One Step Forward

Seems like only yesterday that I finished that pair of super-wash wool socks for my son.  Oh, wait...that WAS yesterday!  Since this was a week that felt like I was falling down the rabbit-hole (long story), we were watching Alice In Wonderland (Tim Burton's vision) while I was finishing the last of this pair.  He's sliding around the halls in them today (ok, 15 must not be "too old" to go hallway sliding in a new pair of socks).  Amazingly enough, I got him to hold still and pose for the blog before the Giant Slalom run:

How I love my self-patterning sock yarn!

Of course, now that that UFO has changed its status, I immediately had to start on another pair - this time, for ME.  This next pattern is from the book, Outside the Sox that I picked up at my local Joanns Fabric store.  Drool city.  Stephanie Pearl-McFee (a.k.a. The Yarn Harlot) got me started down the road of sock-complishment with her book, Knitting Rules.  Now that I have the plain-sock-with-self-patterning-yarn sock thing down, I thought it was a good time to change things up a bit:

Serious sock-nommage!

I don't have enough yarn to make the sock quite this tall, which is fine with me - I think I can get away with what I have if I just eliminate one or more rows of patterning.  While I love this colorway, I wanted desperately to use some fabuloso yarn I bought last year at Big Lots; they only had one skein, and I went to three other stores hoping to score some more, with no luck.  Sigh.  Along comes this book, and I realize I can just buy a plain yarn and mix them together to have one delicious pair of socks.  As soon as I was done with my son's, I just HAD to start on the next cast-on.  It must be an illness or something.  

Mmmmm....soft, pretty, yarn.  On toothpick-sized needles.  (OY!)

Maybe I'll have these done within the next couple of months.  I wish I could stick to one project at a time, finish each one, and move on to the next.  But, no.  In addition to the shoe pattern I'm still working out, the mending I'm doing for a friend, the winter pajamas that will be ready just in time for spring (*red-face*), two jacket makeovers, and about three handbags, I decided that I need a new handbag for myself.  The last one I did I am still carrying around - it was a gift from a friend who had yard-sale remnants in her trunk, and that purse managed to miss the Goodwill pile.  I recovered it with some awesome home dec fabric, but the purse really isn't big enough to house everything and my Blackberry keeps falling out of it and the stupid straps keep falling off my shoulder.  So I went through my stash of handbag fabrics (yes, I separate my fabrics based on my intended projects - silly, I know) and pulled this out to make a new purse for myself:

Front, back, and facings

A close-up of the home dec fabric.  I LURVE interesting patterning like this - must be why I keep buying that yarn....

Fabric that special just cries out for special straps & trim - this is faux leather from an independent fabric store down the street - a relative rarity in our big-box nation.  My older son went nuts over this - I think he has plans to recover his scooter's seat, so I'd better watch my remnants carefully or they might just disappear! With the stash that I have, it would be years before I would notice, LOL!

Sturdy, plain poplin for the lining & zippered pocket.  And I just happened to have the right size zipper for this - one good thing about establishing a nice stash - kind of like instant shop-at-home!

I had thought that I could get this handbag done in time for my mini-stay-cation tomorrow (meeting friends at Disneyland for an overnight stay), but - ALAS - got a visit from the migraine fairy again so I think I need to lay low today instead.  Hope it's not from project overload!