Scattered

Dear Cynthia,

My knitting lately has been a little bit scattered. I'm continuing to work on the "I Love You" sweater, though I can't haul it out during the day, because the boys would notice the design and it is intended to be one of their Christmas surprises. Here is the first sleeve. I'm working paired M1 increases, which is my current favorite way of "invisibly" increasing, though, of course, it is obvious that there is a "seam" forming between the lines of increase.....

Then, I'm also working on a pattern for Yarn Botanika. It is going to be a felted bag, having a needle felting design on it, and it will be sold as part of a needle felting kit. I was pretty happy with the prototype bag, so I only made a couple of changes as I knit this "production" version which has not been felted yet. This one will have wooden handles, like the prototype. However, the pattern will also include another version which will have a sturdy shoulder strap instead of the handles. I have the yarn for that, and will be starting on that in the next few days.

YAY -- I *finally* received my Cast On magazine today! It is for "August - October", so I have been anxiously checking my mailbox every day since mid-July, wondering when it would get here. It contains an article highlighting changes to the Master Knitter program, done mostly for clarification of the requirements, but a hat is now also required for level 1. I think the Master Knitter program is a great thing. Even as an experienced knitter, I learned a lot when I completed level 1, mostly about creating a final product which is more "hand-made" than "home-made". I chuckled at a comment in the Cast On magazine about the"proliferation of knitting books churned out to meet the growing market of knitters. The photographs of knitting patterns in some of these books would not be accepted as a swatch in this program." I think that is very true, though a difficult message to convey without creating a sense of eliteness. Anyway, one of these days, I'm going to order the level two materials, but I have a lot of knitting to do for Christmas before that.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)