Yarn In Bloom

I don't have much variety to share with you lately, but the Noni knitting is going well. I can do one of these fuschia blooms in an evening or two of knitting.

The row where the stitches are placed on holders is a little fussy, but not hard. I don't have quite enough split markers of the same size which is why there are two large ones on here. The safety pins are perfect for holding the stitches for the outer petals. This is a picture of my 6th one in progress!

The felted one you've seen before, but here it is with some unfinished ones. I have to weave in ends, tack the inner petals together to form the bell shape, and make the tassle inside for the stamen thingys before felting them.

Update On My Felting and Pets

I've made 4 more bags since my last post and gotten started on the flowers for them! I've only done 1 flower so far, but it was fun to knit up and felted nicely too.

Here's a close up of the flower.

And one from a different angle.

All 3 pets went to the vet Tuesday for their annual exams, blood tests and shots. They all behaved so well! I was so proud :-) They got a ton of cookies and pats and wagged their tails the entire time. Everyone is healthy and vaccinated for another year. Bandit was very lucky as it turned out he didn't need any shots, but the vet held him and gave him some attention and checked him over.

It must have been exhausting as 2 nights later, the dogs are still sleeping at every opportunity! Silas keeps his nose warm.

Saffy just pours herself into her bed.

Dogs, Spring Blooms, Another Bag

The dogs have a ton of energy and the garden is coming to life again as you can see in these pics I took yesterday.

Both dogs like to go in the house at the same time. Silas tries to use Saffy as a pillow, but she doesn't like that much! Poor Saffy!

Silas tries to incite Saffy to chase him.

He thinks she wants the slobbery old tennis ball.

She does 'attack' him a bit.

His hair stands up on his neck and back when he is excited about playing.

Saffy looks so silly here. Looks like she's trying to chew on his ear!

Forsythia.

Plum blossoms.

Plum blossoms.

Peach blossoms.

Tiny primrose.

I wish you could smell the scent of all these flowers in the yard!!

Yet another felted bag!

Believe it or not, I'm *not* bored with making these yet!!

This one felted up really well.

Not as fuzzy...

I made a two tone bag using up some leftovers from my Noni Baguette.

It isn't as fuzzy as my other felted bags and has more vertical 'cracking' between the rows.

It's not 'bad' looking, but I do like the fuzzier ones better.

Do you think I should felt it a bit more or do you think I may have already felted it too much?

I knitted it the same size as the fuzzier white ones and felted it down to the same dimensions.

Felting Frenzy

I love felting! Looks like everyone I know will be getting something felted as a gift this year whether they like it or not!!

Aren't they cute? Two mini Noni Market Bags ready for flowers and lining.

A medium bag drying/blocking.

I think I'll do a bunch of the bags first and then work at the flowers and linings.

I Just Gotta Felt!

I have totally been bitten by the felting bug. Here are some progress pics of my first Noni Market Bag, the mini one. I knitted it up fast last night...

...so I could do the felting today! Here it is right out of the washer and ready for blocking and drying.

Blocking it. Hey, a use for plastic shopping bags! There is a reason I've been hoarding them!

I'll include pics of the bottom showing the 'ridge' for structure, because that's the sort of detail picture I always want to see when I start a project. Although, I'm making no promises that I did it 'right'!

Before felting:

After felting:

Right or not, I love the way it turned out!

Ooh...

Ahh...

Lovely, lovely yarn mail...such a happy thing!!

Having the Noni patterns in hand let me know what yarn was required, so I ordered a bunch. I had to order from two places to get the colors I wanted: Webs and Alpaca Direct. But, both places had the yarn on *sale*! And it arrived within two days too!

I have already wound 11 of the skeins into balls. I will be able to make up to 3 market bags and 2 evening bags and flowers for all. The only thing I still need to buy is the Crystal Palace Fizz in black. It's part of the flowers for the evening bags. I was going to order it, but shipping was going to cost more than the 1 ball I need, so I'm holding off for awhile. Maybe I can incorporate it into a bigger order or find it locally. I have plenty of knitting I can do in the meantime.

After the mail arrived on Saturday, I went to JoAnn's to get some supplies. I'd made a list of things I wanted all week and was able to get most things. Mainly I wanted the stuff for finishing the tan Chunky Cable Bag.

I picked out these two patterns and will look for fabric I like another day.

There were some good sales at JoAnn's too!

Don't worry, I didn't stay inside all weekend. It was gorgeous out and I did a lot of yard work (my arms ache from clipping). For fun, we fired up the grill for lunch and dinner today! Yay!

Noni Madness!

Here's my treat for finishing one Noni Bag: 3 more Noni Bag patterns! I ordered them from Jimmy Bean's since I haven't seen them at the local shops. (The shipping speed was phenomenally quick...order placed 4/14 and received 4/16!!)





