Back in April 2005, I knitted a scarf using some fun yarn I picked up at Joanne's Fabrics.  The two balls I knitted left the scarf a little shorter than I wanted it to be so I looked in my Barbara Walker books of stitches and added lace ends to the scarf.  I gave this to Catherine when I went down to visit my sister Maggie and her family in May 2005.  She immediately started rubbing it against her face, and when we travelled to Ireland and London in June/July 2005, she brought the scarf with her.



The lace blocked out very nicely.  I used a black chenille I bought on eBay years ago.

I cast off the circular shrug this morning.  Just need to get a picture and then sew it up.  I still need to look for a nice brooch that Sarah can use to close it.  I also turned the heel on George's second sock and have started working the gusset.

On Tuesday night, I started a 5-week Intermediate Knitting class at So Much Yarn.  It's mainly a time to bring in one's projects and get help with problems.  The first thing I wanted help with was darning a hole in one of George's pullovers.  Lauren admitted she didn't know a lot about darning, but she did point out that I needed to capture all the loose loops to make sure the hole wouldn't get bigger.  Together we got the hole darned well enough that George will be able to wear and wash the pullover for at least a few more months.

My second project needing help was how to start a crocheted basket for felting.  I had bought the pattern and yarn in November and I signed up for the December class about how to do the baskets, but had to cancel because George & I were going to be out of town.  I tried to do the basket on my own, but I just couldn't figure out the starting instructions.  Lauren told me that the instructions were missing a step at the very beginning.  I've noted this on the pattern and should be able to start the other two baskets on my own.  I plan to make a set of 3 nested baskets in different colours.  I'm now working on the largest basket in dark blue.

This was my first ever Fair Isle project.  I took a class offered at So Much Yarn, where Lauren showed us how to put together the colours we wanted as well as how to knit with two colours in the same row.  I had originally intended this bag for Sarah's Xmas present, but when it arrived my sister Maggie fell in love with it and Sarah gave it to her.  (I now owe Sarah an Xmas gift.)  I guess it was meant to be Maggie's since I had bought another set of colours to make the same bag for Maggie for her birthday in January. 

    

I used Tahki Cotton Classic.  It's hard to see in these photos, but there are green beads at the tips of the picot edging and the ends of the ties.  The ties were hard to make, but Lauren convinced me to stick with them and they eventually came out well.

As you can see, this is the same design that I used for Lizzie's Felted Bag, just different colours that I thought my 18 year old niece, Catherine might like.  It was meant for Xmas, but I finally got it to Catherine in late January even tho' I had finished it before the holidays.  I again used Cascade 220 and an eyelash yarn.



Catherine likes it.  To quote "It's so cute!  Very reminiscent of Dr. Suess, who was the whole of my childhood.  I love it...".

Isn't it wonderful to get such feedback on a gift you make for someone?  Both Catherine and her sister Sarah are very appreciative of the items I knit for them, which is why I continue to knit for them.

I had George try on the leg.  It fits so far.

Meanwhile, I finished the 20" of mock rib for the circular shrug last night and started on the 2x2 ribbing.  I hope to finish knitting the shrug tonight and get it sewn up and photographed tomorrow.  Sarah's birthday is April 18th and I need to get this in the mail.

In October, my husband George's youngest brother, Mark, married his girlfriend of eight years, Lizzie.  I made Lizzie a wildly coloured felted bag as a welcome-to-the-family gift.

I used four colours of Cascade 220 and a yellow eyelash yarn.  This also took 3 washings to get to a felted appearance I liked.  (The bag is stuffed with washclothes in all these pics.)



Here's a picture of its bottom:



And here it is hanging to show the length of the strap:

I knitted on the shrug constantly on Wednesday and took this progress photo this morning.



That's 2 skeins of Jiffy yarn.  I think the entire shrug is going to take just under 4 skeins.  I'm really liking how the mock rib is looking.

Back in late 2005, I made several felted bags and a purse.  I made the greens & purples bag first.  I used 5 coordinating colours of Cascade 220.  I knitted with each colour until I felt like a change.  It took 3 trips through my front-loader washing machine to get it felted to a point I liked.  The handle on this bag is about 14 inches long.  I use this bag as my purse on sunny days.  It's too open for rainy Seattle days.



The bottom of the bag came out looking like tie-dye.  I liked it so much I deliberately did the same on the next two bags I made.

I finally got my test machine at work set up properly using Ghost images and spent the rest of the day playing with Quick Test Pro (QTP).  QTP is used to create automated tests by recording the actions and entries of a website or application user.  The recording is then modified to allow for parameterization and such. 

I got so involved in what I was doing that I completely lost track of time.  I find that happens often when I'm really interested in what I'm doing... suddenly I look at a clock and hours have gone by.  Between that and the buses running slow, I didn't get home until nearly 9pm tonight.