Anybody remember The Big O, the felted bag I'm supposed to be working on? Yeah, I didn't think so. I started it in early February and included a blurb in two posts back then, but nary a word about it since. Well, that's because I haven't exactly been a knitting fool of late. What with my 10-12 hour days slaving over a hot spinning wheel, I haven't had much left over for either knitting or blogging about it. I *have* actually made some progress since then, however, and have even remembered to update my project notes on Ravelry (see below).But the deadline for this project is rapidly approaching (March 31st), and as of yesterday morning I was only about 40% done. So I decided to take a few days off from running COLORBOMB Creations, and whip this puppy out! Worked on it all day yesterday, finishing the back, picking up stitches for the lining, and even dragging it to Purl 'n Hurl last night without any ill effects. It's now about 60-65% complete, and I expect to finish the majority of the lining today. I'm liking this pattern (the Hoop Purse by Maggie Pace from Felt Forward) a lot; straightforward and not difficult. I think the felting process might be challenging, because it needs to be evenly felted to fit over those big ol' hoops it's stretched on. (Check back tomorrow to see those jumbo hoops.)
The one pattern mod I'm planning is to do a different pattern on the front than is called for; done in duplicate stitch prior to felting, the embellishment suggested is a stylized cherry blossom in the lining color, but I'm planning to do a multi-color Miró motif.
Project Notes:
2/8/08: No gauge swatch (hell, it’s gonna be felted anyway, right?) Cast-on at Midnight Madness with the black (outside); finished 7 of the 9 rows in the first step (stockinette).
2/9/08: Finished last 2 rows of the hoop casing set-up. Oops! There’s only supposed to be 8 rows, not 9; ripped back, picked up the BO stitches, and joined to create the hoop sleeve (just a 3-needle bind-off w/o the bindoff!) Completed through Row 22. Also: Bea snagged me the brass rings (!) I need for blocking; yay!
2/10/08: Completed the outside (black) half of the front. About halfway through, I understood the construction process. Also: pattern calls for approx. 340 yards of ea. color, but I am well into the 2nd skein (190yds) of black, so it will easily require a 3rd skein of ea. for this yarn sub.
3/7/08: Picked up the rest of my yarn at Midnight Madness, cast on the back and knit 4 rows.
3/12/08: Took The O to SnB tonight, knit several rows, put in a short row where it didn’t belong, FUBAR, frogged, had another beer. (sigh).
3/15/08: Took The O to regular Sat. spin-in at the brewery, instead of my wheel (gotta get crackin’ on this fucker!), then continued on it at home in front of the tube post-Dollar Store foray. I think I’m at least a couple of rows ahead of where I frogged on Wednesday. Whee!
3/16/08: Chipped away a few more rows today; somehow, I keep missing a stitch here and there and I have to tink. But all’s well in the end.
3/17/08: Over a couple of pints of Guinness, I got almost all the way through the back. Yay, Guinness!
3/19/08: Took it to Purl ‘n Hurl (SnB) again this week, and again fucked it up. Dropped a stitch in the decreases on the right edge; not sure if it can be salvaged yet. Gave it a shot, but need to count stitches when sober. Sheesh!
3/26/08: OK, come on! I finally figured out where the fuckup was (4 rows back, 4 rows frogged), and fixed it. Taking the rest of the day off from COLORBOMB and working on this, or there’s no way I’ll be done in time! Think it’s safe to bring it to PnH tonight? LATER: got the outside back completed (!), picked up all 210 stitches for the inside front, knit several rows of the lining, and managed not to muck it up while drinking at PnH. All in all, a very good day.
3/27/08: Takin’ another day off to work on this mother. Might have to get it done by Saturday, because the shop is closed Sun/Mon - doh!
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