Snow, Irish Oatmeal, and a FO

Happy St Patrick's Day! I celebrated by eating some Irish oatmeal for breakfast after spending two hours digging out from this ridiculous snowstorm. We got about a foot. I have big knitting plans for the rest of the day. Warm beverages, blankets, wool and DVR. Perfection! :)

OK, so I finally have pictures of my finished felted hat to share.

I got the pattern from the class and I'm not really sure where it is from. But, I had intended to knit up a cloche style hat. Picture 1920's style with the brim that kind of flares out. It took two skeins of manos and I had to start on the third skein while I was on the decreases. Well, the hat ended up waaay too long and after the fact I realized that their was no shaping for the brim, so it probably wouldn't flare out the way I had anticipated. Plus, when I put it on pre-felted it was past my shoulders. I probably could have ripped back and did the decreases with the second skein and avoided buying the third skein. Manos is pricey. Although I LOVE it!

After felting, I put it over an upside down mixing bowl to keep its shape. It took several days to dry on the outside and about a week for the inside. I flipped up the brim because it was waaaay too long.

The second day of the class was beading and embroidery. It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to do. I finally decided to do blanket stitch around the brim to make it stand out a little bit. Then I did little flowers with yarn and beads. It is a very, very warm hat. I wore it all weekend at Lake Placid when we went away in January. That was before I did all of the embroidery, so not quite as pretty but still very functional.

As usual, the lighting isn't the best but the colors are truer in the second pic.

I finished knitting the Fiber Trends Gelato Bag and felted it. I haven't yet lined it and put on the pretty button. Here is the picture of it pre-felted (remote control for size reference).

I made the handles longer than the pattern stated on the advice of my classmates. They had theirs' finished and wished their handles were longer. There are benefits to being a slower knitter! It is a fun little pattern and the next time I would use a cheaper wool like Cascade 220 or even Paton's. Some people in class used Paton's to make their second, third, fourth, and fifth bags. Yes, one woman had done five and I hadn't even started the handles on my first one. Anyhoo, I used a strand of Cascade Pastaza with a strand of some kind of tweed. I can't remember which one. But I didn't really like the feel of the Pastaza. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished and nervous about doing the lining. My mom is helping me with another sewing project next weekend and I think I will wait until I feel a little more comfortable with sewing before tackling this one.

Did you read the Yarn Harlot's blog (March 16th entry) about her Socks That Rock Club sock? It is hysterical. I am also in the club and was thinking of doing a basic pattern instead of the free patttern. There has been a lot of talk about how hard the patterm is, but Stephanie has inspired me and now I want to knit the pattern. I can't wait until my husband asks what I am knitting! :)