Swift Sak

When you have a tight living space and two curious kids that can’t keep their hands off anything. You become creative with ways to store your knitting tools. An umbrella swift makes for a highly useful tool, but it is also an attractive target and unless you want to spend your days shooing away little fingers, this is great solution.



This bag makes for perfect storage and whether your plan on a knitting retreat, yarn adventure or just want to wind up some skeins in the park to freak out the general public, then this is the way to go.



The i-cord strap is designed to naturally close on top opening through the buttonholes when hung on your shoulder or perhaps on a hook in your storage closet.

The Swift Sak pattern is now available on Ravelry as a free PDF download or you can click the link on my sidebar.

Look... Body Parts!

When your building a knitting toy you can find yourself in either two scenarios. 1 - your either "Why The Hell Am I Making Body Parts" .... or 2 - "Oh, Look I get to make a Leg!"

Making toys can be a challenge. Some patterns call for sooooo many pieces that it just seems so fiddly, that you just want to poke yourself in the eye for even starting the project.



I don't do many toys, but certain patterns just kind of pop out at me and this Giraffe was one.

Once the bum of the Giraffe was starting to turn into the neck. I had to add some poly-fill or stuffing if you will. The pattern calls for pellets to be added to weigh the toy down and I really liked that idea. Except I was a little worried about the little beans coming out from the knitting. I tried to knit a tight gauge, but it was enough of a concern that I picked up some muslin and make a bean-bag to place inside.



The knitting continued with the addition of the head and a few legs.



This little guy is starting to take some real shape. With each new body part it seems to make him become more alive and this personality is starting to shine through.

I guess it's about time to starting thinking of a name. Any suggestions?

Moving on to the Sleeves

The Faery Ring back is done and so it was time to move on to the sleeves.



The sleeves are constructed the same way as the bottom hem of the jacket. You pick up stitches along the sides and build in a turned hem. Then on the other side you pick up for the main portion of the sleeves.

I've made mine slightly bigger then the pattern calls for. It was requested that the cable strips be 9 inches and I made mine 10 inches. I don't care for tight cuffs.

Having made this adjustment means I'll need to also adjust the pattern to make sure this added room doesn't interfere with the increases on the main body of the sleeves. Not a problem, I've been in that predicament before;)

When In Doubt - Do It All

I couldn't decided which new project to start, so I started doing them ALL!.

Picked up some Cascade 220 Superwash for the Giraffe while at Nana's. If you haven't been in the new year, you've got to go check out the new fresh look they've got goin' on. Great Job Guys!



Then of course I did a quick swatch of the Every Way Wrap. I didn't get gauge, but because this pattern is adjustable, I'll be able to make it to size. The Aussie Worsted was one of the yarns from Stitches and so far the yarn feels good.



Last and certainly not least is the Am Kamin hat. Because it's written in Japanese, I will need to decipher the pattern a little before casting on.



I downloaded a awesome PDF file from The Needle Arts Book Shop on translating the symbols in the pattern.

Now I feel like I'm truly a Knitter again. Perhaps I should throw in a pair of socks just to mix things up a bit;)

Picking The Next Project

After browsing through my future project queue on Ravelry, I came up with the top 3 choices for my next project.



1. Am Kamin Hat - written in Japaneses, which means this will be a challenge. I've got a handout on translations, so I think this would be a great starter for entering a new world of possibilities.



2. Giraffe - cutest damn stuffed toy from Itty Bitty Toys. It's also Miss Mac approved;)



3. Every Way Wrap - It's a wrap. It's a scarf. It's sorta sweater. It's for Every.Way and Every.Day. and I really have been wanting to make this since the moment I opened IK Fall 2009.


Which one do you think I'll cast on for first??