Yummy new yarrrrn

I know I haven’t posted in a long while, but I’m still around, and still crafting. I’ve been working on some projects for friends, so pics and descriptions/instructions will be posted after I finish the gifts! I’ve also been busy with end-of-year festivities, working and studying (for my more cerebral – hah! – posts, see my other blog).

In the meantime, I got given some gorgeous yarn for Christmas/Xmas/Kissmas/Yule. I got two balls of beautiful Regia wool by Kaffe Fassett (75% new wool, 25% polyamide):

It’s a sock yarn, which means I have to put aside my instinctive fear of double-pointed needles (TEN pointy ends! Eep!) to make these:

I also got some incredibly soft and yummy Mirasol Akapana wool (65% baby llama, 25% merino wool, 10% donegal):

I can’t stop touching this wool. Every time I touch it, I imagine I’m petting an adorable little baby llama. The other awesome thing is that a portion of every purchase helps fund a school in Puno, Peru – more about this here.

I don’t know what to make with this soft beautiful wool. I know I should be moving away from easy projects, but a scarf made out of this wool would be so incredibly soft and warm, and not scratchy at all – so I might just do that. Plus…I’m going to make the Regia socks, which is pretty adventurous for me right now!

A while ago I got some thick blue Panda Zoomy yarn:

I think I’ll use this to make this Shroom beanie from Knitty. It looks easy-ish to make, and very comfy to wear.

Hopefully the next post will have some WIP shots of the socks, plus pics of some of the finished gifts!

Freesie bag

You can tell I’m back at uni, because my procrastinatory craft quota has gone right up.

Right now I’m furiously knitting what will (hopefully) become a bag for my friend. Her birthday is in a little over a week – eep!

I got this interesting yarn overseas – it’s wool and synthetic, aqua, black and white. There was only one 100g ball left in the shop. It’s called Freesie:

I started thinking of what to make with 100g of this yarn, and started doodling in my little date diary. What came out was a small handbag/purse, which does up with a big button, and where the buttonhole is a crocheted flower.

This is how much I’ve knitted. It’s slow-going, I’m using 3mm circular needles, but it’s not too bad. I decided to use a simple stocking stitch interspersed with YO k2tog rows.

Once I finish knitting the bag shape (basically two rectangles and a triangle, but joined together), I will sew black lining to the wrong side of the knit – this should give the bag more of a solid shape and should show off the YO k2tog holes. I will then use the same yarn to make the flower, and I’ll get a big black button to but through the buttonhole. The handle will be made of the same yarn, knitted in a thinnish tube shape, if I can manage it.

I’ve never made a bag before – hopefully the prototype will turn out nice enough to wear!