Christmas Crafting

Here are some crocheted soap bags. The pattern is from the Klutz Crochet Book. I did a twisted cord instead of a chain for the ties and also made them drawstring bags. It's about 3" wide and 5.5" high. Irish Spring or a bar of Dove fit just fine. The bag for the little one was filled with candy instead of soap.








My husband's work friends received Tribbles (scrubbies) knit by dd#1. This link doesn't seem to be working for me. Could just be my computer.






My sister got a storage case for her knitting needles.






The large plastic pockets are 3.5" x 6.75". The smaller plastic pockets that hold the needle labels are 2.5" x 1.75". I cut two pieces of coordinating fabric 30" x 28" and a piece of window screen 16.5" x 28" (to add stiffness to where the needles are stored). To fold: Flop the top down. Fold the left and right sides in toward each other 3 times and secure with ribbon and button. The button isn't really necessary but I liked it. I tie the half knot above the button and the loops of the bow below the button.

She also received the pink lacy round linen cloth (already pictured here). My mom also got one in a dark purple. I didn't take a picture of the purple one...hmmm. I also promised my mom that'd I'd knit her a bag with yarn she had been hoping would turn into a felted bag. Unfortunately the yarn didn't cooperate so she asked instead for a pair of socks in fingering weight yarn. She's got the first pair of socks I ever knit but they are in sport weight and don't fit in her shoes so well.



My dad and brother-in-law are also both getting a pair of socks. I had one toe of a sock started before Christmas for my dad. My b-i-l wants the same color as dad's...charcoal. One sock is about an inch from being complete. If it is a smidget too short for dad (and that is my only concern at the moment) it should fit my b-i-l just fine.

(This picture is from the 29th of December. The heel is done but with dental floss as a life line in case it didn't fit and I had to reknit the heel.)

My mother-in-law received the Truly Tasha Shawl...previous pictures here. We tried to get a picture on Christmas Eve of her wearing it (at least long enough to get a picture) but before I had it over her shoulders she had it off. Hope she comes to love the warmth it will provide her as she reads her books and/or surfs the webTV.

Friends at church and our next door neighbor received crocheted diagonal potholders, knit cloths, and tribbles.

Knit wrist bag with sock yarn

Here's a little bag I was inspired to make. The inspiration came from Judith at Knitting Pattern Depot. Thanks Judith!

I loved the idea but wanted to use sock yarn for the bag. I've got a lot of sock yarn! This yarn is Lion Brand Magic Stripes in Jelly Bean. It took one day to decide what I wanted to do and two days to knit it...not straight knitting!

The pattern is from Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks, Warm Feet. It is the Mermaid sock with the wavy cuff (84 st. - second largest size on Addi turbo #1's). I added a hole in the last round of the cuff and first round of the fishtail pattern stitch**. I worked the pattern for 5 1/4 inches and then did the spiral toe decrease. The i-cord handle is 4 stitches wide.

I can put the sock in here too! Although the needles do poke through.

This would also make a really cute slip cover for a vase!

**Instructions for hole: On 3rd repeat of Rd 4: P6, P2tog (3x), P rest of round.
Next round: K2, yo, K2, K2tog, M2, yo, M1, K1, K2tog, *K2, yo, K2, K2tog* Repeat between asterisks for rest of round.

Our Felted Bags

Here are some pictures of our felted bags. The one to the left was the first one made using the Felted "No Rules" Bag pattern with Noro Kureyon. It's the biggest size with a flat bottom.

The bag to the right was done with Koolaid dyed yarn. Same pattern except I decided to start at the bottom, did a rectangle and then picked up stitches around the rectangle and knit up to the top. This one reminds me of a sunset.


This last one was knit by dd#1 with Noro Kureyon doing the "No Rules" bag from the bottom up again. These last two are a bit smaller than the first. The handles have been sewn on since this picture was taken.