My Therapist, the Knitting Bag

8:45:09 AM EST

I would like to invite you to the Grand Opening of my new journal!  I am changing screennames, and thus beginning a new journal under my new screenname. Please follow and bookmark the following link:

http://journals.aol.com/luv2knit63/MyTherapistIsAKnittingBag/

Aol says the link may take up to 24 hours to start working, so if it doesn't work today, please try again tomorrow.  Please follow me as the knitting adventure continues!

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8:34:52 AM EST
Just wanted to let everyone know that I am still here!  There hasn't been much knitting or crocheting going on lately as other things in life have taken center stage, but that won't last forever!  A little rain falls into every life, but I will get through it all.  I did finally get my new Interweave Knits magazine, and I really enjoyed it!  I am thinking of  adding the Aztec Vest to my "To Do" list, but I think I will change the colors around a little bit.  I do love those embroidered suns, though.  I might take a "sanity break" today from all the aggravation of "real life" and run by Barnes and Noble to check out the other new knitting mags that might be out there.  A little mocha latte might be just what I need today! lol!  Then maybe a little knitting outside in the sunshine.  Sounds good, doesn't it?

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8:43:17 AM EST
I have been able to get gauge for that crochet jacket using the Luxor Plus!  The Bernat Boucle was just too thick.  I had thought that the Luxor would be too thin, but when I tried it, it came out to perfect gauge the first try.  So, I guess I need to add that crochet jacket to my WIP sidebar!  I am still working on that last scarf at work.  When that is finished, I will start working on that jacket during lunchtime.  Who knows, several people got started on knitting when I started making scarves at work, now maybe I will get a few interested in crochet, too!  I will post pictures just as soon as possible.  The card on the camera has gone bad and we need to get another one.  Seems like this has been the source of the ongoing problems we have had with the camera over the last month or two.  It has finally died altogether. Always something, isn't it?  :)

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10:05:39 AM EST
Guess what was waiting for me when I got home from work last night?  Two boxes of yarn!!!!  :)  Joy!  The first box was from Smiley's.  I had ordered Soft Boucle in periwinkle/pink/blue for the crocheted jacket, and to round the order out, I had to buy more yarn (oh darn! haha!), so I ended up getting  some Luxor Plus in black confetti.  The Boucle is not the expensive one from Fiesta yarns that the pattern calls for, but I was trying not to spend $80 to crochet the jacket!  I will make some swatches today to see if the Boucle will work.  The Luxor would make a gorgeous crocheted jacket, but it might be a bit too thin.  Bron is on a similar search for the perfect yarn for this jacket (we may have a crochet-a-thon on this one!) and she has tried 3 different yarns and is still looking.  The second box was a backorder from The Knitting Garden.  It contained 4 balls of Noro Kureyon in color #74 -- gorgeous fuschias and greens and purples!  I will post pictures soon!  The box also contained the new book, "It's a Tape Thing!"  There are lots of cute things in this book!   Well, I had better get going since I have lots of things to accomplish today.  I must finish a scarf to deliver to someone this afternoon, and of course, I must swatch for that jacket! 

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10:03:10 AM EST
I can't believe it has been over a week since I last posted!  Between work and home life, things have been very hectic recently.  I have managed to finish the square on the shawl, but have not started the rectangle. I plan to do that today.  I have finished one of the "lunchtime scarves" that I was telling you about that people have asked me to make for them.  Two more to go, and then I am calling it quits on scarves until next winter.  Speaking of lunchtime knitting, the number of knitters has increased to 5 now!  Kim has decided to learn to knit with the rest of us, and she brought her needles and yarn and during lunch yesterday I helped her get started on her first scarf!  There are still a couple of people who come by at lunch and watch and they are considering joining the fun themselves.  I think that is so wonderful!  Lately I have been bothered by one of those feelings, you know the one, "I want to start something but I don't know what it is!"  I guess I am searching for the next project that I will do after the Santa Fe shawl, or if I follow Bron's lead, do at the same time as the shawl!!!! he he!  Bron has a bad case of "startitis"!  I may have found it -- but it is not knitted, it is crocheted, but it is beautiful!  I received my new Patternworks catalog last Friday, and found this wonderful crocheted jacket in it.  Then, on Monday, I went to Walmart and found the new issue of Crochet Fantasy, and lo and behold, the pattern for this jacket is in it!  Now for the dilemma.  The yarn the pattern calls for is from Fiesta yarns -- it is a rayon boucle and it is rather expensive.  The jacket would cost $80 to make.  So, I will search for some compatible yarn to substitute (but I am sooooooo tempted to just get the rayon boucle!)  I know it is crochet and not knit, but if you check out the jacket, I think you will agree it is gorgeous!!!!  I can be forgiven for taking a crochet detour on this one!

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5:33:06 PM EST
Here they are as promised -- the pictures of the completed "Booga Bag!"  Apparently you have to hold your teeth just right to make the camera work -- who knew????  For details of the bag finishing, see this morning's journal entry, below.

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11:01:45 AM EST

I just finished putting together my "Booga Bag," and I love it!!!!!  It is amazing how strong the felted fabric is.  The pattern calls for poking holes in the bag to put the I-cord through, and it is easier said than done!  I was afraid of breaking my bamboo needle, so I dug out a trusty old size 15 metal needle to do the hole-poking.  After much pushing and wiggling and tugging, the I-cord is through and the bag is complete and ready to use!   Unfortunately, the digital camera has decided that it cannot "see" its card inside, so I am unable to get a picture  :(   At first I thought the problem with the camera was me, but on Sunday the hubby went to use it and it finally did the same thing to him.  It took him 2 hours of "finagling" to get it to work.  It did fine yesterday, but today it is back to its stubborn tricks.  I guess he will have to "finagle" it again this evening to make it work.  To ease my disappointment in not being able to post a picture of the completed bag, I decided to post another cute kitty picture I already had downloaded but had never posted.  As soon as the digital camera decides to work again, I will get that bag picture up -- I am excited about it and anxious to show the final product!  Pesky electronic gadgets -- aren't they here to make life easier???????   Nothing new on the Santa Fe shawl front, but I plan to work on that this afternoon and evening.  Won't be much progress beyond that until the weekend as I go back to work tomorrow for 3 days of 12 hour shifts in a row.  Factor in the 1 hour travel time both to and from work, and that 12 hour day turns into 14.  Not much time leftover for knitting.  :(

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10:59:18 AM EST
As you can see from the pictures, the "Booga Bag" has been felted and is in the process of drying!  I finished it yesterday and made a trip to my parents' house to use their washing machine to do the felting.  It took almost an hour of aggitation to get to the correct size, but the waiting was worth it!!  I think the colors are much brighter now after the felting process.  I can't wait for it to dry so that I can put it together and use it!  It is still damp, and I figure that maybe by tomorrow at this time it will be dry.  I will post a completed picture of it then.  On the Santa Fe shawl front, I am 8 rows short of being finished the first square.  This shawl is knit in 2 pieces (a square and a rectangle) which are grafted together when completed.  I am not altogether happy about how much white there is in this yarn, but I think it will make a lovely red hat shawl anyway, especially once its red and purple beads are sewn on the edges.  You can't really see the pattern detail in this picture, but it is very pretty.  Bron's Santa Fe shawl is gorgeous -- I love her choice of yarn! Check out her latest pic!  Now that the I-cord for the Booga Bag is done, my lunchtime work projects will consist of a couple of scarves for people who have asked me to knit for them.  The fourth and fifth pictures are just a couple of kitty pics -- because every Monday needs a little brightening up! lol!

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11:23:51 AM EST
Yesterday marked the official beginning of the Mini Knit-A-Long that Bron and I are doing.  We are knitting the Santa Fe shawl.  Bron (check out her progress on the link on the right, Bron's Blog) had a touch of "Start-itis" and actually began over the weekend, but she ended up frogging that and starting all over with a new yarn.  I like the new yarn she has chosen -- it is gorgeous!  I had lots of errands to do yesterday, so I actually did not get started until after dinner last night, but I still managed to get 5" of the first square done.  The pattern is easy and fun and the yarn is a delight to work with, and I cannot wait to finish it (complete with its red and purple beaded border!!!) and present it to my mother in law for her birthday.  The booga bag strap is 56" long so far -- the pattern calls for 5-6 feet of I-cord, and since I like a longish strap on my bags, I will opt for the 6' version.  I will continue to work on that during lunchtime at work.  We have quite a group of knitters going now at lunchtime, and we have a lot of fun!  I had hoped to post pictures today of the Booga Bag and also the progress on the shawl, but the digital camera is not recognizing its card and is giving me a bunch of Gobbledygook messages, so unfortunately, I will have to wait until the Hubby gets home to decipher those cryptic symbols into English for the dummies like me that have NO idea what that techno-babble means!  Hopefully tomorrow!  I am excited about the shawl, and anxious to share its progress with you.  Also, some of you may notice that the Cha Cha scarf on the knitting loom has disappeared off the WIP's.  Yes, I sent it to the Frog Pond.  The tension was uneven and it contained a few holes.  I think that I chose the wrong yarn to start out on.  I will try again later and practice on something less furry to start! 

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6:25:36 PM EST

The body of my Booga Bag is done -- all that is left is the I-cord strap.  I am hoping to finish that up during my lunch hours over the next 4 days.  Bron and I will be starting our Knit-A-Long soon!  Pictures coming soon!

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