One for the money (or lack thereof)

Since I am still so far under the weather that I could give you the forecast in Sydney (partly cloudy, 11 degrees C. - Thanks, David Reidy!), I can only account for one single bag of giveaways this week. There were more than seven items in it. I did not take a picture. Some summer skirts, several items of outgrown toddler clothing, a set of sheets and two books. Trust me. It's all gone.

Knitting wise, I'm officially finished with my felted knitting tote and it's upstairs drying right now.










The pictures aren't very attractive because it was still quite damp. I plan on doing a little steaming/shaping tomorrow. My favorite parts are the side pockets for knitting needles.

I did have my yearly "Dog intrudes into Knitting Bag" meltdown this week when Zelda the German Shepherd played a little catch with one of my just-completed "Mrs. Beeton's" ruffly wristlets. As she ate most of the beaded cast on of one cuff, I had a blurry vision of me having to reknit a whole new cuff. Instead, I opted to figure out how to snip out the damaged Kidsilk Haze, bind off the damaged yarn, rebead the missing beads onto new Kidsilk Haze, knit into the existing cuff stitches and then bind the whole thing so that the new blended into the old.



See how she mocks me with this relaxed pose! Zelda is actually the Foul Fiend of Knitting.

The only good thing about this 1/2 days work is - Kidsilk Haze (a 70% Super Kid mohair/30% Silk blend - I actually used Kidsilk Night in the turquoise blue Oberon colorway) Fuzzes. I was able to fluff up all the new stitches to make them match the "mouthed-but-not-eaten" existing stitches. The bottom cuff is actually the one with the redone cast on. The beads aren't in quite the right place but the rest looks fine.



Luckily, the other recipients of cuffs on my Christmas list asked for plainer mitts so I am casting on for some of the ever-popular Fetching mitts from Knitty in Rowan Cashsoft Aran - a great Burnt Sienna kind of colorway. I think I'll make some of the Voodoo wristwarmers if I've got enough time.

For bigger works, I've also started my string bag gift again. The first cast on turned into a puddle of red (as Miss Lime of Lime n' Violet calls it) "catyack." Right now, my only trouble is that my Addi Turbos are too blunt to make this an easy knit. It's definitely a carry-along kind of work. This afternoon, I was working on it while my daughters and Youngest Child were at play practice for our church Christmas pageant. In the knitterly equivalent of listening at the door, I was knitting along in the back of the church when, suddenly, I realized it was my boychild deserting the Shepherd gang and bolting for the back door. Unfortunately, after he was returned, I also realized he was the one leading the "Pizza, pizza" chant. We got out of the following dinner as soon as possible.