Adventures in Knitting

Well.

It's been quite a whirlwind couple of days.  Last night Friend Gina and I had our little knitting confab.  I've made the executive decision to call it Our Own Knitting Group (OOKG).  I'll let y'all know when Friend Gina comes up with a spiffier name.  It was too fun.  We met at a local Starbucks (first time I'd set a toe inside one), stayed there almost until closing, knitting, talking, and cackling.  Well, I cackled.  Gina, being a lady of fine distinction, even if she does hail from Michigan, does not cackle.  She did, however, laugh when she saw The Bag.

Well, she wasn't laughing at The Bag.  I don't remember what she was laughing at but it made a good picture nonetheless.

She also showed me the second sock, of the two she is currently knitting.

She also showed me the utter cuteness of the swatch she's doing with her adorable sock yarn but I did not photograph it.

So, last night, amongst the cackling and imbibing of caffeine which I truly needed, I finished The Bag.  This morning, I tucked in the ends and began the felting process.

Now, the last time I felted a bag, I committed a Cardinal Sin.  I allowed the bag to go through the entire cycle.  Twice.  I was disabused of this idea through several discussions with Friend Gina this week and resigned myself to much sogginess of wool and other irritations.  As Friend Husband was leaving (late) for work this morning, I had a brainstorm!  If I put The Bag under the wheel of the car as he was pulling out, surely it would squeeze out more water than I was capable of doing manually, and would therefore dry The Bag more quickly!  I ran outside as he was about to pull out and said, "Wait!  Would you run over this bag for me?"

I wish I'd brought the camera to record the look on his face.

Being Friend Husband and accustomed as he is to my hairbrained schemes, he recovered quickly.  "Sure!" he said as I wrapped The Bag in a towel and placed it behind the back wheel of the car.  He ran over it, said, "I helped!" and scooted off to work.

Sadly, Abby was not happy with the amount of shrinkage that had taken place in The Bag, so she asked me to felt it again.  Back into the hot wash, but this time, I figured a way to just turn the agitator on instead of the whole shebang and it took much less time.  Then I rewrapped it and ran over it with my car a few times.  Yes, I did take a bizarre delight in doing so.

Oh, I have to relate this:  When I brought The Bag in for Abby to inspect, she held it up in delight, then said softly, "Oh.  This is sort of foul."  I had to roll on the floor with that one.  She comes up with the funniest things to say.

Anyhoo, The Bag is now happily sitting out on the front porch swing, sunning itself in preparation for being Abby's penpal's birthday present.  Of course, me being me, I didn't finish it until the very last minute (we'll see them this afternoon) but at least it's finished.

And for your viewing pleasure, a slideshow of the birth of The Bag.  Happy Weekend!