yet as they were a bit over my head, but I think I'm ready to make some of the adorable baby sweaters now.


Tadpoles and Tiddlers
Kim Hargreaves
ISBN 0952537508

This book came with Pipsqueaks in a package deal from Amazon. I love the patterns and photography, it's only a matter of time before I tackle a few of these myself.


Knitter's Handbook
Montse Stanley
ISBN 0895774674

I'm pretty sure this was recommended in Stitch N Bitch as an invaluable resource for the beginner onward. I bought my copy used on Half.com and use it often when I need pictures of techniques or definitions of something new I've come across.


Simple Knits for Cherished Babies
Erika Knight
ISBN 1855859262

I love this book. The patterns are gorgeous and the writing is superb. The only drawback is that they all call for very expensive yarns, sometimes impractically so. Cashmere baby sweaters and teddy bears look and feel great, but they're still going to get spit up on. As I get more familiar and confident with yarn substituting, this book becomes more and more useful to me. My favorite pattern is the simple baby's beanie hat knit in Rowan all seasons cotton. I made one to go with every blanky I gave out!


Baby Knits for Beginners
Debbie Bliss
ISBN 1570762481

A lot of my friends are having babies these days. A LOT. That's why when I branched out from the How To collections, I stuck to baby books. This is a great one because of the ease of the patterns and the wonderful beginner tutorials on basic techniques. The only pattern I wouldn't make is the garter stitch scarf for infants (it's modeled on a kid under 1 year of age), because I'm just not seeing the moms I know wrapping anything around their baby's neck. I love the blanket made of garter stitch squares joined together, which I want to try as practice for seaming. This book also introduced me to Debbie Bliss yarns and designs for the first time.


Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Joelle Hoverson, Anna Williams
ISBN 1584793678

Gorgeous patterns organized by the length of time it takes to make them. I recently read a thread on the forums at crafster.org full of finished works from this book and they were awesome. I can't wait to get into this one a bit more.


Knit Wit
Amy R. Singer
ISBN 0060740701

This book was a slight disappointment. The stand-up format is awkward and annoying, and the patterns are pretty hit and miss. It suffers from the usual "hip" knitting book flaw of trying too hard for "unique" patterns. I don't want to knit a yoga mat bag or an ice cream pint cozy. The writing is good, however, and there are a few patterns that I can tell will make the purchase worth it for me.


Stitch N Bitch Nation
Debbie Stoller
ISBN 0761135901

Of course like any good Next Gen knitter, I bought the Stitch N Bitch sequel. I think there's a few more dumb patterns than in the first one. Seriously? Another yoga mat bag? But there's enough really cool ones to keep me hooked on the Stoller series. I love the Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater, hopefully I will be ready for that once I get Tempting and a few baby sweaters under my belt.


Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles
Cat Bordi
ISBN 0970886950



World of Knitted Toys
Kath Dalmeny, Carolyn Clewer
ISBN 0715312243



Knitting Without Tears
Elizabeth Zimmerman
ISBN 0684135051

These last three I can't review yet, as they're currently on their way to me from the warehouses of BN.com. They came highly recommended by fellow bloggers and posters on the @forumz Knit and Bitch board, and I'm really looking forward to them. I'll post an update once I've gotten a chance to read and knit from each one!

And that's my knitting library thus far. Any hobby that involves books is going to be a winner for me. I'll take any excuse I can get to buy more books!

it's about time!

In the three and a half years since I've learned to knit, the internet has become a vital resource for me. I can't tell you how many blogs and messageboards I have browsed, looking at others' Works In Progress and Finished Objects, learning new tips techniques, becoming simultaneously jealous and inspired.

I have an online diary elsewhere for my everyday minutiae and Deep Thoughts™, and so far I have been posting my knitting flotsam there as well. But that diary is only semi-public for obvious reasons, and I wanted to join the vast community of bloggers who are out there primarily to be a part of the knitting community.

A little about me:

• I'm 25 years old, a native of the NE Philadelphia suburbs currently living in Fairfax, VA.
• I'm married to my husband of 3 years, Gerry, who works for the government.
• I'm the proud mom to 2 cats (every knitting blog has at least one) named Smokey and the Bandit.
• I have a BA in English from the U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (GO HEELS) and a MA in Literature from American University here in DC.
• Shockingly, those degrees have not led to steady employment thus far, but in my free time I am volunteering with a local animal rescue org and singing in a wonderful community choir.
• I am probably what you'd call an "Advanced Beginnner" when it comes to the craft. I love learning new things, which I mostly teach myself from books and the internet. My mother-in-law was the one who originally showed me how to knit and purl, and I just took off from there!
• I'm currently working on my first sweater and my first felted bag, pictures of which will be forthcoming.

Stay tuned!