Ok I've been a bit busy. I finished the basic bag. I am not overly thrilled with it. My seaming doesn't really work for it. I should have checked the page with Sally Melville's seaming suggestion but I was overly confident. Still it came out pretty well and once I sew in the lining and sew on the button I think it will be gift worthy.
Once I finished that on Saturday, I got out my beautiful handpainted cashmere hank to wind it into a ball. It was a nightmare. At first I had my husband hold it for me, that didn't work. Then I put around the back of a chair but it was too wrapped in itself so I just laid it down and started rolling the ball. It became a tangled mess. I was up until 2 in the morning working on it until I just couldn't do it anymore. When I woke up I went back to it. In total it took me 6 1/2 hours to finally get it into balls. To make matters worse it is so fragile that it kept breaking even with the slightest pressure.
Once I was done I cast on for the Short Rows Scarf. The cashmere is like knitting with air. I didn't get very far but I did get to the first short row section and it was really simple.
I decided for my travel knitting I should work on the hat and mitten set I want to make for the boys' baby cousin. I have a lycra merino blend in a beautiful rose variagated. The pattern for the hat said it could be done on circulars or dpns but once I cast on I saw there was no way that I could do it on the circular and unfortunately I don't have size 6 dpns so it will have to wait until payday.
So I needed another travel project, the scarf is portable but it's a gift for Tisha and we work together, and ride the train home together often so it would be hard keeping it a secret. I cast on for my eldest son's sweater. It is made with Lion Brand Cotton Thick and Quick so I am hoping it will go fast. It's a hooded sweater, in a blue varigated called denim. Of course being the trouble maker that I am I have already decided to add a kangaroo pocket, which it doesn't have and I didn't like the bottom edging. The pattern calls for 6 rows of stockinette and then 6 rows of 1 by 1 rib. I don't like the curling edge look especially not at the bottom of ribbing. So I did 12 rows of rib instead, it looks really good.

I haven't really done any knitting in the past couple days. On Monday I finished one side of the basic bag. I tried to pick up the stitches for the other side but I was just too sleepy. I somehow ended up about 10 stitches short so I pulled it out and went to bed. When I was getting ready for work yesterday I decided that I needed to take a break from it, plus I didn't really want to pick up the stitches on the subway. So I brought magazines that I needed to catch up on instead. I did spend lunch in a knitterly way as I was helping Tisha with her garter stitch baby sweater from Knitting For Baby which is coming out beautifully. She separated for the back and the sides yesterday, so she finished the back last night. I am quite impressed with it!

I picked up the cashmere this weekend to wind it into a ball, my eldest loves to sit and hold a hank for me, but I could not find the ends. I did find a knot in it so I am wondering if those ends that are knotted together are the actual ends of the hank. I couldn't get them apart and interestingly enough I could see white under the knot so I guess it was put there before the dyeing.

I should have gone back to the bag last night but I did laundry so that had me busy. I also exercised so I never even sat down to look at it. It's another reading catch up day. I will make sure I do it tonight. Her birthday is exactly one week from tomorrow. I need to get to work!

Finished my little guy's hat. It came out a bit larger than I planned so I decided to forgo the ear flaps and just add straps. I picked up 4 stitches on the inside of each side of the hat and then I did about 22 garter stitch ridges. It came out quite nicely.
The Mary Maxim Kashmere skein finally arrived today. I had ordered it about a month ago but after 3 weeks I called them to say it hadn't arrived. So they shipped another and it got here in 5 days. That's service! I wanted to test it for a sweater for my best friend Maribel. It's the Pebble Beach sweater from Interweave Knits Spring 2002. I haven't completely finished the swatch but I think it will work. It is pleasant to work with (especially for an acrylic), soft but not slippery. It also seems to have good memory. I suspect it would be great for cables.
Speaking of acrylic, I am working on the Basic Bag in Red Heart for my mother in law's birthday, which I just realized is in less than 2 weeks. The problem is I can't stand the feel of it anymore. I chose it on purpose because I wanted industrial strength durability, but since I bought it I have worked with merino and cashmere and who the hell wants to go back! But I refuse to become a yarn snob, it is exactly the yarn I want this bag to be made of so I just have to suck it up.

The booties are finished and they came out quite nicely. Now back to my Christmas knitting. I am taking a chance that my friend Tisha does not read my blog because I must tell you about the cashmere I bought on e-bay.

It's 100% handpainted cashmere, 350 yards of it. It is taupe, burgundy and blue. I am going to do a shortrow scarf for her. All of this is because of another blog that I read and she knits too. She tipped me off to the pattern and the yarn. All I can say is thanks!.

I will cast on as soon as I finish my little guy's hat. Which I ended up buying more yarn for instead of using the contrasting color. Hey I was in School Products they had it what was I supposed to do.

So I am really not very good at lace knitting. Where the hell did that come from you ask? Well I decided to make some booties for a friend's new granddaughter. I figured quick, easy get them done in a night etc. etc. So I found a cute pattern with lace cuffs pulled some baby yarn from my odd balls(baby soft by lion brand in twinkle very cute!) and started. I was doing ok until row 9 of the lace pattern, I was missing a stitch. I figured I was tired so I went to bed. This morning on the train I tried to tink back to find the mistake and what with the yarn overs and psso it was impossible. I ended up pulling the whole thing out and starting again very carefully. I was almost at my stop, I finish the 8th row and something's not right. I count my stitches and sure enough I am again 1 stitch short aargh!!!. I've decided to fudge it with a make 1 increase. I don't think it will be very noticeable.

I did a few rows on the basic bag last night while my son worked on his knitting. He finally seems to be getting it. He's up to 4 rows. I have him do 2 a night. I showed him the english way which is how all my friends do it, I for some odd reason knit continental. I also got to the color change on the baby's hat so I was quite prolific last night.

Hey I'm back. Work is finally calming down to a dull roar, so I have finally have a chance to breathe (and blog) again. I finished SFKB this weekend (up late watching Clerks on HBO). I am so not crazy about it. The armpits are way to low and I find the edgings way too unfinished looking, of course I haven't blocked it or even weaved in the ends yet so that may be a bit unfair. I am thinking I could pick up stitches around the bottom of the armhole and knit it higher but at this point I think I will put it away for awhile. It does fit great though so I am pleased about that.
I finished the mittens for my son which came out beautifully. I am now working on a hat for him with the same yarn but I think there is not enough to finish it. I decided to do a stripe with some merino that I have in a similiar (slightly darker) color. Then I will do the earflaps in the contrasting color and that should carry me through.
Having finished my sweater I have finally picked up stitches on the strap for my Basic Bag from Knitting Experience (still waiting for my Purl Stitch volume to arrive!). So I will work on that at home in the evenings and the hat on my commute. I am trying to cast on for a pair of socks to keep in the car (oops the car died this afternoon guess I don't really need that anymore!) but I am having a hell of a time getting them started, the stitches keep falling off or getting twisted. I don't mind working on dpns put I have a really hard time starting with them.