Tuesday, March 4, 2008

I see the light! I'm almost out of the tunnel!

The blue felted bag was an endless sea of knitting stockinette in the round. Endless, that is, until Sunday. I finally finished the body of the bag while Peanut and I were hanging at Sarah's house. I started binding off while I was there, but when I got home I decided to undo that and knit two rounds of k2 p2 ribbing except where I was going to continue knitting the flap.

The flap, I decided, would be shaped just like the bag's bottom, then tapered to a long ribbon that will be used in one of those double D-ring closure things. Or something. I also knit a four stitch seed stitch border to prevent curling. It worked out nicely.

The strap took some thinking. Sarah suggested I check out the way the strap was done on the Slingshot at Knitty. I considered this, then decided on something different that serves two purposes. I'm knitting a strap with two strands of the wool held together on size 10 needles. Purpose 1: produces a thick strap that, when felted, will be nice and cushy on my shoulder. Purpose 2: knits up quick so I can finish this %$#@ing bag-that-never-ends.

I suppose it hasn't been that bad, though. Incredibly boring, but that was nice in it's own way. I was able to knit and make eye contact at the same time. And I knit while getting cavities filled at the dentist. Most people at the office there got a kick out of me knitting blind.

I cast on the leggings that I will KAL with some of my knitting buddies. We all have to make changes to the pattern because it's written for an anemic supermodel and we are real females with actual flesh on our calves. They will be a challenge and a fun KAL, but I also want to cast on baby socks so I can finally knit a pair of socks. Since they're itty bitty, they will go fast. Also, I will write up the pattern for the bag and post it here. I doubt anyone will use the pattern, but publishing it will be a good idea for posterity.

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