HOW did my cats get so CUTE?

I mean really...how great is El Buster?

I love working from home...life is pretty damn good.

Have a great weekend, y'all. I'm gonna learn me some intarsia and how to finish the crown of a teeny tiny baby hat with dpns. I'm scared, but I'll get through it.

Elvis is in the In-Box!

In an effort to get organized, I bought a snazzy new in-box to put important mail (oh hello, Bills!), and whatever other crap I couldn't make decisions on...

This is what happened, almost immediately:

And then, one afternoon (ok, today), I was "working from home" - no really, I was working...and Elvis decided that since I'd pushed the inbox up against a sunny window, that was really the nicest place to be.

He makes quite a fancy paperweight!

In my next life, I want to come back as one of my cats. What a life!

As of 3:10 pm...El Buster has taken over the box...

Am I really this bored today???

Wah-Lah!

Here it is! Finished!

I think I do need to sew in a zipper - as all my stuff falls out of it in my car, but otherwise, it's finished, and already has enjoyed a night out on the town last night when I took my Sweetie to dinner for his birthday at the always-yummy Bistro Aix on Steiner and Chestnut in San Francisco. We had one of the best meals I've had in a long time - I highly recommend it if you're in the neighborhood! Make reservations and sit out on the patio - they have heat lamps, and it's a lot quieter and nicer than inside which gets crowded.

That's all she wrote!

It's Felted! It Really Is!

I did it! Well, kinda.

I felted something and didn't even screw it up...ok, not really, but kinda.

See, I didn't screw up the felting - I just knit the thing on 17s instead of 15s, and it got really huge (see my last post). So, I ran it through the wash once, and then twice, and it came out all felted up and sorta ok. What was wrong was that it was still really long and weird looking.

So - I cut it, here and here:

And then, today, while waiting for a client, I sewed up the edges with some of the yarn and a darning needle, turned it inside out, and WAH-LAH!

Now, all I need to do is sew on a handle, and a cool little mother-of-pearl button, and I have a very fun, very furry, sparkly purse!

And here's the pattern, dear readers:

Here's the link to print out your own copy! http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b144/thepurlgirl/CuteLittleFeltedPurse.jpg

Where are the gnomes!!

Where are the felting gnomes when I need them?

It's not supposed to get BIGGER and LONGER when agitated!

I'm going to take it home and run it through the washer again and see what happens. I did knit the bulk of it on 17s when it called for 15s, so that could have something to do with it...

It sure does smell funkedy funk though...even my wet dog smells better than this thing!

And, to answer Vanessa's question - I got the pattern at Dharma whatever it's called craft place, and will be posting the PDF when I finish the purse...it's a fun pattern, and I've already gotten some Cascade in Red and in Black to do more for friends (assuming it's not ugly when I'm done!).

It's cute! It's felted! Well, not yet.

I was in desperate need of a project that looked nice! I had been working forEVER on a great, asymmetrical poncho that used crazy bumpy fun yarn and had a great drape. But, it didn't look right.

So, one afternoon when I called up StacyO and asked what she was up to and she said she was going to a yarn store, I figured I'd tag along. I was convinced I didn't need anything and that I had plenty of projects in my stash, but I couldn't ever pass up a yarn shopping trip. Especially since I was still in the Holiday Shopping Habit and wasn't ready to have that be over yet!

We trekked out to a local yarn/crafts store in San Rafael and we happened upon this darling pattern for a "Cute Little Felted Purse" - they had a sample in my colors, blue and bluer, and I fell in love. It's a super easy stockinette pattern with increases simply by changing needle sizes and I thought - I can't mess that up! And so far, so good.

Here's a little bit...

And a little more...(after staying up until 12:30 knitting) - I'm just 4 rows away from bind-off, then I sew it up, felt it, and I'm done! They say to knit a handle, but I've never thought that was very cute, so I'm going to buy a cute wooden or lucite handle for it. Perhaps I'll embellish it with a vintage brooch or something too.

Yarn - Crystal Palace Stardust Fizz color 4212, and Cascade 220 color 7815

And, I have discovered that storing projects in Ziplocs is very convenient. I went away this past weekend, and brought several projects with me. It was so handy to pack up all the needles I would need for the project, the yarn, and the pattern in one bag and be on my way. This is probably old news for you experienced knitters, but it was an exciting epiphany to me! I'm ordering 2 gallon freezer bags online (they come in cases of 100!) so that I can store bigger projects!