When I went to the knit shop on Saturday, I picked up the yarn I needed to finish my felted Melly Bag.

Here’s the completed bag, un-felted:

Pattern: Melly Bag by Sharon Dreifuss
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Bulky
Needles: size 13 circulars

This was my first experience with felting. I think I over-felted it just a little bit. But overall I’m very pleased. Right now I have it drying. I’m using an upside-down trash bin to hold the shape while it dries (as suggested by the pattern):

I can’t wait till the bag is dried so I can start using it. It’s a lot bigger than most felted bags I’ve seen, and I love it. (I’m a fan of big purses.) I have some leftover yarn so I think I may make a mini felted bag to go inside it too.

Now it’s back to the baby sweater…

I’m sending much love to Lantern Moon. The other day I posted about my Sox Stix needles snapping and chipping. I was pretty disappointed. Well, earlier today, I got a very nice e-mail from a representative from Lantern Moon, and they offered to replace my needles! I was so happy. I had no idea they stand behind their products like that, but I’m glad to know they do. So I’m going to give the Sox Stix another go (which I’m eager to do — they really are lovely needles!).

I’m also finally making some progress on my Baby Surprise Jacket:

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn: T. M. Hunter Shetland 2-Ply Jumper in FC9 and FC21
Needles: US size 5 Knit Picks Options

When I first read the pattern, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to figure it out. It’s written in a much different style than the patterns I’m used to; it’s almost in a paragraph-style format rather than being row-by-row directions. I’m not sure if this is representative of the time he pattern was written (1968) or of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s style (or both). Thankfully, the Baby Surprise Jacket group on Ravelry was extremely helpful in getting me started. Now I’m progressing quite confidently through the pattern.

I’m really thrilled at how it’s knitting up. I know I don’t have much done on it yet (20 rows) and that it’s only simple garter stitch, but when I look at it, I can’t help but feel like I’m finally earning some “knitting-cred” that will help me work my way to finally becoming a capital-K “Knitter”.

Nashville is supposed to be getting hit with a big snow storm tonight. According to the news, people are rushing to the grocery stores to stock up on bread and milk. Being a Yankee from the Great Lakes region, I’m quite accustomed to this sort of weather. So rather than rushing to the local Kroger, I stopped and picked up some real necessities:

Yummy sweet wines: Bully Hill and Stonehaus Winery (local). Yum! So I plan on snuggling in a warm blanket to knit and sip my wine. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!!

Sock Madness 2 begins in one week! I’m really thrilled to be involved in the event. It’s my first time participating in anything like this. For this first round, I’m part of the “Maryland Merino Madness” division (you can see all the divisions here). Next Thursday the first pattern will be mailed out and we’ll be able to get started!

We haven’t had clues specifically as to what the first pattern will be, but we do know that they will start with the easiest pattern of the competition and gradually get harder. We also know that there will be several toe-up socks and that one requires us to buy 20 safety pins to do a Japanese short row heel. (Eeek!?) No doubt this is going to push my knitting abilities to the edge.

So, in preparation for Sock Madness, what have I been doing? No, not knitting socks. Shopping!

My order from Knit Picks came in the mail on Wednesday. First off, I got all the needles I needed to complete a set of 16″ and 24″ circulars in every size from 0 to 3 (including half sizes). I did this specifically so I could (hopefully) knit two at a time for the Sock Madness patterns. I also got one of their needle sizers because the one I had didn’t have half-sizes for 1.5’s and 2.5’s. Then, of course, I had to buy some yarn, just because…

The gold-colored yarn is Gloss in “Serengeti”. It’s a very unusual choice for me color-wise, but I thought that having a neutral solid sock yarn might come in handy for Sock Madness too. The blue and purple yarns are Shadow in “Vineyard Heather” and “Jewels Heather”. Again, these are for Sock Madness because they revealed that one of their patterns calls for 2 coordinating colors of lace weight yarn, and Shadow was one of their recommendations.

As far as online yarn shopping completely unrelated to socks, I also finally ordered a kit to make the famous Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. It seems that particular pattern is a rite of passage for knitters, and I thought it was high time that I gave it a shot. That, and my friend Rachel is expecting her first baby later this month. Hopefully I can knit fast enough so that the baby won’t have outgrown the sweater before it’s finished!

So, our new apartment is still in shambles of half-unpacked-chaos. It’s improved, but still a mess. But ya know, those boxes will be there another day. For now, I’d rather knit.

What with the move and all, I haven’t been very productive with the knitting just lately.

The most progress I’ve been making is on the pair of socks I’ve been knitting at work during lunch time. (Did I mention I’ve now managed to learn how to eat, read a book, and knit all at the same time? I feel quite talented.)

Pattern: Yarn Harlot’s Basic Sock Recipe (from Knitting Rules!)
Yarn: Misty Mountain Farm Jubilee in “Sunset”
Needles: Lantern Moon Sox Stix DPNs, size 2 (ebony)

I still don’t quite get why this color is called “Sunset” — to me, it says “Easter” or “springtime.” Maybe it’s just me. Regardless, it’s pretty.

OH! I fully retract my initial glowing review of Lantern Moon Sox Stix. Last week when I was working on these socks, I was knitting along and the needle in my left hand snapped in half! That left me with 4 needles, so I transferred the instep to a single needle and kept knitting. Then yesterday, the tip of one of the needles chipped off. It’s almost as if the wood is getting brittle or something? But for $23 per set, they should certainly last a lot longer than a few months.

I said “bah-humbug” on them and ordered myself a set of metal DPNs from KnitPicks.

No knitting this weekend. We spent the weekend moving.

I’m exhausted. Nick is exhausted. We could never have done it without help from my father-in-law and our friends Erica and Alan. They were all amazing.

It wouldn’t have been so hard, except we decided to move on Thursday of last week(!), signed the papers Friday afternoon, and started moving in the evening.  We only moved to a different apartment in the same complex (to escape our psychotic neighbor who has keyed my car and generally made our lives hell) but it was still a lot of work.

I’m determined to get rid of a LOT of stuff before we have to move again.

Unfortunately, my craft room is a mess and my knitting is pretty much buried at the moment.  But Erica said she’d come over and help me catch up on laundry and sort out the craft room, so hopefully things will be dug out soon.  I think I’m going to need some knitting-therapy/relaxation after this hectic weekend!