Leaf Purse

The Charlotte Purls are having a Bag KCAL, so here is my project:

Pattern: My own design

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool, and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes

Needle size: US9

I started it by hand at the bottom, and then worked in the round towards the top. A few days after I started it, I got a Bond Sweater Machine, so I finished it up using the machine. It only took me 20 minutes to finish it! I then felted it, and needle-felted swirls and leaves on it. The handle is a leather handle from Homestead Heirlooms, and so is the leather leaves and acorn.

I ran out of tan yarn and had to finish up using grey, but you can't really notice it in person. Overall, I'm very happy with it. My Pouchee (I love this thing!) fits inside, with enough extra room for a small knitting project as well.

The Lace Bug...

....I now officially have it!

Here is my finished Aeolian Shawl:

Pattern: Aeolian Shawl from Knitty
Yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Stream Heather colorway (2 skeins)
Needles: US 2.5 (3.0mm)
Beads: size 8 Matsumi green iris beads (from Fire Mountain Gems)
Started: March 19th
Finished: April 4th

I wanted something slightly bigger than the small size shown in the pattern, but not as big as the big shawl size. So, I did a size in between! The pattern is designed so well, that you can customize it to your heart's content! As long as you do an even number of yucca repeats, all of the other charts will work. I ended up doing 8 yucca repeats and one agave chart repeat. I used a total of 660 yards. I probably could have squeezed another couple of yucca repeats or another agave repeat in there, but it ended up large enough for my taste as it is!

I am in love with the flower edging on this shawl! It absolutely eats yarn, though! I used about 317 yards on the body of the shawl, and the edging alone used 343 yards. I ended up with 753 stitches on the needles!



Blocking was a challenge, since it's not a triangle, it's more of a crescent shape. And all the flowers had to be pinned out. BUT, the trouble is worth it in the end! Here it is blocking:

There are a lot of beads in this! But, I think the beads are a must in this pattern - they really make it pop!

I'm planning on entering it in our Knitting Guild Awards (lace is one of the categories), so it'll be out of my clutches for a whole month while it's being judged. I'm not sure I can let it go! ;-)

Camping, Frog pond, and a Capelet

We took our new camper for a spin at Morrow Mountain this last weekend. Here it is:

It's so much more roomy inside than our other one. We love it!

(And we were so excited to find out that the park had added electric to some of their campsites, woo hoo! That means we can camp there over the summer and be able to run our air conditioner! Now if they would just take reservations it'd be our absolute favorite park!)

And immediately after getting it set up we were graced by some lovely deer walking right by us! (Then right before we left on Sunday a group of about 8 walked right by us again.)

Speaking of deer, DS was watching Bambi the other day, and was loving the bits with Thumper - I was able to catch a photo of a real smile (it's so hard to get either DS to give me a true smile in a photo!)

Over the weekend they were having a Revolutionary War camp at the park - we got to see a musket demonstration - it was really neat! I learned quite a few things - for instance, did you know that the civilian militia members wore their own clothes (no blue uniforms here! that's just a myth - most of them wore white - dyes were too expensive) and the riflemen brought their own guns as well. I did not know that the flints only lasted for about 15 shots before they had to be re-flocked, and then had to be replaced after a few times of re-flocking. I just figured the flints lasted forever. The riflemen had to make their own bullets, too, since the rifles were all custom sizes - so they were given hunks of lead to make their own bullets. Anyway, I found it very interesting. :-) I was able to snap a photo of them firing:

On the knitting front, I'm to the cuff on sock #2 of my Entrelac Socks. And I've frogged sock #1 down to the heel, so I can re-knit it to fit better. (Oh the agony of the frog pond! I started ripping it whilst at the Tuesday night Charlotte Purls gathering, and I could feel the ladies around me holding their breath! ;-) - but I think (hope!) it'll turn out OK - at least it should fit better - if I don't drop any stitches that is!)
Sock #1 wasn't going on over my heel, so I'm switching to 7 stitch blocks immediately after the heel to add some ease. Sock #2 is fitting much better as a consequence, so my OCD is making me redo sock#1 to fit as well. :-)

And I finished my Purls KAL Capelet a little while ago. Here's a photo Stacey snapped of me a couple Saturdays ago at Charlotte Purls: I've also spun up some squishy Merino/silk blend yarn to do Tudora with (I hope it's not too bulky to do this pattern!)

Well, that's it for now - sorry for the long post! :-)