And finally ...

... the finished tote:



This light makes the purple actually look purple instead of blue.

Also, I wasn't crazy about how defined the stitches still were. So, today I ran it through another felting cycle. It helped, and it even got a little fuzzier. I was happy about that. Perhaps I'll post another picture sometime soon so I can compare the final felting results.

Now, I have started my first Booga Bag. I'm using Noro Kureyon color # 153.

I ripped out the Baby Kimono that I was doing in Baby Homespun. I should've listened to the people who kept telling me how horrible it is to knit with.

And, finally, the Pie Are Square shawl is gradually -- very gradually -- growing. I've been held up by an enormous knot. Hopefully, that will be undone before too long, and I can make some serious progress.

This Week in Review

So, what has DotMom been up to this week? I'm sure it's a burning issue that keeps many up at nights. So, here's the scoop -- consider it your personal Ambien:

The week started out with a bit of a disappointment. I was almost finished with my Tricot sweater when I decided to slip it on to check the fit. It was very small. So small, that I decided to frog it. I also messed up the M1 increases somewhere along the way, and there were ugly little holes in the sweater. I'm not chalking it up as a failure, instead I'm considering it a valuable learning experience. I learned a lot of things with this pattern, and I know I can do a better job next time. Here's the final product for those of you who like to look at that sort of thing:


It doesn't look too bad, here, huh? You should've seen it on. Bad. Very Bad.

Here are the little holes that resulted from my M1 increases:



Monday I worked on my Pie Are Square Shawl a bit. The hair-like yarn is getting less frustrating except for the large knots that I frequently have to stop and untangle. The shawl is taking a little time out right now waiting for one of those knots to be undone. I also spent some time working on one of the Baby Kimonos that I'm making for the nurses at the hospital where my son is treated. Several of them recently had babies, and this gives me the perfect excuse to use some of the baby patterns that I've been drawn to. This particular pattern comes from the Summer 05 Interweave Knits magazine.

Lessons learned: 1) Don't wind lace-weight yarn into a center-pull ball; 2) I'm not crazy about Homespun yarn.

Tuesday was a "clinic day." This means that we had a one-hour drive so DS could visit with his oncologist to make sure his blood counts recovered from the last chemo treatment. While we were there we ran into one of our Cancer Center Friends. I learned from his mom that since we last saw him, he has had a recurrence of his leukemia. This is especially troubling because he is only about 6 months into his treatment protocol, and he was only on a recovery break from his treatment. He now has to begin a new protocol, which involves another induction period with intense chemo treatments. After that, he will need to have a bone marrow transplant. One prayer answered for them: His brother is a good donor for his bone marrow. This is important because transplants from non-related donors just open a whole other can of worms. Extra prayers for this family are in order, if you are so inclined.

After the clinic visit, we headed home. On the way, we stopped at the LYS looking for a Gauge-o-knit, which they didn't have, but they did have some Noro Kureyon. So, I finally bought some with which to make a Booga Bag. I've wanted to to do this for a long time. When I got home, though, the two balls of Lamb's Pride wool that I bought a couple of months ago began nagging me to knit them up. I bought them to make a Lopi Tote. So, I started that instead of the Booga. Here is the final pre-felted result:



I'm happy with the results so far. I wasn't as crazy about the colors as when I bought them. The purple looks a whole lot more like "blue" now than it did then. I am happy with the way the stripes turned out, though. I used a Fibonacci sequence to make them. First, I knit enough rows of purple to come all the way past the handles, and then I did 8, 5, 3, 2, and 1 rows for the yellow, and 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 rows with the purple. I came really close to running out of purple, but I have a bunch of yellow left over. Perhaps I'll make an accessory wallet to transfer from one project bag to another.

The tote is now happily blocking in front of a fan in the family room. It seems like it will take days for it to dry. I didn't have a good box to block it with. So, I pinned it down to some towels. Perhaps I'll stuff it with some plastic bags in a bit to allow it to dry a little faster. It seems like the handles are not going to be overly sturdy, but we'll see.

And now, I'm going to get some things done around the house here so that I can knit guilt-free later today. I need to get that darn knot untangled.

Look What I Found!

I just ran across a lovely web site called She Beads!.

I was visiting CureSearch's Young Artists Gift Shop, and I noticed that She Beads has begun to make Gold Ribbon beads to support the efforts of CureSearch. How cool!

They have some lovely items in their shop that include bracelets with Gold Ribbon beads. Please visit their site to see if anything tickles your fancy.

I have contacted them to find out whether or not they sell their beads in bulk. I think they would make lovely row counter bracelets!

Finally ...

... a finished project I'm not embarrassed to post!!

