Purl bump heart bag

I saw this in the Stitch and Bitch book and thought it was neat, so I tried to make the heart design on practice yarn. At some point during the experiment, I put everything down on the floor to answer the phone, and when I cam back, one of my needles was missing! We tore the house apart and still couldn't find it. I think we might have a tiny black hole in the living room. So anyway, I ripped all that out and started it again.

This time I was so pleased with the result that I decided to make the swatch into a bag or a pilow or something. I made a drawstring closure around the edge and gave it to DH to "remember me" by :)

METHOD:
This was crappy acrylic practice yarn, but the design stands out pretty well. I probably should have framed the purl bump design in more stockinette stitch, so the design itself doesn't draw closed when the bag does.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
These would make GREAT zill bags! I'm thinking of trying to chart an ankh or scarab or something and make little zill bags for my friends and students.

Edited to add: about a month later we finally found the missing needle. It was in the chair the whole time! I don't see how we missed it -- we practically turned the chair upside down.

Something bigger: Bow Ponchette

I saw this pattern at Michaels and loved the look of it. I knew I just HAD to make one, but I was hesitant to try something that would take more than a day or two to create. I actually started this on Nov. 23 but put it aside for all the scarves and hats of Thanksgiving.

This piece has taken the most time so far to complete, but that's also because I kept making other things along the way. Here's the thing, though. It's pretty, and I've worn it a couple of times already, but I don't really want it. I guess that's going to be an issue with me -- I want to knit the stuff, not actually WEAR it.

METHOD:
This ponchette is made from three skeins of TLC Amore yarn in "Vanilla." The pattern is from the yarn maker, and was one of those in-store free patterns. You knit two strands as one on 10.5 needles. (I did mine on the Needle Master circular needles, with the ends capped off.)

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
I need to learn some proper finishing techniques. The seams on this thing are really ugly, even though they are hidden on the inside of the piece. Still, I know they are there.

This had a much better overall look, even though there are a few places where I didn't pick up both strands and it looks like tiny holes or thin places in the garment, but I'm happy with it.

Too long long scarf

I wanted an extra long scarf, but I think I went just a bit too far on this one. :) It's very warm, I have to admit.

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Fun Fur, 2 skeins of violet and two of raspberry, on #11 needles, this was going to just be alternating colors, but then I got all creative and decided the end of the scarf should look lilke they were dipped in the other color. So I had to rip out the cast on stitches, and knit backwards, which was interesting.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
How to pull out the cast on stitches and knit from there. I had some issues, so I ended up frogging back about two inches of work, but I've learned how to fix that for the future. The "dipped" ends didn't come out even. I'm not sure how to figure out how to fix that, but for ripping it all out and cutting the ball of yarn in half. (edited to add: the simplest way to do this would just be to count the rows! And to think, I actually enjoyed math class!)

First gift- for Mona

The easiest thing in the world is to make a scarf for a friend. Especially a self-striping one.

METHOD:
Two balls of Fun Fur in the color "Mexicana" makes a festive enough birthday gift for a bellydancer. Thes are consistently shorter than I want, but they work out okay.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
The perfect $6 gift takes just a few hours to make, and people seem to really enjoy hand-knit gifts!

LAST Hat and Scarf set

METHOD:
This is a hat and scarf set from the LionBrand Boucle pattern in "Snowcone." I like this color, but for some odd reason, the yarn seemed to fuzz up more than usual. I DON'T like the scarf, which curled even though I added the garter stitch edge, and I don't particularly like having the "hole" design. I'd really like to give this set away.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
I must remember to NOT watch "Gladiator" while knitting. Joachin Phoenix is waaay too distracting. :) Can you see the whole line of incorrect stitching? Probably not, but it's there. Now every time I see this hat I will think of Joachin. Hmm, maybe I won't give this one away...

P.S. Dad came over for Christmas and was admiring my work, and he thought this was just the neatest design -- so I gave the set to him! Mom said he actually wears it! That's the highest compliment I could be given! :)

One hat to match

So I just HAD to make the matching hat to go with the Bernat Boa eyelash scarf.
(This was donated in 2019.)

METHOD:
Bernat Boa "Parrot" on #9 needles.

(edited to add, in January I made another one, out of "Tweety Bird" to match the first scarf I made.)

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
I'm getting a little bored of hats.

I mean, I enjoy making them, but I've found that I'm very rarely wearing them, since I usually wear my hair in a ponytail all winter. So here's my brilliant idea: instead of sewing the seam all the way up, why not leave a little hole, to stick the ponytail through? Probably not an original idea, but a functional one. I don't know how easy this will be to do when knitting in the round, though. But that's a project for another day.

Oh, this one called for an increase by knitting into the back. One more trick in the knitting arsenal!

Really must get back to the ponchette thing.