I started this sock ages ago but stalled out part way through October when I couldn't settle on a good colour work design ... and then I left my knitting around too close to floor level and Abby made a mess of it (fortunately my needles survived). The ball of grey wasn't too bad to untangle but the blue is so dark and difficult to see that I kept putting it off.

I finally got around to it over the Christmas break and was able to test the pattern I'd worked out in November (don't let it be thought that my knitting languishes because I never think about it). I'd originally been thinking of stars for these socks but snowflakes seemed more appropriate. It went surprisingly quickly - I finished the colour work and picot edge all in one sitting - but I think for the next sock I'll carry the blue in my left hand instead of my right and see if it pops a little better.


The picot edge is giving me a bit of trouble too. I love the dainty look of it but am not sure what to do to stop it from rolling. These are the options I've thought of so far: 1) knit a deeper border of the main colour before doing the edge in order to control the flaring caused by the colour work, 2) do a few quick decreases after the colour work to achieve the same result without making a taller sock, 3) knit the edge deeper so that it holds itself in place better, or 4) block it and pretend that will work. Thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome; this is the first time I've worked a picot edge.

Can anyone tell me what these plants are?

I’m making up a photo book from one of the albums I took down from my Photos page a little while ago. It’s almost ready but I’d like to have the names of these two plants to go with their pictures.

The pictures were taken near Great Slave Lake in September of last year.

Let’s call them Plant A ...


and Plant B.


Thanks for your help.

Pattern: “Booga Bag” from Black Sheep Bags

Yarn: Noro Kureyon in colour #178

Yardage: 3 skeins

Needles: 7.00 mm bamboo 24” circular

My Booga Bag is finished! This was a really fun project. The knitting was simple and colourful and the end product is great. The long colour transitions in the Noro yarn are fun to watch as they emerge and I like the gradual striping they create.

I forgot to take any pre-felting pictures (I’d completely meant to but didn’t get the camera out until after it was in the sink) so you’ll just have to picture some basic stocking stitch with a slightly loose gauge in the same colours as my finished bag. Pre-felt measurement were 25 cm x 12 cm for the bottom of the bag and 31 cm for the height. I felted the i-cord handle with the bag.

I decided to felt my bag in the sink instead of in the washer since I live in an apartment building and don’t have a lot of control over my washing machine. There is something a little surreal about putting a piece of wool knitting into a sink of hot soapy water and then smashing it around with a wooden spoon.

 

 

It spent about an hour from start to finish. Most of the agitation was with the spoon but I did some rubbing by hands when the water was cool enough. I rinsed the felt with alternating hot and cold water which tightened it up a bit and then left it to dry over a shoe box. Measurements were 23 cm x 12 cm for the bottom and 25 cm for the height.

 

 

After it was dry I checked out the felt. It looked nice - not too fuzzy and the colour transitions looked good - but it was still a bit stretchy and I could see through the stitches a bit.

I decided to have a second go at felting and dropped the bag into a sink of really hot soapy water and let the fibres soften up until it was cool enough to put my hands in. This time around I felted by rubbing the fabric between my hands and working methodically around the bad to make sure no spots were missed. It might have been better to rub a little less vigourously - I had to trim a good number of pills off the outside of my bag when I was done - but I managed to produce a nice sturdy felt that was dense but still flexible.

 

 

Once again my bag had to dry over the box. Measurements this time were 22 cm x 11 cm for the bottom and 24 cm for the height. This evening I pulled it off the box and, following the pattern directions, made holes in the sides for the handles. I cut my i-cord in half and threaded it through then spent a while standing in front of the mirror trying to determine the perfect handle length.