Let's Try That Again

Yesterday, I mentally broke my day into 1/2 hour chunks. (Don't you wish you had my mind powers?) Doing this helped me balance what I needed to get done with what I wanted to spend time on. I also tried to time things so that I was doing something enjoyable during a passive moment in other more necessary activities. For example, I showered while the laundry was washing. I knitted while the granola bars were baking.

I wish the knitting had gone better. I was still working on that really complicated lace pattern I mentioned here. I got frustrated because the mistakes were really evident because of the repetitive pattern, so I took a break and tried one of the simpler patterns we had been given. Things were going well until I apparently lost count and purled when I should have knitted. Next thing I knew, I had done about 8 rows backwards!

In a moment of temper (or unrestrained PMS) I ripped out all 30 or so rows and started over. Thank goodness the each row has only 25 stitches! Am I getting to be a knitting snob? I don't think so. I'm making this scarf for my aunt and I'd prefer if my screw ups occured in the section of scarf that wraps around her neck rather than on the edge where everyone will see!

On the other hand, my very simple scarves made using eyelash yarn and knit stitch only, have come out very well. I'm using Copacabana for one and Cotton Candy for the other. I've finished one and am quite a ways into the second. Shh, these are holiday presents for two very fashionable young ladies. Eyelash yarn is tricky to deal with at first because of all the stray pieces folding over the needles but it quickly gets easier.

While doing all that laundry yesterday, I tossed in the felted purse project inside a pillow case. I left the top of the machine open so I could let it agitate a few extra times. It worked pretty well. I blocked it and set it to dry so I could blanket stitch the sides shut and add a button to close the top today. As I mentioned earlier, my purse seemed very long and narrow. When I added the loop described in the pattern, I just wasn't convinced felting would solve the narrow, pencil case-like look of this purse, so I added a second loop on the shorter side.

As I suspected, felting made the whole project smaller but didn't change the proportions of it. The good news is by adding the second loop, I can turn the project on its side when I fold and sew it to create a more normal shaped purse. The second loop will be the one that anchors over the button to keep the purse closed. The other loop sticks out the side of the purse and, once I add a key ring to it, will become a place to put your keys. Not a bad salvage job if I do say so myself! (BTW, if you hated the key ring idea, you could just cut the loop off and it wouldn't show at all.)

I'll post the granola bar recipe I mentioned earlier tomorrow. I'm still trying to track down the original source of the recipe I used.