Chinese Charm Bag: Part II

And she's finally done!  Though I have to give my sister even more props, cause this thing was HARD for me to put together.  I can't remember the last time I sewed anything - I think I might have been 8 or so (I sewed my own barbie clothes.  I'm sure they were fabulous.) and this required me to sew together the lining and then sew it into the bag.  I had to do it all by hand, but I think it turned out OK.  Not great mind you, but I think it makes it look more handmade (or so I'm going to tell myself).  And, since its a present for my future sister-in-law, and she has been very well raised, she'll probably flatter it enough that I'll walk away thinking its a work of art.  

But then I'll always have this post to look back on to bring me back down to earth!

Anyway, without further ado, here is my version of the Chinese Charm Bag - TA DA:

And in other news, I made Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake this weekend.  And boy was it good.

So good in fact, that this is all that is left....

It goes without saying that I haven't been on the scale this week.  **Sigh**

Whoops I did it again....

Yes, I have.  I have done it again.

In pure K-style, I have once again almost cut off a finger....I'm totally cool like that.  Luckily JL rushed home from work to assist me (in stopping the bleeding) and now it just looks like this:

On the up side, I didn't have to cook dinner after that (we got take-out Thai....yummmm) but it has made me even slower in both the typing and knitting arena.  But don't you fret yourself - I'm forging ahead as usual.

I think JL may be putting a moratorium on my use of sharp implements, especially since the great New Year's blender incident.

In other news, I am officially a Ravelry gal now.  I've already used it to find other knitty types that live in the lower north shore of Sydney so I'm pretty psyched.  Oh, and no, it does not escape my notice that I am psyched about something that involves yarn, but there you have it.  Frankly, I think I just like the excuse to sit a lot....

And FINALLY, there is good news on the visa front.  Everything has been put in to the immigration department and there are high hopes that I might be able to start work on Monday.  It'll be good to be getting a paycheck again, but I have to say, I'm going to miss all the time at home.  Not that I do much that is worthwhile but I have got a decent amount of knitting done, I get to spend a lot of time with the dogs, I learned to sell stuff on ebay (I'm getting that durn wedding dress if it kills me!) AND yesterday I made these:

Sweet.  

Oh, and I totally recognize that Halloween was like, ummm, a week ago, but for those of you that have been the lucky recipients of my Christmas cards....in February...you know this is actually quite timely for me.  Plus, they are so ARTFULLY RENDERED it really isn't important when exactly they were made (hahahah....sheesh).

And just for fun....here is my very artistic rendition of JL.   I call it "On the Weekend".  Love the polka dots/stripes combo baby!

[Apologies for the fuzzy photos.  I'm a very good photog too, doncha know.]

She might be cute, but she sure ain't smart

JL and I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday night to find this:

[My knitting wrapped around the chair legs]

[Yeah another view - how is this possible?]

[Oh, I see now.....]

Chinese Charm Bag: Part 1

Two Christmases ago, my little sister gave me a lovely hand-knit bag.  It was from a pattern in "Stitch-n-Bitch - The Knitter's Handbook".  I loved it so much, I decided to make one for my (future) sister-in-law for Christmas this year.  It was really easy, just a simple garter stitch knit in the round.  So easy in fact, that I cast on yesterday, and bound off today!  And I loved loved loved the yarn, so it was pretty fun too (which is always a good thing).  I still have to put it together (i.e, put on handles, and a lining), and today I found an online shop that sells Japanese silk remnants.  I got a whole load of beautiful silk fabrics for so little money (but now, of course, I am going to be knitting Chinese Charm Bags for like the next 9 years)....

Anywhoo, here is Chops modeling the completed knitting portion of the bag (doesn't she look happy?):

Pattern:  "Stitch-n-Bitch - The Knitter's Handbook", p. 169, Sylvia Mahoney's Chinese Charm Bag

Yarn:  Noro, Silk Garden, 1.5 50 gram skeins

Needles:  US10 circular

As an aside, I just got back from driving myself to and from the doctor's office - BY MYSELF!  And I didn't even hit anything!

