Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Ah, Vacation!!!

So I've been M.I.A. for a week. Sometimes things just get away from me. Last Thursday we left for our anniversary trip to Vermont.

It was amazing! Vermont is beautiful this time of year. There were still fall leaves and it was sunny with a high of 40 each day of our trip. I love vacations where you can just make it up as you go along. Get a loose idea of what you would like to do and leave the rest open. We did a lot of hiking, visited the Ben & Jerry's factory (YUM) went to a ton of antique stores, a couple of local historical houses & of course a couple of yarn stores. I picked up some lovely hand spun hand painted yarn for my secret pal (and some for me too)! It was just what we needed. Fireplaces, hot chocolate, knitting, scrabble, snuggles. My idea of perfection!

I have been knitting up some Christmas gifts this week. Erin posted her Christmas knitting list a couple of weeks ago and it got me thinking of mine. Her list had a little variation, mine is just one thing - felted purses. They are fast, easy & look really nice when done. So, if you are one of my friends or relatives & female you are probably getting a felted purse for Christmas.

I took one to work on while we were gone and finished a lot faster than I had expected. With nothing else to knit I decided to try something radical- Cables! I took the leftover yarn from the purse, the DPN'S I was knitting it with & used the internet connection in the lobby of the B&B we were staying at to download a couple of basic cable stitches.

The end result. I can now cable! It's amazing how much easier it is than I ever thought. It is really gratifying to watch the pattern take shape. Of course now I want to cable everything! So last night I cast on the "Hurry up spring" armwarmers from Stitch n' Bitch Nation. I'm using some Noro (as the pattern calls for) in an obnoxiously bright pink, yellow, orange, purple, blue colorway. The first one is knitting up really quickly and the colorway is fantastic! Oh noro how I adore you!

Which reminds me I have been tagged for a knitting meme by Eunny (whose new blog looks grand by the way) which I will get to after my meetings.

Back to the grind.

Comments:
i was stunned by how much easier cables were than i thought they'd be. what was i waiting for?

are you using any felted purse pattern in particular?

oh, and happy anniversary!
 
Yeah, I am so shocked that of all the knitting books I own not one of them has a chapter called "Cables A LOT easier than you'd expect". Seriously all you need to know is how to knit & purl? I feel so ripped off! I could have been cableing ages ago! Sheesh!

Oh & my favorite felted purse pattern is the sophie bag from magknits.com. Now I pretty much make up my own patterns as I go along. So some have flaps or button holes or longer handles. Once you make one it is really easy to come up with your own variations.
 
Yes!! Cabling!

Can't wait to see what you come up with.
 
And now you need to learn how to cable with out the cable needle! It will be even more awesome than if you're currently using the third needle.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?