Half-Felted Bag & Mittenscarf

The bag and mittenscarf were great projects over our holiday travels. I had no problems taking my knitting along with me on the plane, though packed it in our checked luggage in St. Louis, because I've heard security there is cranky, the lines are long and I just didn't want to take any chances there. Our flights and waiting were relatively short, too.

All the hardware arrived in CT in time, and I felted the bag successfully - my first felting project! I'm pretty happy with it, but I don't think it's a project I would make again. It took me four hours just to sew on the pockets. All hand sewing and I really couldn't see how I could machine sew them...maybe someone more skilled could. I may yet adjust the placement of the upper Chicago screws as my D-ring keeps flipping around, and I'd like to add another closure in the center of the bag since it flops a bit with closures only on the two sides. (But that's more sewing, so....)

The mittenscarf was great plane knitting - a simple K1, P1 rib for a long time. I started the mittens once we returned; finished the first mitten last night and am about halfway through the second mitten. I picked up my provisional stitches funny, apparently, since my ribbing moved there, but it looks fine. I'm running very low on yarn though and might have to order a third skein to make it to the end of the mitten....I'm not terribly upset about this because it would be an excuse to maybe order more yarn or a beginner's spinning kit....oh well. 

I'm looking forward to wearing it as today's flurries have turned into a real day-long snow shower! 

And here's one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year: qiviut! Two balls of 100% qiviut lace weight....mmmm.  It is so soft and lovely. I'm just trying to figure out what to make with it....two smaller projects....or figure out how to make a bigger scarf/shawl trimmed in the other color....not sure yet. I am looking forward to starting something though!