A New Year and New Projects!

First, a finished project -- this is a baby blanket for a friend expecting a little boy. Child's Knitted Blanket at Lion Brand Yarn. I bought the yarn at Lion Brand, too - 6 balls of Jiffy in Heather Blue. Look closely at the uuper left corner of the photo and you can see little white cat feet trying to get on the blanket (and into the picture).


One thing I really like about this pattern is that the reverse side is just as attractive as the front side. The front is an hourglass design while the back looks a lot like a basketweave (see below).


See the basketweave design? This was a great project for a baby shower because it worked up very quickly (3 weeks).

Not every project is a knitting project ...

Penny and I are working on the same counted cross stitch project. Right now, she is way ahead of me but she has recently started working full time so the advantage is about to be passed back to me (I have loads of experience in dealing with the battles of full-time work vs full-time hobbies). This piece is a series of six panels (all worked on the same piece of fabric, not six separate pieces) surrounded by a border. Last I saw, Penny had about 2 1/2 panels finished. I have done the outlining on three and started one of the scenes. I have to admit that I prefer knitting -- counted cross stitch takes too much concentration and too much, well, counting. I can knit while watching a movie but the stitching requires too much of my attention.

... but there is a new knitting project waiting in the wings

Here is the beginnings of my next project -- are you as excited to see it as I am? (Probably not)

This is my next knitting project but it is also something brand new for me because it will be felted after knitting. I've never felted anything before and am really looking forward to trying it. Felting requires a natural fiber yarn (like wool) which is knit and then deliberately shrunk in a hot bath. That means the knitted article needs to be larger than the desired finished piece. I am going to make a French Market Bag which I can use to carry my next project.