Here it is before felting

Here it is after felting

Here you can see the zipper

Here are the two attempts side by side

I think the second attempt turned out quite well, so Hannah, knit your bag!

That makes 4 FOs for the WIP Wrestling event so far with 9 days left in the Ravelympics. I think I’ll definitely have one more FO to show you by the end of this event, and I hope to have one more FO that I won’t be able to show you. It all depends on how my back feels. I’ve been getting better in the last week or so (my average pain is down from 8/10 to 5.5/10), which is good news. The bad news is that my doctor is out sick, so the cortisone shot I was waiting a month to get didn’t happen this week. the good news is that I found another doctor who can do it next week. Depending on how that goes, I’m hoping I can return to work as soon as the week following the shot (I’ve been on short-term disability for 4 weeks now), although my follow-up appointment is 2 weeks later and my doctor doesn’t expect me to return to work until after that. I really would like to get back to work as soon as possible, but if I try to go off of some of my medications, the pain is intolerable and while I’m on all of them, I can’t really concentrate well enough to be a good engineer. I’m really hoping this injection helps a LOT.

P.S. If you’d like to knit your own Hello Kitty Knitting Notions Bag, leave a comment on this post. I don’t want to post the pattern anywhere because I don’t want to get into copyright issues, but if you would like a copy for your personal use, I would be happy to email one to you.

my Rowan Plaid Short-Sleeved Cardigan (Ravelry link) (my design):

and Cathode (Ravelry link) (from Knitty):

However, my real goal for the Ravelympics WIP Wrestling is to finish as many WIPs as I can during the Olympics. So, I’ve been working on test-knitting attempt #2 of Hannah’s Hello Kitty Knitting Notions Bag (Ravelry link), which I will felt this afternoon, and I might be working on another WIP or two…

Here’s the back — this looks a lot better than version 1, so I’m optimistic…

For those of you who aren’t on Ravelry, you can see more photos on flickr here.

You can find the pattern written out and a link to the pdf on my blog here!

You can also find the pattern on Ravelry as a free Ravelry download here!

Enjoy! It’s a hat I designed to be knit up in my Fiber Fiend Bulky Handspun Superwash Merino yarn. It will work with the Bulky handspun Corriedale I spun up and will be spinning up as well. Or you can use any super bulky yarn!

Skill Level: Intermediate

Sizes: 0-3[3-6,6-12,12-18,18-24] months

Gauge: 17 sts/24 rows = 4″ in stockinette stitch

Skills: fair-isle, decreasing, picking up stitches

Shown in size 6-12 months, in Lion Brand Cotton Ease,
Colorways: Lake & Taupe

You can see more pictures in the Flickr gallery here. The Ravelry pattern link is here!

Thanks to Pauline for initially test-knitting and using her grandson as an adorable model, although as I told her she could, she gave the sweater to her irresistible grandson so I’m knitting a new sample!

I should also add a not about the buttons: you can wear them in the front or the back.  I designed all three sweaters with the intention of the buttons being in the back, but all four mothers I gave sweaters to put them on their children with the buttons on the front.  Who am I to tell people how to dress their children?  But I must say as a designer that I recommend you dress your child with the buttons in the back to avoid any potential choking hazard.  There, I said it.  =)

(Note: This pattern was first published at Stitches West 2008)

Here’s a sneak peek of Wanda unfelted:

The cable detail:

And the seed stitch bottom (and side panels) for extra reinforcement:

There are more photos in the Flickr photo set, and you can find my Ravelry project here!

Perhaps even more exciting is that my mom, an oil painter, painted three small oil on canvas scenic paintings and three small acrylic on paper comical paintings of sheep for me to sell and I’ve made greeting cards from all of these sheep paintings to sell at Lambtown and later online! I don’t have pictures of those to share right now, but maybe later!

I’ll leave you with a photo of my Trees Baby Sweater sample body, since Pauline gave the sample she knit to her adorable grandson (in the photo below)!