Back to knitting

I don't think I mentioned on this blog that we moved in July. From western North Carolina to central Tennessee. After nearly 26 years in the same house, it was quite a chore! Plus we are living on a school campus in a rather small house, so downsizing has been hard. I have no room in the house for any of my sewing, knitting or craft stuff, so we purchased a 10 X 12 foot storage shed and put it out back. I call it my yarn barn. I got kind of discouraged the other night when Larry and I were out there working on putting up a tabletop, and found several wood roaches. UGH I hate those things!! I have sprayed a bunch, and put out sticky traps. We will caulk and seal the thing this weekend, and hope it's less buggy. Finding time is a real challenge. The school keeps the kids busy with lots of activities, and we attend most of them.

Faculty pre-session started a week and a half after we arrived, and during the meetings, one of the other teachers knitted a sock and started on another one. Alas, I couldn't find any of my knitting! What a waste of good knitting time! Finally I found it, and have started back on Christmas balls. I knitted one in a day on the bus ride to and from a school picnic, and the other in the evenings before dropping off to sleep.

I want to do a whole bunch of blue and white balls and put them in a bowl or something to display.
Better go and walk my attention-starved dog. (Haha - he probably gets more attention than any dog on earth, but it's never enough for him!) I hope everyone has a good weekend. The schedule is slow here this weekend, so I'm hoping to get a lot of rest, and a lot of things done.

My own market bag

Mia's bag is almost finished - I just need to sew the strap on, and I'd like to find a cute button to put on it. I went ahead and started my bag next. I really like this color - "Swimming Pool".

Mia's Market Bag

I started on Mia's market bag last week. I think it's going to be really cute - I love the colors in this yarn!
As I was resizing this photo, I noticed what looked like a dropped stitch in the upper lefthand corner. I panicked and went to check it out. I'm NOT good at fixing dropped stitches, especially in a pattern stitch, but luckily it's just a tail from where I changed balls of yarn. Whew!

Claire's Market Bag

Finished! Even the tails are woven in. I ended up ripping out the top edge and doing it over in garter stitch. I want to put a button on where the handle is sewn on, but I can't find my stash of buttons. My craft/sewing area is such a mess!

Now, on to one for Mia. Hers will have light purple and a variegated called "Beach Ball Blue" that's really pretty.

Bunny Crochet

I found a tutorial online at YouTube for making these little bunnies. Theirs have glued on googly eyes and pompom tails, but I don't have either of those in stock in my craft pile, so I just made a little yarn tail. They can be used for pins or fridge magnets.

Claire's Market Bag

I finished mine, and of course, the girls both want one now. For Claire all things must be purple, and I decided to make a full-size bag so she can carry swimsuits, towels, shoes or whatever. I have the bag finished, although I'm not happy with the way the top rolls, but I'm not sure I have the courage to rip it out and do it over. I didn't know how to do garter stitch in the round, so it's reverse stockinette, which of course will roll. I found a YouTube video on how to do garter stitch in the round - super easy - knit one row, purl one row. I also am still working on the handle (and need to weave in the tails - my most hated task of knitting and crochet!).

A little more crochet

I've been looking for simple crochet patterns that are something useful, on which I can practice. No doilies are needed around here! (Although, I think that's what Larry thinks I'm working on most of the time.) I found this pattern for a hot pad that I thought would be cute. It's nice and thick, since you sew two layers together - very fun!

Front side.

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