So, folks, here you go. Just take any ol’ rubber band, line up your dps (working needle and the ones with stitches on them), hook the rubberband over the tips on one end of your dps, give it a half-turn as you bring it over the stitches, and then stretch it over the tips of the other end.

It works, and the price is right!

It was pretty seriously overspun, no doubt about it. But her control of color was good and there are lots of uses for tightly-twisted fibers, right?

My brain went immediately to the Stow Away Shopping Bag pattern by Oat Couture, which I bought at Double-Ewe Yarn. The plan from the get-go was to surreptitiously knit it up and then give it back to her.

I didn’t have quite enough of her handspun so I Navajo-plied a bobbin of emerald green I had already spun and used that. Still not enough, so I took a little leftover reddish-orangeish-pinkish-purplish-with-sparkly-bits handspun I used to finish of a little cap, called That Hat, pattern also from Double Ewe Yarns. And here’s the finished product.

I have to say, this bag is such a great little project. I made one for my daughter before her trip to The Czech Republic. It folds up into a pack about the size of your two fists…

… and tucks into its own built-in pocket. Toss it in the back seat or glove box, or in a suitcase, and hit the road … easy-peasy.

(If you're interested, here's a good short video on how to do Navajo plying.)

You will be seeing it soon, though; my Mom and I are both test-knitting it because I'm writing it up as a free pattern. It's just a little winter accessory that's quick to knit up. I did a lot of thinking about how I wanted to design it, but the actual knitting only took a couple of sittings.

So what the heck have I been up to if I haven't been doing any knitting?

Well, lately my crafty ambitions have been tending much more towards baking than knitting. Knitting is a creative activity that appeals to my brain, but baking has always been my comfort activity. When I'm under stress or feeling overwhelmed, that's usually when I usually start baking a lot. I don't know what it is - something about it feels so natural and basic and comforting to me.

I've been working my way through Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and have made six or seven loaves in the last few weeks. I just can't get enough of it. This book really makes it easy to make time in your life for homemade bread. I whip up a batch of bread dough on the weekend and let it rise for a couple of hours, then throw it in the refrigerator. Then a couple of times a week, I grab a chunk of dough from the fridge and bake a loaf. My favorite recipe so far as been a loaf made from whole wheat flour, steel cut oats, and dates, with some raw sugar sprinkled on the crust.

I also have the itch to sew something. I finally checked out the store Crafty Planet in Northeast Minneapolis and feel like I've been missing out on a treasure. I knew it existed but somehow the way I imagined this store does not do justice to the actual place. I think because it has both yarn and fabric, I imagined that neither selection would be great. Instead what I found was a carefully edited selection of fantastic yarns and fabrics. I left there dying to sew something. Unfortunately, I have a bad track record with sewing. Everything takes forever and I feel like I'm constantly asking for help. Knitting is much more my speed, yet I lust after all the beautiful fabrics out there; so I think I need to spend some time increasing my sewing confidence. Does anyone have recommendations for easy sewing projects to start me out?

For her birthday I made her the “You Kiss a Hundred Frogs Purse” designed by Laura Rintala (on Ravelry) and published in Interweave Knits, Holiday Gifts 2009. What a fun project!

The pattern calls for Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted but I used Cascade 220 and it worked just fine. I decided to use Cascade 220 because I had leftover colors from Eva's Christmas stocking, and thought it would be safest to use all the same yarn since it was going to be felted.

While I was knitting it I thought, “huh, I don’t get it … how’s that going to work, shouldn’t that be attached to something … oh, angsty, angsty!” But I followed the pattern in spite of my doubts, and tossed in the washing machine with my fingers crossed. It felted in no time, and like magic it turned into a … a frog!

With a kiss, will it turn into a handsome prince? Now that would be magic!

This took two sittings to complete, no big deal. But I think it's kinda cute.

But the photos will have to wait a little while. I'm busy getting things ready for Eva's first birthday, which is -- I can't believe it -- in a week. Here's a taste of what I'm working on for her birthday. We're having a really small birthday party and I'm not going all out with decorations, but I wanted to make a little something festive to brighten up the house during her party.

The theme of the party is "apple of our eye". I think it'll be fun.

Felted stocking for Eva, with Harry Bear (pattern free from Berroco) and earflap cap with matching mittens (photos of both below).

First the stocking. Felted, a little fair isle, a little intarsia, nothing too ambitious but I’m pleased with the result.

I knitted the stocking using Cascade 220 (single strand) and size 11 needles, using just a basic sock pattern for proportions.

(A note about the intarsia section: When I came to the tree section, I put the stitches involved in the intarsia on a straight needle, leaving the rest on a circular. I worked the tree rows, left them on a holder, worked back and forth on the stitches on the circular needle until I had the same length as the tree panel, then put all the stitches back on the circular needle and continued in the round. When I was all done, I just stitched the panel in place and the seams disappear completely in the felting.)

