TAKING BACK [THE KNIT]

I had quite the weekend. Lots of drinking, partying, knitting, vomiting, and promoting my friends' new craft group. I had the hangover to prove it yesterday. (I don't normally even get hangovers, and it takes a lot of le booze for me to get one.) There are pictures to prove all of this, but none are online as of now. Check back with my flickr in a day or two.

 And speaking of flickr and new groups, I started a group for projects from the Stitch'n'Bitch books, because frankly I couldn't believe there wasn't already one. So if you've knitted/crocheted/sewn something from one of those books and it's on flickr post it there! Also, I started one for flowering maples, but I wouldn't really expect that many people to be able to contribute. But you might want to check it out, because there are some gorgeous pictures from amazing photographers.

I've been working like mad lately, and managed to finish two projects in the last week. Firstly, the "Fat Bottom Bag" from Stitch'n'Bitch Crochet.

yarn: LB Lion Cotton, in a teal color. I don't remember the name. Heck, it might even be "Teal"! I used less than one ball, which was nice.

hook: whatever the pattern called for. A G/6 maybe?

mods: none. I did the handle flaps a little differently, working into every other stitch instead of SCing across the row. It was easier, as I'm still not sure where exactly I'm supposed to be crocheting into when I do border-type stuff.

The handles are from JoAnn, and I love them.

This purse is going to my sister for Christmas, even though it is a really summer purse. I'm a little late or really early for that. This is the best purse I have made, without a doubt. Simple, and easy to customize.

I also finished my mittens. No FO pictures just yet, but here are some almost done in-progress pictures:

I didn't really want them to match, so I just started the second one where I ended the first without even thinking about where I was in the striping sequence. I am really liking mittens, and think a lot of people will be getting them for Christmas.

 I'm working on my first toe-up socks! They're just plain stockinette, worsted weight yarn on #3s. I love tightly knit stuff! I did a lot of work on them while drinking this weekend, and managed to not fuck them up! I don't usually knit under the influence, so I was proud of myself.  

 When I'm hungover I don't so much get the headaches or sensitivity to light, but my stomach does weird things. It's unsettled and I feel like I want to vomit yet really hungry at the same time. It sucks! Then when I do try to eat, it doesn't taste good and I am full quickly. It is pretty much the bane of my existence.

So I only got one sock done. I like it though, but it might be a bit too short when it come to the length of the foot. But I'm happy with it. I'm not looking forward to the second one. Also, I feel like I should get going on my holiday knitting first. (A pretty good way to justify my procrastination, don't ya think?) If you want specs, I'll give them to you, but I am going to wait 'til I get both done to post all that juicy stuff. I really enjoyed Socktoberfest, mostly because of the inspiration I got from everyone else! Everyone's socks are so beautiful. I love looking at the flickr group. I'm so glad it's going to stay open year-round!

Since it's getting colder every day, I've wanted to start on some mittens for a while. Once Socktoberfest was over, I figured that was the perfect time! So have some other knitters, and thus MittenFest was born! I'm not usually a "joiner" but lately there have been some great knit-a-longs.  Two days ago my mitten progress looked like this:

And as of last night, it's DONE. D-O-N-E. C'est fini! Ends woven in and all. It's amazing! I have a few friends who left sunny California to go to college on the east coast, and now I know what they're getting for Christmas! I really like a lot of the things everyone likes about socks: quickness, easiness, customizability, etc. Since I have fallen in love with the Magic Loop, that makes me love them even more. Mittens have even made me want to think about color work, which is something that I have never done. They seem small enough that it would be a good intro to such things.  Hell, everyone might be getting mittens for Christmas! I just wish they weren't so confining