Don't forget to scrub behind your ears!

As you can see, I finally finished my facecloths (washcloths if you are American).  I don't think you can tell in this photo, but the brown Debbie Bliss yarn (being a little bit thicker than the Jo Sharp yarns) made a slightly larger cloth so they could possibly benefit from blocking.  But eh....they're just for us so I won't bother.  (Plus they are made to get wet so what's the point anyway?)  I do love the way the colors turned out though.

On a slightly related note, JL and I have been on a bit of a home improvement kick.  It all started with a new lamp for the bedroom.  Once we got the new lamp, the room (of course) had to be rearranged to show it off to maximum effect.  Then my shoes needed to be organized (because, the closet is right next to the new lamp, doncha know), and then my jewelry and pictures, and then the madness seeped into the office and the bathroom.  Next thing I knew I was buying a fake plant for the bathroom counter.  Its pretty cute though if I do say so myself.

The lamp that started it all.

The new bathroom plant - yes, I'm now that girl.

And on a totally unrelated note, check out this week's flowers from JL**!  The yellow was just what I needed to brighten my mood!

**For those of you that don't know, my lovely fiancee gives me flowers pretty much every week.  Just one of the reasons I'm the luckiest gal in the world!

K-nitting 98

When I was in college, I had to take Math 100 my freshman year.  For those of you non math-dummies, Math 100 was essentially a high school math class - you know, for those of us that didn't do quite as well on that portion of our SAT's, or couldn't get through Algebra II.  Yeah, that was me.  It wasn't even Math 101...nope, you had to have a certain level of number literacy for that class.  

So how did I become a finance lawyer, you ask?  Well, if you can figure it out I'd love to know - I ask myself that every day.  

But to get to the point, I was recently looking at a knitting how-to book - you know one of those "knitting for idiots" type books - and I realized as I flipped through it that even this one was too complicated.  Seriously.  I'm the girl who had to look up how to do a garter stitch the other day (but in my defense, why don't they just call it knit stitch?  I mean, really?).  So I'm in the market for Knitting 100.  Anyone seen one of those?  If not, I might have to write it myself.  But then I'd have to call it Knitting 99 or 98, i.e., how to just ignore dropped stitches (which I am superbly talented at by the way).

Anywho, just like I didn't let my complete dysfunction in math stop me from becoming a finance lawyer (just cause I can't balance my checkbook.....), I certainly did not let my total inability to remember what a simple garter stitch is stop me from knitting.  

So here it is!  My first sweater....well the back at least... [insert round of applause here]

Thanks to my fab model....Chops.

I'm also starting on a set of wash cloths, with a chevron pattern no less.  We'll see how they go.  I got some beautiful Jo Sharp yarn and I'm on my way.  

And thanks to fab model #2 - Tilly.

Fine, fine, not that far along but who's counting....

Oh, and just to be clear, I've been knitting for a long time.  Well, at least 4 years.  No, not steadily, but still.  And, to rub salt in the wound, my sisters are amazing knitters.  They can do socks!  I'm still scared of two needles, let alone 4.  But do you know what I have??  Perseverance (and a lot of crappy knitted projects!)!

Love, K

The K-nitting 98 Goddess**

**Self-titled moniker.

[Update - for those of you who are interested, the sweater is The Garter Stitch Jacket by Jo Sharp, page 26 of Knit Issue 6.  The yarn is Posie (also by Jo Sharp).

The wash cloth is from a free pattern by Terri Lee Royea (which you can get here) and the yarn is Debbie Bliss cotton dk in coffee and Jo Sharp in bisque and orchid.  Yummy!]

Things I am good at

Keeping my dogs from killing each other:

Cleaning up dog pee:

Sitting on my knitting needles:

Making bread: