Baby's Got Bag...

Right…so…Zeeby’s bag was finished up just in time to take along on the drive to Brad’s parents for Easter dinner. Here I am just as we’re about to head out the door with my finished Zeeby…

Of course, it’s always more interesting to find out what is IN the bag…so I won’t keep anyone in suspense. It really isn’t all that exciting...

Yes, it’s socks. With Spring in (ahem) “full bloom”, I am still knitting woolen socks. Granted they are brightly colored purple socks but woolen nonetheless. There is still snow on the ground though AND my spring/summer stash hasn’t arrived yet. I finally ordered it all last week and I cannot wait for it to get here so I needed a small project to keep me busy until then. Still waiting on my Calmer to get here as well. I have a feeling the next 2 weeks are going to be pretty exciting as far as the mailbox is concerned. So in case anyone would like to see what late March/early April looks like in the Maritimes, here you go…

Oh - the horror. Isn’t that just a little depressing? It’s almost April and there is still snow, the ice on the headpond hasn’t even broken up yet. But to be honest, the weather this weekend was gorgeous – sunny and relatively warm (notice there is only a jean jacket being worn in the first picture) so we are making progress.

Now back to Zeeby - I really like it. I haven’t blocked it yet – trying to decide if it’s even going to be necessary after a few outings – it’s already shaping up after just one trip. It isn’t a felted bag so can’t really support a lot of weight – no heavy books for certain but it’s just right for a small project like socks. I’ve only got 2 lingering concerns: 1. The potential for stab wounds when I'm carrying my needles around (since it isn’t felted). 2. That Niblet (naughty kitty) is going to worry the detail stitching on the front right out of the bag – I’ve already caught him at this once and he appears to be quite a talent.

I didn't mean to do it...

I didn't mean to start a new bag when my orange bag isn't even close to finished yet but I couldn't help it. I was having a movie night (with a few glasses of wine) and needed something I could knit without looking (or requiring too much brain power) - ribbing was just too risky. So I sat down with my knitting books thinking I would start a felted project but then I saw Zeeby's bag in Stitch N' Bitch and thought...hmmm...that looks like just the thing. And it knit up soooo quickly - I'm just a couple inches shy of having the front panel completed. Briggs and Little wool flies along. I'm using a bright blue (which has a little more green in it than this picture shows) and am planning to use lime green as the contrast color - probably. Anyhow, I didn't bother to swatch for this type or project and am a bit wide (about an inch) so will probably add an inch to the length so it doesn't mess up the bag proportions. It's going to be a knitting project bag and should be big enough to hold most projects - it'll be about 16X13.



I also found another use for my stitch markers - they make great anchors for pesky rolling stockinette edges!!

In other news, I managed to get some lovely purple Calmer (zeal) on eBay and am expecting it to show up in time to start Nona's Just a T-shirt knitalong on April 1st. I can't wait! It'll be nice to start a new project I can wear - I've been caught up in hats, socks and bags for far too long.

Coming Along...Rather Slowly

I didn't get nearly as much knitting completed this weekend as I had hoped. It seemed that things kept coming up to interfere...housework, walking the dog, completing my bookclub book for this week's meeting, housework, housework. However, I did manage to complete the backgammon board that I started last week and got a couple inches of the bag started. It's been really difficult to get a good picture of the colors on this project - the orange has been coming out blaringly bright - these ones posted today are actually pretty close though. As you can see the board still needs to be blocked...it's a pretty bulgy rectangle at the moment. Anyway, I like it more than I thought I would - the bag will be really useful I think with or without the board attached. The board appears to be a bit massive in this pic but it's actually only about 19" X 10" - the angle of the picture has distorted it a bit.


This is a close up of the cartridge rib used on the bag. I really like it - lots and lots of texture.

In other news, I think I may have finally been able to score some Calmer for the just a t-shirt Knitalong. I'll know for sure later today...

It's All Fun And Games....

I started on the Weekend Knits backgammon board and bag last night. My intarsia is very rusty so it was slow going for the first few points. Anyhow, I'm not 100% happy with the colors - I wanted something a little funkier as far as the green goes but I think it will do. They're not coming out very well in the pictures but I really like the orange so I'm planning to do the bag in that color. The board is going to need some serious blocking once it's completed but so far so good.

I joined nona's Nothing But a t-shirt knitalong yesterday and am looking forward to starting on that project in April. I found a serious sale at yarnforward.com on a cotton/viscose/silk blend so I'm going to pick up enough of that to make both the knitalong t-shirt from magknits and the Honeymoon Cami from knitty.com. And of course, it comes down to colors again...I like them all!! Decisions, decisions...

Odds and Ends...

I'm in that stage between projects (blocking the checkboard sweater out of my mind completely now) so thought I would post a picture of my dog Otis and cat Bigsy being naughty. They are not usually alllowed on the bed but Brad was out of town and mommy is a pushover so there they are - on the bed. If you look closely, you can actually see part of the checkboard sweater balled up on my nightstand so it IS in fact knitting related content.

I spent last night balling up 3 skeins of Briggs and Little wool to start the Backgammon Board and Bag from Weekend Knitting. I think it is adorable and would have been great to take along on the ski trip if I'd had the presence of mind to make one earlier in the year. Anyhow, I don't have the lovely shade of green they used (I believe it's called Pistachio) so I'm going with Rust, Evergreen and Natural White. Not sure if that will be too much contrast or not - I'll start with the board and just rip it back if it doesn't look good. I did a couple of swatches last night and decided I'd need to go down from a 4.5 to a 4...I was just a bit big. I'll post some progress pics tommorrow - should have the board well underway by then and could use some opinions on color...

I'm baaccckkkk....

Sigh...I'm back and what a WONDERFUL vacation! I wish we had another week to spend...we were at Sunday River in Maine, US and the ski conditions were fantastic. I've been looking at this picture all day to try to regain my vacation glow - coming back to work after a week off is daunting to say the least.

Just a few vacation shots before I get to the knitting part...here I am on the slopes. The day was a bit snowy so the shots are somewhat blurry.

My friend A and I standing at the top of one of the peaks. We had a blast!

I had big plans to make progress on all sorts of knitting projects with my time off (brought a HUGE bag of knitting along) but we were so busy on the trip that I just didn't have time to make much headway. However, speaking of headway, I did cast on a hat for Brad on the way down - his "devil horns" don't look all that threatening in the picture - they're a bit droopy - but that is a rather ominous looking forked tail peeking out from the jacket. Brad just doesn't pull off the "dangerous" look very well I guess. :-) It was EXTREMELY cold on this particular day so our faces were well covered as you can see.

And, lastly, here I am on the lift wearing the kitty hat although it's a bit difficult to see anything beyond the giant purple goggles! Not the most attractive pairing but we had fun so who cares, right?

I can't wait to go again next year!

Anyhow, even leaving the country, I did not score any yarn for my stash. We were stormed in for a couple of days so I didn't get to do a whole lot of exploring for a LYS but I'm going to pull together an online order from WoolNeedle Works later this week so that will lessen the disappointment.

I did do some knitting on the weekend after we got home - I finished up the back of the checkboard sweater and got the ribbing plus a few inches of pattern completed on the first sleeve. It's one of those projects that I'm just not excited about anymore though - the checkboard pattern is getting really, really tired - but I've come this far and I WILL finish it. I'll wear it walking the dog if nowhere else - haha!