The Little Things

This month is going to be all about the small projects. Things that take only a few days or a week or so to complete. There is something about completing a project that rejuvenates a knitter. Casting off, seaming and finishing - all the closing ceremonies of whatever you had been working on, and for me, permission to cast on for something new.

The mittens made great strides this weekend and are about two-thirds complete. Another project was cast off, but not quite finished. This was pretty quick and I'm not sure I even blogged about it!

This is a combination of the Elisa's Nest Tote and the Everlasting Bagstopper patterns. There were little things about each one I liked, so I just combined them. All that is left to do is sew on the strap and load it up! I thought it would make a great bag for the beach - all the sand can just fall right out and not get trapped at the bottom. The yarn is leftovers from the wrap cardi and it shrunk a lot more than it did in the wrap. Maybe because it was a much more lacy and open stitch pattern? It will probably hold a towel, maybe two, and not much else. Oh well. The vertical stretch isn't as much as I have seen on other similar bags (or even these bags!) Even with about 30% extra length, it is not as big as I would have hoped. Luckily, it didn't take up too much of my time!

Moving on, I looked to find other small knits that have been sitting in my Ravelry queue forever. Being that I wear a hat almost every day to work, along with walking the dogs, I have been wanting a hat with earflaps to keep out the wind. I tend to get ear aches on those cold, blustery days. Enter Thorpe. Another great pattern by Kirsten! I have some yarn in the stash, and plan on casting on today. The other hat I have been looking at (I may just make myself two earflap hats) is Minty's version. Also very cute - with a pom-pom! Odds are, I will have stash and time to do both.....