This was a pattern created by Woolwinders, my local knitting salon which is located in Rockville, MD. I knit it up in Cascade Yarns “Venezia” merino silk (70% merino wool, 30% silk). This was a luxurious fiber to work with. The finished project measures 10 1/2 inches wide by 5 1/4 inches tall, not including the handles.

It was a quick project to knit up, taking about 8 hours if I remember correctly. The hardest part for me was getting up the motivation to finish the project. First I sewed up the side of the purse. Next I created the lining and then sewed it into my purse. I struggled with how to attach the handles. At first I sewed the handles onto the top of the purse, but they ended up dominating the handbag. My second try was to sew them about 3/4 of an inch into the purse, and I really liked how this turned out.

This purse is on the small side. My husband joked that I could fit my cell phone in there. I believe I can also fit my wallet and a lipstick. We’ll see.

As I mentioned, this was a very quick project to knit up. You can easily create your own pattern and customize the size to your preference. I might knit up another one of these as a Christmas present.

Tags: knitting

Ever heard that November is the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? I hadn’t until Bill found it for me. He stumbled across it on one of his blogs and sent it to me knowing I would be interested.

So what it is? It’s a program for those who who have always wanted to write but never found the time. The goal is to write 50,000 words by midnight on November 30. The focus is on quantity, not quality, so that you actually write that novel.

I took a writing class a couple of years ago and was told that in order to be a writer, you have to write. Well I’ve spent a long time not writing, and I could probably come up with a million reasons not to participate in NaNoWriMo (new job at it’s busiest time, family coming for Thanksgiving, house projects, etc.) but I’m giving it a go.

Happy writing.

Tags: NaNoWriMo

Finally, proof that I do actually finish projects!

I have started buying needlepoint canvases as travel souvenirs. The canvas I liked the most was meant to be an ornament, but I wanted something to frame. As I have posted before, the canvas is only a suggestion. The pattern was simple enough that I was comfortable modifying it to suit my purposes. I drew in the square and then extended the coast line (while consulting a map) and added in some additional waves. Voilà! My friends at The Stitching Post outside of Baltimore, MD did a fantastic job with the framing (again). This piece was stitched in DMC Perle 5 cotton.

The next piece was a commissioned piece. That’s my fancy was of saying that I asked a friend to draw it for me because I’ve been going through a dragonfly phase. She gave me some guidance with colors, and then I used metallics and overdyed silk threads. I stitched the background in Caron Impressions. This piece had a lot of blank space so I chose to use the milanese stitch for my background stitch because it would be interesting but not ovewhelming. Overall, I’m very please with how this project turned out. The only thing I would have done differently was use a dark colored canvas because I can sometimes see the white canvas peeking through in some places. Again, the framing was done at The Stitching Post. I’m so pleased with their custom framing department; they have a lot of framing choices, and this is THE perfect frame.

Tags: finished projects, needlepoint

I had the most pleasant surprise on my door step today! My new iPod shuffle arrived. Actually, it’s arrival wasn’t that much of a surprise since I have been tracking it obsessively.

I am so excited to take it for a walk. I love my video iPod, but it’s a little bulky when I go to take the dog around the block. I’m very excited for the shuffle since it will clip to my jacket and I’ll hardly even notice it’s there.

The new shuffle did require a few things:

1. The newest version of iTunes. Not a big deal, but a surprise.

2. How to sync it with iTunes. I could have had iTunes randomly select music but I have control issues. For me, the preferred set up was to make a playlist which I titled Shuffle. This playlist will sync with my shuffle automatically when I plug it in.

3. Audiobooks. I have started to enjoy listening to audiobooks on my stroll, but when I added them to the playlist, they didn’t get copied onto my shuffle. Hmmm… When I did take the audiobooks and added them to the shuffle device directly (instead of the playlist) they copied.

My shuffle, named This Shuffle’s Made For Walking (or TSMFW for short) is fully charged and ready to take a spin.

Tags: iPod