It is Totally Useless Stitch Along time, and as usual I am a day late. 😉
TUSAL for March
This month there are bits from Santa’s Journey and the four left clover that I stitched earlier. There are also some bits from this month’s ornament for the Ornament SAL.
Ack! I took another break from sock knitting! (I’ve got two weeks to knit the first pair of socks. It is supposed to be done as quickly as possible, but I get distracted so easily!)
Reversible Tote Bag
I made myself a reversible tote bag using some of my favourite fabric. The pattern comes from a free Craftsy class called Bag Making Basics: Reversible Tote and Zipper Pouch. If you are interested in taking it yourself head over here and scroll down to the bottom of the page. (You’ll see a tonne more free classes for everything from sewing to knitting to chocolate making. Yum!)
The interior fabric is from the same collection as the exterior. I love it too. 😉
Inside!
And, I made myself a little zippered pouch too.
Zipper pouch!
I love the green zipper I picked. It is hard to tell from this picture (imagine me shaking my fist at the sun), but it is a light green that nearly matches the lightest interior colour of the leaves/vines. It looks lovely.
I’m so pleased with how both these bags turned out, and with my new-found proficiency with my zipper foot. I suspect I will be making more of both these bags in the near future.
Have you every seen the movie Hudson Hawk? If you haven’t, don’t bother. It isn’t one of Bruce Willis’ masterpieces. But, thanks to my high school job as a movie store clerk (the stories I could tell!), I’ve seen it four times. And I replayed it in my head while I was knitting this:
On the Hudson cowl
The pattern is On the Hudson by Sandra Singh (available on Ravelry for US$5), and it is so much better than the movie. 😉 The yarn is Estelle Cloud Cotton for the black, white and purple, and Araicania Pomaire for the blue. It is so soft and smooshy, and just lovely. (I kinda want to make a giant, heavy blanket out of the Cloud Cotton, but it would bankrupt me, I think.)
OMG, who is that fat woman wearing my cowl?!
I made the large version of the cowl, so it can either hang down like in this picture, or I can wrap it around my neck twice.
I really love how the combination of simple stitch patterns works so well together. And it was never boring, since after a few rows you move onto a different colour and a different stitch pattern. And, of course, it was so easy to adjust to colours I love. 🙂 Also, knitting from stash = good.
Stitching? Who has time for that? Sock Madness has started!!
Actually, I have been stitching just a little bit. I’m made some progress on Down the Garden Path by Lynn Nicoletti.
Down the Garden Path, designed by Lynn Nicoletti (WIP)
The fabric is Meadow from Enchanting Lair, and I chose aida because I thought it would stand up better to being played with. The threads are DMC and Crescent Colours. I need to add some beads to the areas I’ve stitch, but I don’t have the right ones in my stash. The horror!!
Also, do these look like hearts or eggplants to you?
Heart or eggplant?
March marks the beginning of Sock Madness. You know for a sock knitter like me this is only a good thing. 😉 The whole point, essentially, is to knit seven pairs of socks as quickly after the pattern is released as you can (there are breaks!) and make it to the end of the competition. Last year I didn’t even make it past the first round because I ran out of yarn…
Yarn for Sock Madness
All we are told ahead of time is a general idea of yarn and yardage (e.g. 400 yards of semi-solid, or 350 yards of crazy self-striping) and what other notions we will need. This year that list includes 14 shank buttons and two zippers! Being the semi-organized person that I am, I’ve already got everything figured out. (Clearly, this also shows great optimism on my part.)
Truthfully, my goal is to make it beyond the first round this time. Anything beyond that is good with me. But deep in my heart, I’d love to make it to around four or five. And even if I am eliminated, I think I will try my best to keep knitting along.
Sadly, the sign-ups for Sock Madness 7 have now closed. But, if you’d like to learn more or cheer the sock knitters along, you can check out the group on Ravelry.
Look, my Temperature Scarf is still growing!
Temperature Scarf (WIP)
It is complete up to March 2nd, including all the ends being woven in. Amazing, isn’t it? Not the scarf, but the fact that I am keeping up with it. 😉 I don’t knit on it every day, but rather save up about a week’s worth of rows and do them all at once.
Now, the true test of my stick-to-itiveness is actually making it to the end of the year!
If you’d like to know more about my Temperature Scarf please check out this earlier post.
So, according to my doctor and an ultrasound, there is nothing at all wrong with my arm/elbow/shoulder. Imagine a giant eye roll here. I have the worst luck with medical tests. I could be bleeding out of my eye balls and the bleeding-out-of-your-eye-balls test would still come back negative. It is enough to make me want to give up on doctors completely!
Anyway, no more ranting. 😉 I’m happy, healthy-ish, and stitching. I don’t need much more in life to make me happy. And speaking of stitching, I’ve made some progress on Santa’s Journey.
Santa’s Journey, designed by Dimensions (WIP)
He looks so much better now that I’ve back stitched his face. I do have a love/hate relationship with the back stitching in Dimensions’ designs, but the finished result generally does look good. (I changed his eyes to green because there isn’t enough of us green-eyed people in the world!)
One more thing: I’ve got a great giveaway come up for the first of April. I will fill you in on the details at the next Ornament SAL check-in (on March 27). I’m sure you are all going to love it!
Welcome to Stitching Lotus, a blog about crafting, reading, and creating my own cozy corner of the world. AI free!
Needleworker, Knitter, Crocheter, Sewist, Paper Crafter, and more!
