New Work on Old Projects

I have had a lot going on lately, so much of my knitting has been the meditative sort. This means projects that require minimal shaping and consist of stockinette or garter stitch. Though most of it is mindless, I have been sneaking in an occasional twist to keep it interesting. For example, I started yet another Sophie for the preschool auction, but decided to add a ruffle at the top as well as tabs to hold the handles.

The spring cleaning bug has also struck, and while trying to reorganize my craft closet I came upon two projects which I have ignored for a while. One is a baby sweater, worked entirely in seed stitch in cream Encore Worsted.

When I first seamed the sleeves, the yarn had a strange color change which made it look almost yellow in one spot.

I started to rip the seam on the discolored side, and made a huge mess, so I put it away for several months. Then one day I was reading about dyeing with Kool-Aid, and thought it might be a fun solution to my yarn discoloration problem, even though the acrylic content of the yarn would prevent it from absorbing a lot of the color. So I took the sweater out and restitched the mess, and then put it away again since I didn't have the time to try dyeing it then. Now that it has made its way out again, I plan to try dyeing it, even if the color is only absorbed enough to disguise the discoloration. Wish me luck!

The other project is a cable purse which I knitted about a year ago from some leftover Reynolds Lopi. When I went to sew the handles on the bag, for some reason I suddenly felt allergic to the Lopi, so into the craft closet it went. When I tried again this time, I didn't have an issue.

I knew that this bag would not be very useful without a lining, so I took the bag to JoAnn and found some coordinating fabric and thread.

I'm sure the process would have been much easier if I had done it before attaching the handles, but considering it was my first attempt at a lining, I don't think it is horrendous, and at least the bag is usable. I also got some fabric to line the ruffled Sophie, so I am curious to see how that works out.