Fabulous Purple Haze

We know a little girl who is celebrating a birthday soon - my husband's grand-daughter.  She has dark coloring and is just beautiful.  So when I spotted Debbie Bliss' cotton angora yarn made up in that Lola sweater, I had to make it.  We chose a lucious periwinkle for the color.  Anyone who sees me knitting it has to touch it.  As the piece gets bigger, the angora haze shows more and more.  What luxury.  I keep knitting and knitting, almost hating to put it down at all.

Daughter's rollneck sweater is completed:  Hooray!  I look forward to seeing her wear it in the fall.

I replaced the beads which had fallen off my felted purse.   Pesky, expensive things.  I used a different kind of fiber to attach them and tied them individually this time.  So far, so good.  I went to the yarn shop today with 3 friends, very novice knitters, who want me to teach them how to make the purse.  Fun trip but I hope I'm up to the instruction.  It was an easy pattern, but I've never shown anyone how to knit before.

I'm starting to plan some Christmas knitting.  Late for me, but I'm a newly regenerated knitter.  Finishing that purse in 2 days was very empowering.  Now that I've skipped around from one topic to another and displayed the state of my tired and scattered brain, I believe I will take my Debbie Bliss project to bed with me!

Nicole's rollneck nears completion

Hooray!  I have all but finished my daughter's chianti Brown Sheep yarn roll neck sweater.  It has been lovely yarn to work with and the pattern is wonderful brainless knitting from Yankee knitting.  I brought it along on our blueberry picking extravaganza Friday, but was unable to go beyond sewing the pieces together as I had not brought along the short, circular #5 needle to use in completing the neck edge.  Upon returning home I was determined to finish it.  But there were 57 pounds of berries to attend to.  (My husband is a fanatic about antioxidants, read: blueberries!).  So I knitted in between scooping berries into plactic freezer bags.  Thank goodness we don't do anything elaborate with them.  By the time I had finished I was dizzy with fatigue and so didn't attempt to weave in the loose ends. 

Maybe for my next car ride, when I also plan to start my second felted bag.  I can use the leftover yarn from Nicole's sweater and I'm itching to start it.  I carried the first one I made today for the first time today and it feels great to lower your hand inside to fish out some necessity.  It's funny that in my other creative pursuits I almost never repeat creations.  But with knitting, when I find something I like, I make it more than once.  I think I've made 5 of those rollnecks!  Maybe it has something to do with my lack of confidence in my knitting compared  to other things.  I just finished reading the Knitting Sutra by Susan G. Lydon and she asked herself something that hit home with me.  I've been knitting since I was a little girl, so why don't I consider myself an accomplished knitter? I need to strive, as she did, to really master the art of knitting and not shrink from the hard patterns. 

Today when the instructor of my complex cloth class saw the purse she said she thought I should teach a class in felting.  Immediately I thought of how I lack expertise.  Well, it's time I gained some, or the self recognition of what I already have!  

Felted Fun

Who but a knitter would prefer a cool, damp summer?  I've capitalized on this season's weather to knit past spring and tackle a felted, beaded purse.  It came from the book Knit One, Felt Too which I borrowed from the library, then fell in love with and just had to have a copy of my own.  It's full of quick and easy projects which of course are all felted.  My purse was knitted using Brown Sheep yarn in wool and mohair.  I finished it in 2 days which is completely out of character for me, but it was addictive.  Double strands made it move quickly and I enjoyed using one of my circular needles from a vintage kit I recently purchased.  Not being a beader, I don't know how well the beads will stay on, but time will tell!  I hope to post pictures soon.