I've been working on a little coin purse to take part in Sia's NeuleIdea (Knitting Idea) contest that ends at midnight tonight. Last minute? Oh, no, I've still got several hours left! I'm hoping this isn't too close to the "bags" category that is not included in the contest. The purpose of my coin purse is to have something to carry with me that I can take to a store to carry some money and credit cards in, instead of my giant purse that is very heavy. At least if you're strolling around the mall for a couple of hours.
Here's my little purse: 
I used some left-over sock yarn, maybe about 50-60 g of it, and size 3.0 mm needles. The pattern is mine, nothing too special, just a tube knitted in a lace pattern. The strap is 7-stitch I-cord.
I lined the inside in some quilting cottong I had laying around. The side facing the knitted lace is red, because the underside of the red-and-green fabric didn't look too attractive showing through the holes in the lace.
Here's another shot for scale:
That is my hand inside the purse, and that's about all you can fit in it. Actually, if I made another one, I could use them as pockets to keep my hands warm. Hmm... :D
Merry Christmas to you all! It's been way too long since the last time I posted, but I'm sure most of you can relate, when I say that the few weeks before Christmas have been a little crazy. There has been knitting, though, and lots of it. Quite a few Christmas gifts were started and almost as many finished. My trips to San Francisco and New York facilitated lots of undisturbed knitting time at airports and on air planes.
In San Francisco I managed to find time to visit Artfibers, which was a very nice experience. I small cozy yarn store tucked away on the second floor of a building. Fortunately I had read about how it might be hard to find, so I didn't give up when I didn't see it right away. I completely lost track of time while fingering all the absolutely wonderful yarns in the store. So many merino, silk and alpaca blends in mesmerizing colors... I got some of Sylph, enough for a 3/4 sleeve sweater (I'm thinking fitted with a V-neck) in a water green color (04). I also got a few balls of Hana that I'm planning on using for a two color lace scarf (the pattern is yet to be determined). The time at the Oakland airport and on the plane was spent knitting these socks in Trecking XXL:
These were gifted to the FIL last night. The picture doesn't really do justice to the colors, which are very nice and very suitable guy-colors. I have to find more of this stuff! I really like Trecking, but I find it hard to find all the different colorways. If anybody knows of a yarn store that would carry a lot of them on-line, please let me know!
My trip to New York was spent knitting this:
We Call Them Pirates hat, of course. The yarn is Rowan Wool Cotton, which I totally fell in love with. It is just soooo soft! I already have more bought for another one of these. Here's the inside of the finished hat:
I think it will be very warm! I'm not so much into this pirate stuff myself, but if I had a hat this soft and warm, I'd be wearing it with skulls or without. Here's E modeling the finished product:
Those are some scary pirate teeth! ;) This hat will be gifted to my godson, and E already ordered one for himself in blue and black, so that is now on my list of things to knit. I enjoyed the well written pattern, although I changed the top decreases a little bit, so the hat would be less square.
After I got the hat done, I had to rush into these socks:
They are "More fun than cables" from Stitches of Violet. Also a very nicely written pattern with a little bit different heel than what I'm used to doing. I think it has a name, but I just can't think of it now... They were supposed to be the Christmas gift for the MIL, but I didn't manage to get them finished on time, so she will get them for her birthday, which is in January. But now my wrists are sore from all the knitting, and I just need a break!
I've had an odd two weeks, where I've been fretting over undone projects and my incapability of making desicions and getting started. I had finished so many projects that I didn't really have anything in progress, and I wasn't sure what to do next. But Thanksgiving and driving to the in-laws provided me with 12 hours of sitting in the car and therefore 12 hours of knitting time. I finished the gloves from the previous post and started and finished one of my secret projects (not shown here for obvious reasons). I also got started on a sweater for my older son:
The yarn is Filatura Di Crosa Andina mix, very nice and cuddly soft. I had first planned to knit a sweater for myself from this yarn, but I wasn't sure I had enough, and the color was quite suitable for a boy, so I changed my plan.
I also found the perfect pattern for another Malabrigo scarf -Kathy's Shifting Sands. I saw Jared use the pattern for Malabrigo, and I really like how it looks. Again, I have a hard time photographing this yarn/color. All these blue tones show up that really aren't there. It's really very red (the colorway is called Velvet grapes).
This picture is terrible, but shows the color and texture pretty well:
It's 22 days till Christmas, and I've got a ton of projects to plan/start/finish. So off to work...
