Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted anything knitting related. I have been knitting though, and getting quite a few Finished Objects (FO). I've just been too lazy to take pix or post. But I'm here to take back my knitting blog!

Stand back, world!

First FO? Sweaters, hats and booties for the Brockschmidt twins (born 4/15/04). It's two great sets in blues (for da' boyz) with sports buttons. (Footballs on the indigo sweater and baseballs on the sky blue sweater.) Unfortunately, I believe that I missed the grace period that they could wear these. So I had better start knitting up some new sets, perhaps in 9-12 mo. sizes. Of course, I'll have no problem finding lil' bodies for these sets, as there's another set of twin boys due this year!

The yarn is katia® diana and the patterns are as follows:

• Baby Einstein sweater from The Knit Stitch;
• the hats are the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'N Bitch;
• and the booties are the Classic Cashmere (ha!) Booties from simple knits for cherished babies.

My next project was a learning experience - felting! Felting, or fulling, is when you take a wool item and purposefully ruin, er... shrink it in hot water to make a solid and sturdy fabric.

Ooh - it looks so big before felting! (Or does it?)

This was quite exciting and fun. The pattern is the Mia Mini-Bag from HelloKnitty.com and a few of us from DFW SnB are making it.

It only takes one ball of bulky wool; Rowan® Big Wool is the suggested fiber and who am I to fight it. I picked up a great, grapey color called Wild Berry. But I couldn't leave well enough alone. I decided to add a bit of additional color and throw some pink stripes in the mix. I got a ball of Online Linie® 60 Tondo in pink. The bonus? It was on sale 50% off!

So a knittin' I went. I was able to complete the body of the purse in just a few hours (would've been less, except I enjoy the boob-tube). The strap worked up even quicker and it was all together before I could say... well, something clever, I'm sure.

In this pic, the bag is drying and shaping on a plastic-covered paperback. But no more work now - the sign sez drink!

So then, the felting excitement could start. The purse went into a pillow case and into the washer! In a pair of jeans went! A bit o' dish detergent, some hot water, and we're ready for the show! Okay, it might be a bit of common sense, but this really caught me off guard. - That water is hot! Yikes.

But the purse shrunk, just like they said. It's a tiny little thing. In fact, we had difficulty searching the house for a book that would fit it. (Big? Yeah, we got big books a plenty. But not so much on the smaller, paperbacks.) The darker Rowan fulled better than the Online Linie; you can still make out the stitches in the pink.

The bag turned out so cute and tiny, but I don't really need much. It fits my wallet, cell phone, chap stick, keys and mints. Ta-da!

Okay, up next is the Reverse Bloom Flower Washcloth. (Sheesh. It takes longer to type the name out than it does to knit it up!)

This is knit up using Crystal Palace® Cotton Chenille and dpns. It's both pretty easy (petals) and kinda frustrating (center). So I recommend this pattern (which I had in my Winter 2003 Interweave Knits), but be prepared for the battle.

The flower washcloth (orange) is pictured with a soap sack. This is a pattern that I've been enjoying for a while now. It works up quick and those that use bar soap like it. This is my third soap sack (come on - it's just fun to say!), and I made a bit of a change to this one. It's knitted in kitchen cotton's natural color with a blue stripe. I also crocheted (wha?!) a simple drawstring in the blue. These are gifts for my folks... just because.

When I went to the docs for my vaccinations (for my upcoming trip to Honduras), I needed a simple project to work on. So I grabbed a pair of circs and some cotton yarn and made these booties. Note: the color is very different in real life - there are yellow stripes that didn't show up in the foto at all.

They're larger than most I've been working on (because I didn't check the needle size I picked up), but should do well for an older baby. It's the same pattern I used for the twins' sets as well as for my soon-to-arrive cousin-baby. I didn't get a pic of the botties and hat I made for baby Jackson, but it was with the Popsicle blue Lion Brand® Cotton Ease. Perhaps I'll get a foto of the man himself wearing them? (One can only hope... and drive down, dress the baby, and take a pic.)

And finally... Tricot swatch!

Yeah, this has been a long time coming and I've run into a variety of problems and procrastinations, but I've started. The Tricotalong started May 1, but not for Nancy.

I won't go into all the woes and worries that got me to this point, but I will state that Michigan colors were NOT my first choice! But I think it looks pretty good, and the intarsia wasn't as troubling as I expected. Now I just need to sit down and knit! Let's see if I can catch up (ha!).

phew. That was a lot. I think I've learned my lesson. Knit -> blog. Knit -> blog. Not to mention the other topics covered at TAGF! And finally for those of you patient enough to read this whole thing (or bored, who knows?), I give you Fashionista Bucky! Doesn't he look marvelous, dah-ling.

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