Sophia (my version of Magknits‘s Sophie) is felted. Ordinarily, that would be finished, but the felting didn’t come out the way I’d anticipated.

It’s a cute little bag, emphasis on little, but the i-cord is just a bit too long and the flap is too narrow. Sometime soonish, I’m going to add an edging to the flap (maybe crocheted, if I’m feeling really brave). I’m also going to cut the straps, shorten them, and adjust the twist before I sew them back together. I may do a bit of hand-felting to try to make the seam sturdier, but I certainly don’t want the bag itself smaller!

If I were going to knit something like this again, I’d probably do the flap all in 2×2 ribbing (like the edge) and maybe increase a few stitches in the first row. I would also do everything possible to avoid knitting the i-cord. Some other kind of strap should be fine.

Today’s continuing-knitting photo is of the B&B pullover:

I’m in the middle of row 5 of the first half of the chart for the main cable panel. (How’s that for a series of prepositional phrases?) It’s definitely something I can’t knit during movies or lectures, but it’s coming along reasonably well. I’ve also been working on the decreases for the cabled Manos hat. I think I’ve been a little slow so far, but I’m coming up to the point at which I’m going to decrease the middle strand out of at least half of the cables. Maybe I’ll cable the other half and wait to decrease them until after another row or two… Ah, the joys of inventing the pattern as I go along.

Being me, and not having much mindless stuff on needles, I started another project yesterday afternoon. I needed something I could knit at a movie theater, where I couldn’t turn a light on, so I started in on the cabled totebag I’d been planning on making with my naturgarn. After two hours (Bride and Prejudice), I have about half of the base. I really ought to decide on the cables for the sides before I get there.

And, for the re-starting, that’s Natalya. I’ve decided to switch to the other koigu colorway and use these two for a pair of pop-top mittens. They may be based on Marnie MacLean’s Hooray For Me gloves. Or maybe not. I’m going to make sure the Natalyas are finished before I embark on yet another design-as-I-go. Still, I think it’s pretty clear that koigu is my handwarming yarn. By the time I’m finished with these two things, I’ll have mittens, fingerless gloves, and pop-top mittens, all made of koigu.