Happy Twelfth Night!

So, now that Christmas has come and gone, this being the final day of it, I have a set of photos of things I made for gifts that I hadn't gotten around to posting yet.  Without further fuss, here they are:

The Letter Have It bag by Georgia A. Coleman, knit in Patons Classic Wool, made for a dear friend whose name starts with an X, and who happens to bowl.  

Instead of sewing this, and instead of making I-cord, I crocheted through both thicknesses with the white, and then slip-stitched around to make crocheted piping while simultaneously sewing the panels together. This saved me lots and lots of time, and worked out great. For a how-to, see the quickie piping tutorial.

My centre panel was too long, so, when I was nearly finished sewing it onto the front, I pulled it back to the right size, and, also, opening the bound off edge back up, put both ends on DPNs for a three-needle bind-off. If I did this one again, I’d use a provisional cast-on, and then put the other end on a holder so that this step would be quicker, as I'm sure I'd have it the wrong size again.

After Fulling

The Ladybug Headband by Katy Ryan, knit in Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe.  I knit this for another dear friend, who doesn't wear hats, and who loves periwinkle, so this was just the right colour for her.  That's me modeling it while holding out a camera at arm's length.

These were for another dear friend, and are of a pattern that I designed just for her.  We picked out the yarn (Cascade Ecological Wool in Purple Heather) together on our trip to Vancouver (without me letting on what the project would be), and then I had to sort out what sort of cables would actually show up with the rather dark yarn (which, until swatching time, I didn't realize would be a problem).  I solved the problem by picking a cable that had a purl stitch between each knit stitch, and then further set them off by knitting all the knit stitches through the back.  I think it went rather well, all in all.

For another dear friend, I dusted off the sewing machine to make a Buttercup Bag (from Made by Rae).  I love these bags; I think I might need another for myself.  It's a little hard to spot in the photo, but I echoed the flowers from the contrasting fabric by embroidering one in gold thread on the purse body down in the corner.

And for my dear sister-in-law, who is rather fond of the Wizard of Oz, I knew I had to find something to make with this Wizard of Oz fabric.  In the end I went with the lunch bag from One Yard Wonders, and added to it a set of coordinating snack bags that I made using the Angry Chicken tutorial. 


















The snack bags are really simple to make; so simple indeed that I have no idea how I messed them up so many times.  I had sewn one inside out, and pinned them all sideways (luckily I did spot that in time), and had a mysterious thread tension issue that occurred on about half of them (but not the other half for whatever reason).  I would have investigated if it were more consistent, but the next try worked out, so they only took three times longer than they ought to have done.

And, now that Christmas is actually well and truly wrapped up, I'll get back to work on my shawl.  I feel rather proud of myself for successfully fixing a small mistake on it today, as I'm rather nervous correcting mistakes in lace, particularly in this case as I'm working with slippery silk.  You see, I haven't done much lace before (just a pair of socks and a beret), and this is my first ever shawl, so I'm quite pleased that it's going reasonably well.  The shawl I'm working on is  Haruni by Emily Ross, and the yarn is Dandelion Knits Handpainted Silk Lace in Prairie Skies.