Since today was a beautiful day, I took the opportunity to sit outside to eat my lunch and do some knitting. There are some seldom used tables by a fountain and some trees near my office building.

Lately I've been focused on finding the perfect knitting bag and organizing my knitting notions and projects.

First the knitting bag. I wanted it to be large without any dividers. My two Namaste bags don't quite hit the mark. The Laguna is large but had the center divider, the Zuma was one big pocket but not very large. After browsing the Knitting Bag Lust group on Ravelry and listening to the review of the Zhivago bag on Lime 'n Violet. I had narrowed it down and began obsessively researching an Atenti Weekender; the Fiona, Gatsby, and Zhivago bags by Offhand Designs; and the Tom Bihn Swift.Once I saw reviews and action photos of the Tom Bihn Swift I knew it was what I was looking for. I was on the bubble between the Atenti -- which could double as a work bag -- and the TB Swift. I wasn't too crazy about carrying a cordura or nylon bag to work because it was a little too sporty, even for my casual work environment. Then I saw the Swift in cork and that was it.

Here is my Swift pictured with a Namaste Buddy Case in turquoise. I bought the Buddy Case because I didn't like digging around at the bottom of my bag looking notions.



Here is an interior picture of the bag with the buddy case, and project bags from KnowKnits and Tom Bihn.



The Tom Bihn project bag is included with the Swift; like the GoKnit it has a yarn feed loop and a clip for clipping either to a belt loop or the inside of the bag. Extra ones can be purchased for about 15 USD. I'm glad I have the project bags, because I carry several projects at a time I no longer have tangles of yarn and needles I have to sort out before I can get to knitting.

The photo probably does not convey it but this bag is roomy, there is plenty of room to spare in here. The two see-through zippered pockets at the top of the bag are great. I would have liked a dedicated cellphone pocket but that is not a show stopper, at least I don't have to furiously unzip 5 pockets to find where I put my phone since I can easily see it. I'm also concerned about putting sharp metal knitting needles in the pockets, I'm afraid they would punch through the polyurethane. In the GoKnits project pouch is the Melody Shawl by Morehouse Merino which I am making with the March Malabrigo club shipment.



Here is another photograph of it.



It is hard to photograph because it is first knit in the round then cut down the middle.

Tonight, I had dinner with JL and her family.

I showed her the knitting disaster that was my first clapotis. I brought the partially knit stole as well as the additional yarn. She agreed with me, definitely fug. It wasn't my knitting skills or pattern that made it horrible it was the color combination of the yarn. The yarn felt great, knit wonderfully, the colors sucked. It looks like the colors of the DC football team (burgundy and gold with some pink thrown in). Even if I followed and supported the team I still wouldn't wear these colors. We couldn't think of anyone who, in their right mind, would like this stole. JL did the right thing. She was brutal but, brutality was needed. She took the cable out, saved my stitch markers, disappeared with the Crap-otis and the yarn (baggie and all) then came back to the table empty-handed. This is something I need to forget and just move on.

In stash news, I got a whole lot of yummy. First, my final yarn order of 2008 arrived from Eat.Sleep.Knit. That was fast. I ordered it the day after Christmas, when I realized I hated the colors and yet another person said, "Those are 'Skins' colors." It was waiting for me when we got home from dinner today. The order contained 4 skeins of Malabrigo worsted merino in Little Lovely and 2 skeins of lace in molly. And, JL bought me some Malabrigo sock for Christmas (btw, gift yarn doesn't count as stash).

Tonight, I went over to JL's house for wine, pizza and knitting. I brought Little Bear with me while DH stayed at home and had quality time with Punkywunks. For the most part, the kids kept themselves busy eating, playing and watching movies. JL and I were actually able to get some knitting done. I almost did a full row on the stole before LB hit the wall and it was time to go. He does this weird hyperactive thing when he gets really tired. I completed the row after DH got him down for the night. I don't think I'm going to have the knitting complete by Thanksgiving, I'll be close but this is probably going to be knit on during Thanksgiving dinner.