(Oh, and just for the sake of documentation in case I ever want to make another, I did an afterthought heel.)

I took some photos along the way because the shrinkage during felting always seems like such a guessing game. So I wanted to record just exactly what happened.

Measurements before felting: 28" long x 10" wide at ankle
Measurements after felting: 20" long x 7.25" wide at ankle

And stuffed inside a fluffy white Harry Bear, about 7 inches or so long,

and snowflake cap and mittens set.

Whew! Best Christmas ever!

I just had to show off my first try at needle felting. I took some tufts of pink and white roving and added Eva's name to the stocking.

Needle felting is fun. You should try it.

Bad lighting on the "before" shot notwithstanding, I'm very pleased with how this turned out! I was worried the stocking would be way too ludicrously huge, but it became appropriately huge after felting. And here's a little closeup on this gorgeous yarn (Plymouth Boku):

And, wait a minute, what's this under the tree?

A present for me. This is one of the Fiber Trends felted clogs that I finished knitting almost two years ago and never got around to felting. After I pulled Eva's stocking out of the washer, I was so high on felting I threw the clogs in the washer immediately. And now that they're all felted, my very warm and happy feet are mad at me for not doing it much earlier. These slippers would have made maternity leave a little more cozy.

Felting is fun! I have two more Christmas stockings to knit and felt (though that probably won't happen until after the holidays) so I have something to look forward to.

And how cool is this? They asked to include my mini mitten pattern for today's project.

And just to put an extra finishing touch on the coolness, today is my Dad's birthday. Happy birthday, Dad!

See Cut Out + Keep's advent calendar here.

I used Wollmeise. I had never used this yarn before but it is very beautiful and so easy to work with, and I think the gloves have a very nice fluid drape to them, which you really can't see in the photo of course. I'm so very pleased with myself ... this is the first pair of gloves I've made. Thank you, Deb, for introducing me to this yarn.

Kind of a major departure for the mini mitten maven, I'd say. Brad was saying tonight that I'd better watch out or Eva might crawl into it and get lost.

I hope it shrinks a LOT or I'll be in trouble when it comes to filling this thing for Christmas!

(pattern: Ella's Felted Christmas Stocking. Stay tuned for a post-felting update!)

And then my selective Christmas memory sets in and I forget that the holiday even exists.

So what was I doing on December first? Buying skeins of Plymouth Boku to make felted Christmas stockings for Eva, my husband and myself.

Not bad for two days work, eh? It helps when you're knitting loosely on size 10.5 needles, in straight stockinette in the round.

So, if you've sent me anything please don't feel slighted. I just didn't see it. I'm going to have to spend a few days sifting through the messages.

In the meantime, I have precious little to report on the knitting front. I've been kept so very busy by a newly-mobile baby and haven't really been knitting. I have grand plans for a set of Christmas stockings for the babe, her dad and me. But I have to get cracking because Christmas is coming up far too quickly.

To distract you from the lack of anything important I have to say, here's a recent photo of Eva wearing her Sideways Sockyarn Sweater. Most of the sweaters that have been knit for her fit her just great these days, which has turned out to be very good timing, with winter coming up.

My yarn:

My wrist warmers (do you call them wristers or wrist warmers?) with this yarn looked sort of … well, frankly, like 60s tie-dye. (I should have taken a photo of them before dying but I didn’t … you’d really see what I mean!)

So anyway, I decided to bring out my notes from the initial gel dying and over-dye the wristers.

Quick explanation of dying process:

Gather up:
The item(s) you want to dye
Bowl or bucket in which to presoak the item(s) you want to dye
White vinegar
Water (room temp is fine)
Gel frosting dye (Wiltons, available at Michael's)
Plastic wrap
Rubber gloves
Microwave safe dish or bowl
Microwave
Hanger or rack on which to hang item to dry

Soak the item you want to dye in a mixture of water and vinegar. Thoroughly mix the gel dye in plain ole the water. I made just a tiny batch because this was just a tiny project. I put the wrist warmers in the dye water, swished them around to make sure they got thoroughly and evenly saturated. I probably left them in the dye bath 5-10 minutes. Then I squeezed out the excess water, laid each on a piece of plastic wrap, folded the wrap around it to seal, rolled each up like a cinnamon roll, put them on a dish and microwaved (microwave for 2 minutes on high, leave in microwave for 2 minutes, then microwave on high for another two minutes, remove, let cool until you can handle them, then unwrap, and hang to dry).

For this, I used only about a quart of water and ¼ cup of white vinegar in a plastic ice cream bucket to soak the wrist warmers. Soaked them for a couple of hours. Then I used 12 ounces of tap water to which I added 1 tsp each of red and burgundy gel.

And here’s the final product:

I am actually okay with the result. I have a purple suede jacket that I love, and the purple on the wristers (which doesn't actually show up very well in the photo) is a nice match.

So … see? There’s hope for some of those “really, I thought that was a good idea????” projects.