One Less UFO

Another project from last summer, that I finished up recently, was the Granny's Not so Square Bag from The Happy Hooker. It was basically all finished for months, but I was trying to find O-rings, which are impossible to find. I also wanted to line it, so it would be more sturdy. I ended up lining it with fabric and somewhat stiff interfacing, and putting in an inside zipper. That was difficult for me, and I had to do it a bunch of different times, because the pocket kept becoming inside out. Anyway, I really like how this turned out and it seems really sturdy. I used all the recommended yarns, Berroco Suede in Tobacco and Wild Bill Hickock, and Berroco Twist in Sprout, Sweet Violet, Soul, and I think Satin Beige. The inside lining is actually the more green color, and the blue areas on the bag are actually purple. Sometimes it bugs me that it's hard to get accurate colors in photos. The crochet part was easy, except the last part when you switch from the Cotton Twist to Suede, you are supposed to crochet around the surface of the granny square to outline it. I couldn't figure that out. But it's not noticeable. My next crochet project from that book is either Short and Sweet or Unseamly Sweater.

Demi is Done

I finished Demi, from Rowan Vintage Knits in January, after about 7 weeks of knitting. I used about 7 skeins of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed in Plum, with hardly anything left over. I used size 8 needles, although I think the yarn might work better with size 7. I didn't want to redo the pattern for a smaller needle size. Then I worked almost exclusively on this project, since I liked it so much. The sweater fits well, although my gauge must have been off, because it came out smaller than the size I knit (medium). It is a little more close fitting than I expected, but seems to work anyway. The main thing I modified was the size of the bobbles. Instead in row 1:I knit into the front, back, and front, of the stitch row 2: turn and purl across the three stitches, row 3: turn and slip 2 stitches together as if to k2tog knit the 3rd stitch and pass the first two stitches over the third. It worked a lot better. In the book I think the bobbles are five stitches and that was too big for me. The hardest part was the construction of the button area at the top shoulder, because I wasn't sure how it was supposed to connect. The button area is knit separately and sewn onto the top shoulder and the back later. This was a good project, because there was a lot of interest during the whole thing. There were a lot of ends to weave because of the button area, but the sweater turned out good, and the yarn gets softer after washing.