I am finding hard to stop myself from casting on with the merino I had skeined Saturday. I want to cast on the rosella to see how it knits up and I would like to do an instant satisfaction project like My So Called Scarf.

Last night, DH and the kids came with me to knit night. JL brought A and Miss Monkeypants with her. We had a nice turnout of eight people. I got very little knitting done. Maybe two rectangles.

Later, as I sat on the couch and knit, DH came down and asked me how much yarn costs? That's a hard question to answer. One could spend as little as $2.00 and as much as $150 (probably more) per skein. I told him how much it cost for the Noro Silk Garden I bought for the Lady Eleanor which was a little over $8.00 for a skein. In my opinion, much of the cost of knitting isn't the materials but the time I put into knitting. He then said I could probably go to a department store and buy something like what I'm knitting; why would I knit? From Macy's to Neiman Marcus, I have never seen anything that looks like an entrelac stole. Yes, I could buy a scarf from a store, that is not the point to knitting. I knit mainly because I like it. Second, because I have connected with a group of other knitters, and because of that, find myself getting out more for social gatherings. And, third, I know what I like and want, many times when I want something I may find a style but not a color and or material to my liking; now, I can just knit it up.

On my sticks
Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole (Noro Silk Garden)
I am half way through with the stole. It is gorgeous. I am very happy with it. Usually, I start to doubt myself and question my choices but not with this. I can't wait for it to be complete.

Today was a gray, cold, rainy day. But, my day was brightened by having pho with JL. Of course, we brought our knitting. She's working on a beautiful Christmas gift made of Malabrigo lace. I'm still working on the Lady Eleanor, I am almost halfway there and about to join in the fourth ball of yarn. For me, this is going fairly fast. I told her she's a better person than I am because there is no way I would give something made of Malabrigo lace to anyone. Unless, it was another knitter who could appreciate he quality material and time. Then again, I wouldn't knit something for another knitter I would give her yarn. I couldn't imagine what I would do to someone if he (or she) threw the gift knitted from Malabrigo into the washing machine. I know it would involve some rather unpleasantness involving a circular needle.

I have finally chosen a sewing machine. Don't worry DH, I will not be getting it until I get rid of a lot of stuff and finish 3 or 4 knitting projects. At this rate, I won't be getting a machine until Spring of 2009. Then I'll have to change my blog name. Any suggestions? Email me at honeybearknits [at] gmail [dot] com.

I'm happy to announce my blog readership has doubled from one to two. Now, along with JL, DH is reading my blog.

Today, my boss was visiting my office. I was in meetings all day. Plus, when she's here for the day she shares my office with me. I like her and even though I know she sometimes knit I don't want to knit in front of her. To give her some privacy for a meeting today I ate lunch away from the office. I went to the local pho restaurant to eat. I took my knitting in with me and got a couple of rectangles knit on the stole after I finished my soup.

When I arrived at home tonight I found my Yarn Market order waiting for me. It wasn't anything big, all I did was finally order Scarf Style and a crochet hook needed for Lady Eleanor. Yes, I've been using a library copy all this time with every intention of buying the book.

Eat.Sleep.Knit Rocks

I have to give a shout out to the owners of Eat.Sleep.Knit for exchanging the extra Malabrigo for me. I did a miscalculation when I bought the Malabrigo worsted for the second Lady Eleanor stole. I didn't pay attention that a skein of Malabrigo is twice the size of a skein of Noro Silk Garden and ended up with 5 (possibly 6) skeins more than necessary. No, problem. They were nice enough to let me send back the applewood in exchange for blue graphite.

Because of PurlBee and their gorgeous quilts, I started researching sewing machines. I haven't touched a sewing machine since high school. A lot has changed. A basic sewing machine under $200 that doesn't fall apart if it's looked at cross-eyed does not exist. I got in my head somehow that Bernina makes a good sewing machine. Why, yes, they do. At $3,500 I cannot justify buying it unless I'm going to make a second income from it. I did find the Janome 760, it is perfect for my needs. A great price, powerful, small, and portable. Every review I've read about it is mostly positive.

I got a message from JL this evening indicating that perhaps she visited a yarn shop and maybe something came home with her. You know how these things just fall into a shopping basket. My answer to her question is, "No, lace does not count as stash."

