Projects Are Getting Finished...Kinda

This is the Bedouin Bag by Noni.  I finished knitting this monster last night and now it is time to felt it.  I am a little nervous about this because I only have a front loading washing machine.  I googled and went to Ravelry to seek knowledge and, as usual, found lots of it and all of it conflicts.  So, at some point, you just have to close your eyes and jump in, I guess.

I started by setting my washer to heavy duty and hottest water, no spin.  Then, I put the bag in a zippered pillowcase and threw it in the washer with an old pair of jeans and a pair of old water shoes since hot water and agitation are key to the process.  I started the washer, and periodically, paused it to check on the progress.  It really didn't seem to be doing much of anything except making a lot of noise and turning everything green.

So I decided to take it out of the washer and put it in the sink with hot water and agitate it myself.  That was very hard on my hands and still didn't seem to be making anything shrink.  I could still see lots of stitch definition and it was huge and now weighed about 20 pounds!  

So,I made the decision to put it in the dryer with the jeans and the shoes. I had to take it out of the sink and into a large pan to get it back to the washer (since there was no way I had the strength to adequately wring out the water). Trying not to drip onto the hardwood floors...

I had to frequently check to see if I was making any progress.  At first it was slow because everything was soooo wet.  But, soon, it was beginning to felt.  So, here's the trick..wash in hot water, no spin, take it out and put in dryer till damp dry.  And VOILA!

In the above picture, it is stuffed with several bath towels.  It is still a monster bag, but at least it is a felted, monster bag.  I am supposed to put on the bag hardware when it is almost dry, but still slightly damp.  That consists of a magnet closure and a black leather handle that screws on.  To knit this bad boy, I used two strands of Cascade 220 worsted on #11 32" circular needles.

Earlier this week, I finished up a pair of socks.  I made this pair toe-up two at a time.  I really like doing socks like that.  Everything comes out the same size...Yeah!  I bought this yarn for some other project and didn't like how it was going so I ripped it out and made the socks.  Unfortunately, I have enough left over for another pair.... I started these thinking I would make them into knee highs, but then I realized I didn't know what to do with the rib pattern that I had established and still increase for the calf, without screwing up the rib pattern.  Too much THINKING, so I quit.  But I did learn how to do a 'sewn bind off' which I will use for toe up socks. 

I have a few more projects that I've been plugging away at.  Most are for Christmas, so I can't show them, yet.

We are off to St. Louis area for Thanksgiving.  My nephew, Mike and his family are hosting.  I am bringing my mom's classic dishes...orange-carrot- pineapple- jello salad and green bean casserole.  Just so she'll still be with us.