Mother-Daughter Handbags

I almost don't want to mail these, but Karen's birthday was May 3 and they're already late. I finished her felted handbag and then realized I had enough yarn left over to do a "daughter" version for my little neice, Ivy. Guess they can do double duty for Mother's Day.

I'm surprised by how much I'm coveting these, mostly for the colors, I think. They were really quick to knit, so I'll probably get more yarn to make myself a really huge messenger-style bag.

Yarn: Lion Wool in Rose, Patons Classic Merino in Leaf Green and Moda Dea Cache in Smartie
Knit on size 10.5 aluminum circular needles
Each bag took about three hours to knit and felted very nicely in my front-load washer.

I finished knitting the Folds of Function bag from Folk Bags many days ago, but as usual can't get myself to do the sewing up and finishing. Must do it, tho, because I've already told my friend I've had something red growing on the needles that belongs to her.

I'm working on a felted sweater bag for a swap partner. The sweater was a wonderful vintage 1960s handknit in white wool with windowpane checks in aqua embellished with a leafy green. I didn't feel too badly about fulling it, because it had already been washed by accident (I'd guess) sometime before it hit the thrift store. I just need to get the strap and some embroidery floss for blanket stitching around the bottom, but I keep forgetting to take it into town with me so I can match the colors. I'm thinking of knitting a couple of flowers to felt for decoration, too. Hope my partner loves it, because once again, I'm coveting this material! And the sweater reminded me of my mom, for some reason.

I overdyed one of my G's Microsoft shirts (laundry accident had left it with rust-colored stains) with plain old Rit dye in Teal. I did it on the stovetop, and while at it threw in an older knit cotton dishcloth. I was surprised at how pretty the color turned out, so tossed in a ball of ancient wool from my old weaving stash... It had been dyed a strange off-green, a mistake, I think. Anyway, I didn't follow any of the rules. Didn't wet the yarn first. Didn't unwind the ball; just let it sink slowly and left it until the bubbles stopped. Put it in after the water had cooled a good bit; then stuck it in the microwave to set the dye. After all of this, it turned out to be the prettiest robin's egg blue, a bit heathery. One end is more saturated than the other -- strangely, the inside of the ball is the saturated bit. But I really like it and am glad I "just did it."

I've got to get focused on dyeing some good yarn for the Dye-No-Mite swap. I've got some beautiful hand-dyed stuff on order as a failsafe, but I want to do something special for her.

For now, though, back to the bench and the hammers.