What I'm Making: Mama's Birthday Bag

I was going to wait until I was all settled in our new place before posting again (we'll be there next Wednesday), but ignoring the blog is making me kind of nuts. So! This is the bag I made my mom for her birthday-- it's from the pattern Alluvia and my first attempt at felting. Even though the ruffles aren't even I love how it turned out, and it was a big hit! I have plans of making one for myself in rainbow colors because I think that would be perfect, especially for fall.

I used different yarn than what was called for in the pattern: instead of using all Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, I mixed in two colors of Knit Picks Palette. The next time I make one of these I'll use all Palette yarn, I think, because I preferred the way it felted over WotA.

(before felting)

My schedule for this thing was insane because although her birthday wasn't until June 3rd, I obviously wouldn't be able to work on it while living at home. Because we were so busy the week before leaving Albuquerque I only got about a quarter of the way into it, which meant that I had to finish the rest of it on the two-day trip home. It was almost twelve hours per day of continuous knitting! Ahhhh! I actually enjoyed it though-- we listened to Doctor Who audiobooks and had lots of fun like we always do on road trips. When we got home I secretly felted it at Jeremy's parent's house so my mom wouldn't see, and gave it to her early because I was so excited. It looked so nice pre-felting that I was terrified to put it in the washer (WHAT IF IT TURNS INTO A USELESS MINI-BAG?!) but it turned out lovely!

Materials used:

Size 8, 36" circulars
2 skeins each of WotA Semolina & Winter Night
About 1/3- 1/2 of a skein Knit Picks Palette in Pool & Almond