I’ve finished the first of my holiday knitting projects:

This is the Sophie Bag from Magknits. I did a couple of things differently than specified by the pattern. First, it said to graft the handles to the bag. Now, from a previous felting experience, I knew I would have trouble keeping my sewing loose enough so the yarn in those spots would felt, so I thought I’d try the three-needle bind-off instead. I was worried that it would leave a little ridge where the handles were joined, but my concern was unfounded. It worked beautifully!

My other creative maneuver was to skip the complicated construction of a blocking form using pieces of cardboard. I just stuffed the newly felted and still wet bag with plastic grocery bags. It worked like a charm!

As cute as the bag was on its own, I thought it was a little bit plain. Maybe next time (and there will be a next time) I’ll use a fancier yarn (I used Cascade 220 for this one) or multiple colors. To add a little pizazz to this, I knit a rosette out of silk garden and sewed it onto the bag. I found the pattern for this flower in Scarf Style.

Next up, a multi-directional scarf made from the fabulous silk garden my erstwhile secret pal Eileen sent me: