The Maggie Mae

Here is my bobble bag revealed! Wah la! Ta da! Like I thought, I never want to work another bobble as long as I live....I am very proud of this pattern being that there was some math involved and I'm usually quite mathmatically challenged. I designed it using Microsoft Excel so I could lay out the colors. How nerdy....

I call this bag Maggie Mae, after my beloved sister. Luckily I have another sister so I'll have another sweet girl to name a bag after. I thought the bag was bubbly like my Maggie. Here is a glimpse of the inside of the purse (I still have to sew it in to the actual purse).



Two more purses to go. One is finished, I just need to felt and sew in a liner. The other is on the needles. I will be done by week's end. I. Must. Finish. Bags.

So, after all this purse making you'd think, "I bet she's about done with this purse making." Uh, no. I'm all about the extreme. So, here is my next project:




Happy Birthday to me! I used my birthday money and spared no expense on the perfect fabric. Even at 40% off, it was pricey but I am so excited to begin! I'm going to use the brown and green for the inside, handles, and cording, and the plain green for the outside. I will start on this next week sometime.

The Red Purse

I'm cranking out these purses now! Whew! This is purse #2 going out to a boutique in Ann Arbor. I felted my bobble purse today so pics of that at a later date. That is purse #3 and purse #4 is on the needles. After that I think I'm done. It's been a good exercise for me to make my designs over and over just to perfect the patterns and learn more about different yarns. I sewed some handles on this purse rather than using handles from a craft store or felted handles. The fabric for the handles is the same fabric as the liner.

Anyway, this red number was a delight to knit! I used Lamb's Pride Spice and Chocolate Souffle. I'm finding that the Berroco Ultra Alpaca is my favorite though. I like my bags to be really clean and not fuzzy. Though I think Lamb's Pride is easy to knit, I always have to shave the bag after the felting process. I was so surprised that I didn't have to do that with the Berroco yarn.

I also recently purchased an Amy Butler Weekender Bag pattern. Yeah, like I have the time for that project! I think I'm going to lay low on purses and go back to socks for a while.

My darling daughter did the funniest thing today (reminds me I have to tell my husband!). She picked up some pencils and clicked them together and made little click sounds as she pretended she was knitting (I guess). I use Addi Turbos so you can understand why she clicks. So cute! She's just so clever. I am always amazed and delighted by her. She'll be a knitter yet!

Bobbles!

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS WAY TOO MANY EXCLAMATION MARKS! Ok, here we go: Top secret bobble project going on here. I'll post a picture when finished. In the meantime, rest assured I am going bobble crazy. You can put your money that what I'm creating is purse-related and that once I'm done, I'll never want to see a bobble again!

On another note, I was a lucky birthday girl and now have $200 to use toward yarn!!! I'm saving it for our trip to Alaska this summer. I have visions of yarns I've never seen the likes of before. My birthday was really fun, even if sharing it with all the Fathers. They're worth it!

My Secret Pal is at it again. Thanks Secret Pal! I'm the lucky recipient of a Mason Dixon Warshrag! YAY! I love those things. And now I have a cute little green and pink "brag book" to carry around pictures of my loved ones to whip out from my purse. I love it! I also received stitch holders--you can never have enough of these guys. And I was going to post a picture of my colorful candy but I ate it already! Anyway, thanks for the Sour Jelly Bellies SP8. They were delicious. My tongue now hurts but it was sooo worth it.

Last but not least I never made it to Estes. My dearest childhood friends Emily and Felice visited me from as far as Wisconsin and I didn't want to drag these non-knitty gals all that way though they were very willing. I know, I know. I so rarely see them that I wanted to do something we all loved so we spent the day shopping and eating Thai food. Maybe next year... If any Colorado bloggers went I'd love an update!

The Green Purse

Here is my latest felted creation. I am loving the colors. I am honestly reconsidering painting my accent wall in our bedroom with these colors. Then that led to me thinking I'd need a new comforter, which would cause me to have to buy new pillows, which then would make me want to repaint the bathroom, which of course means new towels. Sigh...But back to the purse....It is my own design but for some reason this bag didn't quite taper like my last one.

I'm also currently knitting a bobble bag that I also designed. I designed the bobble pattern in Excel and so far it is looking like it could work out. I never know! I'll post it at a later date.

I've recently discovered Amy Butler patterns and though this would mean less knitting, I would get more use out of my sewing machine. Her patterns and fabric are so very cute! There aren't enough hours in the day.

It is my birthday this Sunday and though I always love my birthday, I think this is the first one I've felt older. Maybe it is the few gray hairs I've found. I always feel sad when my birthday is over. On Saturday though I'm going to Estes to the Wool Market. I might just have to purchase some wool. I mean why drive all that way if not to spend some money, right?

Happy Anniversary!

Wednesday was our 4-year anniversary! My husband surprised me with a night out (without the kiddo!) to Estes Park. It was such a nice surprise with a few snafus--I emailed my husband and got a bounce back saying he'd be out of the office on Thursday so I kind of found out. We stayed at Romantic RiverSong, a very pretty B&B that I highly recommend! Had a funky anniversary dinner at a very nice restaurant but the prarie dogs were coming to the patio for food. I didn't want one running across my feet!

We sat in the sunshine for some of Thursday (before it poured rain) and relaxed. I worked on my Koigu sock while hubby read. We ate way too much candy. Estes has the best candy stores! So very little knitting but a good time.

I'll soon have some new purse pictures though! Oh and this week is the Estes Park Wool Market! Guess I'll be back in Estes! Any other Colorado knitting bloggers going?

Socks That Rock

Ifinally got my Socks That Rock yarn in the mail! The colorway is called X-Mas rock. I think it looks a bit different than I saw it online but I like it. I can't wait to get started. I just noticed they have a lot of new colors on their site darnit! I love Lemongrass, and Saratoga, and Dutch Canyon. Sigh....

I have so many other projects ahead of this though. I also recently ordered some red yarn from KnitPicks so that I could get started on my cardigan from the Greetings From Knit Cafe book. And I need to sew some cushion covers for our kitchen chairs. I also want to repaint our bedroom accent wall and reupholster a chair in our sitting room. Too many projects and too little time....