I screwed up my courage and felted the bag. The photo is a bit deceptive. In person you can't see the stitches at all and I am really pleased with that. The bag gaps open a bit because I was running out of yarn so I couldn't make it as tall as the instructions dictated. If I were to make it again, I would probably make an i-cord frog closure to keep it shut. Also, I think I would knit a little less facing because the top of my bag doesn't stand straight up like the magazine photo; it flares out more like a bucket hat.



See? Mine doesn't look much like the photo. The girl who gets it won't care, though. M is taking it to school tomorrow to add to the Excellence box in her homeroom. The parents are asked to contribute, so I thought it would be a good way to reduce my stash. I'm two more skeins closer to buying new yarn! I'm just itching to place a KnitPicks order.

First Felting Project

I normally post my knitting pics on Tuesdays, but it has been so long since I've had anything to show that I thought I should get the photos up as soon as possible. Otherwise, you guys might lose interest in me!

Here is a photo of my coworker's bag. She did a great job, and I think red looks great when it is felted. She shrunk it as far as it would go, too; it is practically bulletproof. The pattern calls for a scallop at the top edge, which is why it looks wavy.



Here we have the finished bag on top of my unfelted bag, for a bit of perspective.




This pic is to show the stripes. I went with graduated stripes (8, 4, 2). I'm still a bit afraid to felt it. I know that felting is easy, but I like the way the bag looks now. It isn't practical to leave it this way without a lining, though. I just don't want it to look like something I cleaned out of the dryer's lint trap.

The 4400: Will it be back next year?

Entertainment Weekly reported in a sidebar in their 26 Aug issue that The 4400 has lost two million viewers since the season premiere in June. When one of my other favorites, Joan of Arcadia, had those kind of numbers it got canceled. I would hate to see that happen to this show. One thing in its favor is that it is on the USA network. Shows on cable networks seem to be given more of a chance to find their audience.

This is why I no longer call this a knitting blog

What have I been doing with my free time this weekend? Well, I can tell you that there wasn't much knitting involved. Thanks to Websnark, I've spent two afternoons checking out webcomics and setting up a reading list. This is madness, especially since I barely keep up with all the blogs on my Bloglines list. However, the tidbits I have been picking up about the new TV season don't sound promising. I have a feeling that I will be doing more reading than television watching this fall. Also, my marathon reading of the MegaTokyo archives reminded me how much I missed following an interesting storyline.

As much as I like words, however, I find that I am a bit shallow when it comes to which webcomics make my list. If I don't like the artwork, then I don't bother reading further. I'm sure that many of these comics have interesting storylines, but comics are a visual medium. If pretty pictures weren't part of the equation, then I would just read a novel instead.