Holiday Knits

Okay, so during the holidays, I did quite a bit of knitting. And a lot of new stuff as well. First, though, I finished up the scarf I was knitting up for my friend Nynke. Because it was cables on a stockinette background, it kept curling. So, with my new blocking wires and blocking board, I blocked it! My first real attempt at blocking. I was amazed at how flat I got it! It doesn't curl anymore! Yeah! Unfortunately, it's a little shorter than I was hoping, but she just have to wear it a little differently from her other scarves. Don't know when I'll get it to her, but I hope she likes it!

Next came my first attempt at felting: Satchel from Knitty.com. I love bags, so it makes sense that I would try making one! I used the German, undyed, natural color yarn I bought in Prague. Because I was knitting with two strands throughout, I decided that I would gradually go from lighter to darker. You can see the gradation. Of course, it was ginormous when I knit it! You can see a pic of the unfelted bag to the left. After felting came blocking, pictured to the right. I just pinned down the pocket, stuffed the bag with a plastic-bag-covered box and pinned down the flap. It didn't felt as well as I was hoping for a few reasons: (1) it didn't shrink as much as I was expecting. (2) the light beige colored yarn at the bottom didn't felt as well as the other two colors. Because I was originally planning on using it to lug my books around, I'm worried that the bottom isn't strong enough to support all that weight... So, now I have another knitting bag! Of course, you can never have enough knitting bags! This is what it looks like after felting... Now, I just need to sew everything together: the pocket and the strap. I guess it'll be awhile before I do that, though! ^^

My final holiday knitting first was my first sock! A mini-sock (you can see how small by comparing it to my thumb)! I used Opal yarn; it was a tiny, tiny skein that I bought from Wolhalla at the Dutch Stitch 'n Bitch day. They had a booth teaching how to make mini-sokjes. I didn't have a chance to sit there and do it, but I bought the skein of yarn and the pattern. I used the dpns I received from my secret pal in the first package: Knit Picks metal dpns US1/2.5mm. It was a bit of a pain to start the sock, but once I had knit a few rounds, it was quite fun and very, very quick. It's a little off, but now I get how socks work. Expect to see my first "real" pair of socks here soon!

So, as you see, I did quite a bit of experimenting this holiday season! I also did my first color-stranding, but since I didn't finish it while on holiday, I'll post on it next time.