Weekends Are For Finished Projects

Well, I hung out with Smoochy on Friday. We didn't get to yarn mecca, Velona, but we did have a nice visit with Grandma, Mom and Dad. While at Smoochy's pad, I was able to snap pictures of her projects...there were two more, but the camera died.

This is White Lies Angelina. It was made from some Webs wool yarn. On the website it was a lovely butter yellow, but in person it was a less than fabulous mustard. She decided to remove the color and was trying to decide between pink and purple for the sweater, but finally settled on just keeping it in it's natural state. She did a really great job on it. Isn't it lovely? I have the pattern also, but don't know if or when I'll make it. I guess I'll just admire hers...although I'm sure she's got quite a bit left on the 1 pound cone...mmm, wool...

This is another lovely Smoochy project. I must state that my sister is not only a talented knitter and seamstress, but she's a super talented jewelry maker. Some of my favorite sparklies are from her. I'll have to share pictures one of these days. The cross and center were leftovers from the rosary that she made for Dad last Christmas and the beads were gifts from Grandma when she was 'unloading' some of her jewelry. The picture doesn't do the blue beads justice. It's really beautiful! She's still deciding on the finishing touches.

I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of her blue silk Kiri shawl, her beginnings of the Butterfly tank, or the fabulous Knitpicks Shine [OOoOOoo...we love the Shine!], but I will next time, promise!

As for me, I'm becoming addicted to weekend projects. It's a double edged sword. I get a project finished in a single weekend, which feeds my need for completion, but keeps me from dedicating valuable time from longer projects [um...like Mermaid and Orangina]. This weekend, I decided I needed to make the Laptop Case from the new IK Fall 2005. Last Christmas [I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away...you know the words, don't lie], I purchased huge hanks of wool and Kool-aid dyed them for scarves. I had some of the yarn left over and decided they'd be perfect for the laptop case. I started knitting on Friday morning and was finished with the felting process at around midnight Saturday [I'm not speedy, I used size 11 needles!]. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, which is a good thing, because I wasn't sure of the shrinkage of this particular wool. Prefelting, it was about the size of a pillowcase, but some felting in the kitchen sink and two runs through the washing machine and it was shrunked-ed up!
I liked the purl side better than the knit side, so I made that the outside. Huh? Yeah...anyway, the felted material is nice and thick and I'm okay with the strange stripey action that's goin' on there. I did learn that boucle yarn felts much nicer than the regular stuff. I don't think that I'm going to cut the slits like the pattern calls for, I'm going to be more creative. We'll see what I come up with. And Sweetpea, the laptop, is happy about her custom home.

That's all for now, I'm trying to decide what projects will make the trip to San Antonio...I'm sorry did my other sister say that it's 99 degrees there?