Since a couple of people have said they are having comments trouble, and I can’t see a problem, here is my email address so you can let me know what’s happening. LauraATpoormissfinchDOTcom. Just change the AT to @ and the DOT to . and it’ll work just fine. Took me awhile to figure that one out, the first time I saw it.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…. (which is really kind of funny, considering I have no idea how many people are actually reading my site.)

the WIP.

I would like to take a moment now and explain that WIP stands for Work in Progress. My grandma reads my site. I find it very cool that I have an up to date grandmother who surfs the internet. She lives halfway across the country, and I’m excited to now have the opportunity to share more of my life with her. Welcome Grandma June!

The above is what I have on the needles right now. The brown is leftover Lamb’s Pride (mohair/wool blend) from Nate’s Manly sweater, and the blue is Cascade 220. Before I get any further on it, I need to make some decisions on size.

Earlier this year, I made this

I love this purse. I use it everyday. It is the marsupial tote from SnB, made from Lamb’s Pride. One of my favorite things about it is how it bounces a little when I walk. In the picure you can see the attached pouch which holds a compact mirror, cuticle conditioner, folded nail file, and about 5 lipsticks. I really need to get a snap on it, because the contents keep dumping out. On the pouch you can see that I experimented with felting a lace pattern. It’s actually not too bad. I saved a little red/orange fuzzy from the washer after felting, that is just the right size to sew in the middle of the flower. It will be very cute, when I find it. It is missing, and any two of the six little legs running around my house could be responsible.

I want to make the next one a little bigger, without turning it into a beach bag. My husband suggested the new color scheme, and I decided to try felting a cable pattern.

My first swatch didn’t end up so hot. Initially I wanted a large, thick cable for the two side panels, but the cable I chose didn’t felt well. My second attempt is lovely. It is a 16 stitch staghorn that I think would look good on all four sides.

This is my size problem. In the pattern, (if I’m remembering correctly) the side panels are 16 stitches wide, and the front and back are 20 stitches wide. Something like that. I need to add four stitches on each side of the cable, two to give the cable room to breathe, and two for the twisted border thing. This will bring the side panel to 24 stitches wide, which is wider than the front on my original. Do I add some extra stitches to the front and back to maintain the basic shape, and risk making it too big? or do I make all four panels the same size, and have a square bag?