Don't they look fabulous? I am in danger of becoming a 'bag lady'. Btw, the flower patterns *are* included in these bag patterns and I definitely plan to try constructing them.

FO: Noni Baguette

Woohoo! She's done and here's the photographic evidence.



Before knitting this I wasn't sure I would like the pattern on the end and considered doing it solid, but now I'm glad I did the pattern.

It keeps its nice crisp shape even being held up and with the zipper open too. And yet, the reinforcing still allows the bag to be opened nicely and isn't too heavy.

Another peek at the lining.

Here's an inside end view showing the lining. I haven't tacked it down on the sides so it does float in a little, but I don't think it will be a problem for me. It's certainly not loose enough to get in the way of finding things in the bag or anything like that.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out despite never having made a bag before. The hardest part? I found the lining was a little tricky to install at the ends around the zipper, but who's going to see that anyway?!

I can't wait for my next visit with Debby when I am sure we will debut our bags!!

Well, I confess, I ordered my 'reward' just before I actually finished my bag! *Three more Noni Bag patterns.* I'll share which ones I picked when they arrive, soon I hope!

Note: I do realize that she's possibly the most photographed Noni Bag ever, but I went ahead and posted a lot of detail pics of my finishing work as I hadn't found that many online when I wanted to see some to help me. I don't know if I did it all technically 'right', but it seems to have worked out and maybe my pics will help someone. :-)

More Noni Finishing Work

Are you getting tired of this project? You probably want me to get onto something new already! You know, the thing that scared me about the Noni bag project was the finishing, but ironically, I'm having the most fun with that part! Funny how things work out.

Of course, it's not quite over yet!

Here is the stiffener I made from plastic needlepoint canvass.

The end. I started with a 6" round piece of needlepoint canvass, but I did have to trim off one row of squares to make it fit.
I tucked the canvass piece into the bag. This view mostly shows the stitches I made for attaching the zipper, in case you were curious about that.
Here's a better picture of the canvass...a good fit! Phew!!! After taking this picture, I sewed in the canvass. I sewed it along the opening just under the zipper edge using the zipper edge as a guide for keeping it more or less straight. I just tacked it down at various other points, particularly the center of the ends.
Then, it was time to work on the linen lining. I cut the circular ends and a piece for the body, leaving 1/2" seam allowances. After sewing the ends, I made little cuts in the seam allowance to allow for it to curve better and ironed a bunch.
Here's what the right side of the lining looks like.
I've starting sewing the top lining edges to the zipper material, trying to keep the stitches more or less invisible. This is slow going for me and my fingers are feeling a little tired from all the hand sewing they aren't used to doing.
I thought about doing a pocket, but instead am thinking of doing a little bag to go inside, maybe using the leftover yarn and/or leftover lining material, maybe felting it too. A matching mobile cozy could be fun too.

The original bag has a flower on it. I don't have the pattern for this and might skip it as I kind of like the plain look at the moment. It might be fun to make a little beaded pull for the zipper tab or maybe a little bead/charm thingy to hang from one of the handle ends.

Of course, I might not get to those extras at all, but at least the actual bag should be finished really soon! I'm really wanting to start a new Noni pattern. The tricky thing is picking just one! Maybe I can get a few as a reward for finishing this one ;)

One Night's Work

I guess I really want to get the Noni bag done, 'cos I stayed up extremely late last night working on it! I don't really know what I'm doing, so hopefully I won't have to rip anything out that I've done so far.

First, I got out my "new" sewing machine for the machine sewing parts. Heh heh. If this is my new sewing machine you are really wondering what my "old" one looks like. Yes, it may actually be considered an antique. They might not have all the bells and whistles and computers of the ones in the shops, but they do *work* and that's enough for me at this point. This one's older than me and I've sewed on it since I was a kid. I did a lot of sewing then and hardly any recently, but I'd like to do more again.

It does have it's own table it drops into, but I kind of like working on the dining room table, so Jeff hauled it downstairs for me. I'll be sure to take a picture of my other sewing machine for you at some point.

I got to work on finishing the Noni bag by sewing some grosgrain ribbon together lengthwise (on the machine) and then hand sewed it into the bag for the handles. I attached it all the way around the bag for durability, following the lead of some other bloggers like Z Knits and Wendy Knits. You can see both ribbons stitched down in this picture:
I can't resist including a close up of my tiny, relatively neat stitches!
Next, I sewed in the zipper, trying my best to even up the edges of the opening and keep the stripes lined up.
I put the handles on just for fun at this point to see how they look. I'll have to remove them for working on the bag more. The next step is to cut and stitch in the reinforcing layer. After that, I have to cut out and sew the fabric lining and attach it.
The only thing I didn't buy for this that I'm wondering if I'll want are feet. I guess I have to make my mind up soon as it will be too late to put them in after awhile. I'm leaning toward *not* having feet. Any thoughts on that?