I didn't get the extra hour of sleep I was hoping to get because while the rest of the country observes Daylight Saving my four-year-old does not. At 6:30 this morning someone was ready to start his day. I eventually went downstairs to watch Playhouse Disney. He watched, I knit. I am convinced my yarn has a secret kiddie magnet in it somewhere; whenever I take it out he has to scrunch it. I remind myself that I should not put him into time out for touching my yarn.

At the last minute, I went to the monthly Ravelry meet-up. DH wanted to spend some quality time with our daughter and I volunteered to take our son with me since JL was bringing Monkey with her. They were very well behaved. We distracted them with food and movies.

We had a great time even though there wasn't that big of a turnout. That's to be expected during football season. It was me, JL, and another Raveler. Oops! I forgot her name. I can tell you this about her. She's very nice. She loves the color green. And, she knows how to do magic loop (she demonstrated it for us). She wore her clapotis (I LOVE) and showed me her Kureyon hat (cute and love that too). And, she told me how to block and soften my Lady E once it is ready. I may have been inappropriate with her bamboo yarn, but it was so soft I had to molest it. She has a Namaste Cali Laguna knitting bag which I've been lusting over since the first time I saw it. I am making rationalizations here. I technically do not have a knitting bag. I have a re-purposed diaper bag and the Haiku messenger bag but no "made as a knitting bag" knitting bag. And, the Namaste is great for travel. Where I can only carry what's on the needles I can carry the project and extra skeins in the Namaste.

I have borrowed several books from the library. I borrowed the Vogue Knitting Volume 2 cables stitchionary because I'm looking for the perfect cable pattern to graft onto the Lady Eleanor malabrigo. This is now on my purchase list. I borrowed Vogue Knitting to go: Shawls Two because I love the idea of wrapping myself in yarny goodness. While I was not crazy about the first book, I found 5 patterns in this one I would like to make. And, I borrowed a couple of knitting for children books because I would like a little more variety in my daughter's wardrobe. There is only so much pink I can take.

How does stash happen?

Two weeks ago, I had 2 projects' worth of yarn, as of today I have 6. Make that 8 due to a slight miscalculation I made. I don't remember buying this yarn. I think I had blackout. And, I have a deadline; I have to get most of this used up before January because the Eat.Sleep.Knit malabrigo club starts in January.

Today, after being on back order for over a month, the Knit Picks Gloss Lace in mango finally arrived. It is prettier than the picture. The color is more of a pinky peach. I have decided to make the Muir stole out of it. I will cast on after the Ruffles scarf is finished.

I had dinner with JL tonight. I showed her my new goodie bag. Feel the covet. I also teased her about the thingie I got her that she's going to loooove.

Props to Knit Picks

I called KP this afternoon to tell them about my faulty Harmony tip. The very nice lady in Customer Service looked up my order, asked me which size tip and shipped another pair out to me. They don't want the broken tip back. No fuss, no muss.

At lunch, I sat in my car and knit. I did a backward loop cast-on. The backward loop is not my favorite method (I am surprised I have an opinion on this). The problem is the first knit row. It takes forever because I have to struggle to get the needle through.

I met JL at Panera to give a little moral support. She had a deadline and was working like crazy to get something finished in time for the VIP's of her company. She was more than a little stressed. But, no probs, she's the best at what she does. I know things turned out perfect. I even got her to giggle a couple of times. I knit while she typed away on her laptop.

On my sticks
Frida Poncho
Since the Noro for Lady E. isn't here and the size 7 tip needed for the Ruffle Scarf is broken I decided to start this project. I'm knitting this in the Knit Picks Andean Silk (yummmmmy). I first cast this in the backward loop. I absolutely hated knitting the first row. Somewhere on the second row I missed some stitches and ended up frogging it any way. When I recast it I did a long tail cast-on instead. Much better. I knit three rows while sitting with JL and knit two more rows after the kids were down. I would have knit more but DH was watching television and I couldn't concentrate on all the counting this pattern requires. I'll post a picture when I get the first 24 rows completed.