Another green Christine

And this one's for me!

So about a month ago Michaels was having a sale on Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick - normally over $6.50 a skein and - on sale for $5 a skein. I had some projects in the queue that called for super chunky weight yarn so I stocked up! I bought over 10 balls of this stuff! I am kind of a yarn snob but I really like this yarn. For a super chunky yarn, this yarn is soft, affordable, comes in a good variety of colors, and has good yardage per skein. If you look at my Ravelry projects, I have knit over five of my last ten finished projects with this yarn. Actually, now that I think about it, I may have blown through the whole wad! Wow!

Ok - on topic. From this yarn I knitted up two Christine Bags, one for me and one for my friend's birthday gift - same color - different lining. Why does lining handbags prove to be such a feat for me? I have yet to just whip one out! In fact, I still have not finished another gift because of the lining. And yet, I still continue to choose projects that require a lining...but I digress. My friend, Bridgett, has knit about ten of these bags and raves about what a cinch this bag is to put together. I think my next one will be. Oh! Note - when you purchase your purse handles, make sure they are symmetrical. The handles I used for my bag were not - it looks a bit wonky but still works.

This is Frankie's Christine Bag...

Isn't she lovely...

...isn't she wonderful...isn't she precious... Cabled Baby Hat

Baby gifts gone bad

So, on Friday, I remembered that I had a baby shower to go to on Sunday. So I scrounged thru my stash and Ravelry to see if I could find a quick easy knit. My problem was that I stuck on this yarn that I wanted to use but couldn't find a pattern. After paging thru my favorites I found Le Petit Trianon - baby kimono. The yarn I used SUCKED! I love the results but knitting with it was awful. If you dropped a stitch or had to pick a stitch up? Impossible! Once it was all knitted up, I loved it - so soft, cushy, cozy, fuzzy, fluffy! Perfect for a baby. I had a really hard time with the pattern, too. I don't know if it was the way it was written or if it was my ineptness with it. I've never seen sleeves knitted onto a sweater in this fashion and who am I to modify it with out ever having knitted the pattern before? Ugh! So anyway, I stayed up super late on Friday and Saturday night to get it done and it turned out really bad (the sleeves mostly). I will knit a new one (due to the nature of the yarn - it wouldn't be easy to frog and I can't undo the sweater because it would be impossible to pick up the stitches at the join. Ugh!

(yes that's what the right sleeve does on its own; and no, this was not meant to be short sleeve)