This is supposed to be a "10-Minute" tank, compliments of Zibibboisgood.com (click on Patterns, and it's about 1/2-way down the page); however, it became more of a 10-Day Tank.

Because I'm fairly new at knitting, I was trying to be a good little knitter and swatch my project before I started. Well, apparently, my gauge counting is off or something, because here is the first attempt:



Ugh. This turned out so saggy & baggy that I wouldn't even let my daughter model it. I was disappointed.

After a few days it was really bugging me that I was unable to make a decent garment out of such a simple pattern. So, I grabbed another skein of L.B. Cotton Ease (which, incidentally, is being discontinued) and the same size needles the pattern calls for and just started knitting. Ahhhhh ... relief ... it came out so much nicer. The stitches were neater, the resulting fabric was not scary to look at, and most importantly, I will now let my daughter wear it in public!!

Here is the final product:



I have been getting ready to knit the Pie Are Square shawl for my mother for Christmas, and I've been experimenting with some edgings. Because this tank turned out just a smidge too short, I thought it would be the perfect playground to experiment with another edging. Hence, the border on the bottom. I'm really happy with the border, and I was surprised to find how easy it was to add on. Here's an up-close-and-personal (and unblocked) view:



This comes from a shawl I found on MAGknits. See this pattern.

All right ... onward ... I'm about to finish up Tricot.

She's Come Undone

Well, OK, not me specifically, but some of my projects. I started sorting through my stash last night intending to match yarn up with the patterns I intend to use with them, and instead I ended up having a Frog Fest. I took a look at two of my early projects -- the Cabin Rug and The Backpack -- and decided that I really didn't like them. So, they became balls of yarn again! It was like a great weight was lifted off my shoulders because I really didn't want to weave the ends in on that ugly rug, and the I-cord was boring me to death on the ugly backpack.

So, lest you think I wasted my time knitting these things (as mentioned by my husband), I didn't. I learned how to do Intarsia with the rug, and I learned how to knit in the round with the backpack! So, lesson learned, and now I can move on and use that yarn for something that I really like.

My DS was heartbroken to see me frogging the rug. I had no idea he was so enamored with it. Now he wants me to knit him a new one that says "Welcome." HA!! I told him I would make him something, but it probably wouldn't say "Welcome" on it!

So, now I need to figure out what to do with all this yarn that I've reclaimed. I'm thinking perhaps a nice soft pillow with the Lion Brand Jiffy Thick & Quick for DS, and maybe a bog jacket or Guidepost sweater with the backpack yarn. We'll see. The possiblities are always endless, aren't they?

Test Shawl in Progress

So, last night about 11 o'clock I couldn't stand it anymore, and I started knitting a test Pie Are Square Shawl. I had been looking at and panicking over the "pattern" for the shawl, and it wasn't making a lot of sense to me. So, I grabbed a ball of cheap acryclic yarn, and I cast on about 1/2 the stitches of the regular-sized shawl, and I started going at it.

I ended up frogging twice because I was having trouble understanding the stitch marker instructions. I'm used to slipping a stitch marker before a stitch, working to it, slipping it to the next needle, and then going on my merry way. But this time, Ms. Z wants you to actually mark a particular stitch. I kept wondering how in the world that could work because the stitch marker would just stay in one place, and there would be all this increasing going on around it.

Realizing that this is the type of thing that I just have to do to understand (and after some good advice from Ingrid through Knitting Help's forum), I put my stitch marker through the stitch and just kept going.

Nearly every piece I've started so far hasn't looked quite right when I started it; and this was really no different. But, I just decided that I was doing it right, and I kept knitting. Lo and behold, it was like magic. The shawl started to take shape, and the increases worked, and the stitch marker stayed right where it was, and it didn't matter. After a few rows, it became evident that I probably didn't even really need to have a stitch marker in place, but it does take away any doubt. I'm thinking at some point, I'll move it on up to where I'm working (or place another one).

And so, I'm having so much fun knitting this little test shawl, that I might just continue it to a size that will fit my DD (or one of her beloved stuffed animals). That way, I can test out the Sawtooth Border described by Ms. Z, because -- as usual -- that just isn't going to make sense to me until I try it, and I'd rather not test out my skills on the "good" yarn!

Well, off to try and get some things done around the house. It's so hard to focus on anything else when I have a new project rolling along!!!!!

It's Here!!!!

My first KnitPicks order just arrived!! The yarn is so soft and the book is hardback. You just don't get any better than this:



or this:


(Isn't it lovely?)

And here is Elizabeth Zimmerman wearing the shawl I intend to knit for my mom:


I wonder what color it is.

A Quickie Update

I wanted to post some pictures here, but I don't have a lot of time. So, here's a quick link to my photos at Flickr.

Perhaps I'll have some time later to put this in a nicer format for viewing.