Knitting at Lunch.....

I am lucky enough to work with two fellow fiber bloggers! Knitting @ Lunch and Crocheting at My Own Pace are co-workers, and we decided about a month ago to knit for an hour every Mon, Wed and Fri so that we could get all of our Christmas projects done. (Not that I'm doing any Christmas knitting - no siree....)

Knitting at Lunch is working on a scarf for her mother - this is a commission project.

Her mother chose and bought the yarn, a lovely rich burgundy Manos de Uruguay. Yum!

Crochet is working on a blanket that is SO soft - and

since it's crochet with a big hook, it's going really quickly.

I am, of course, focused on the scarf and mittens for my mother. (If pushed, I would have to admit that these are "Christmas Knitting" since I have her name in the exchange and these are her present. But let's not quibble about a technicality, ok??)

However yesterday...well, my attention was perhaps a bit scattered. Not only was I working on something besides the scarf, I was cross-crafting!!


I decided to quickly crochet a pair of mittens from some beloved stash yarn for a Secret Santa gift.

(I know it sounds suspiciously like Christmas knitting, but we're not quibbling, remember?? Plus, it's crochet!) In addition, I wanted to get a free pattern up on the web-site, and I wanted a picture "in progress," so I was switching back and forth. Hmm, was that 2 sc in the next sc or Kfb in next 2 st?

I do have the pattern up now, and as far as I know it's my own invention. I read this about sweaters on soap, but it was about liquid soap. It intrigued me tho, the thought of a bar of soap wrapped in wool. I did find this site where you truly "felt" fiber around the soap, but I had knitting in mind. So, viola! Soap Sweaters!

This is a great last-minute project (takes me an hour to an hour and a half for a bar) and is really inexpensive. I bought a skein of Cascade 220 and that would to do a BUNCH of them, but you can also just use up scraps of wool. Leftovers from Lambs Pride or Noro would be great! I had some glycerin bars from Bath & Body Works that I had accumulated during sales, but I also used regular bar soap!

I tried the green one out for a week or two and I loved it. It lathers up and is a scrubby, and it doesn't leave a mess on the sink. So, Merry Christmas from the Designated Knitter!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)