No nasty bills in January

With Christmas just around the corner, oh yes it is, I have been busy working on projects for friends and family. To make this as economical as possible I am diving head first into the ever increasing stash. Even though it looks as if I am more involved in swaps these days than knitting nothing could be further from the truth, and I do have pictures to prove it. The following is my second edition of a knitted "dolly bag" , the first was gifted for Chrissy in Singapore, pink is one of her favorite colours, anyway I liked it so much that I made a second.

The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in shocking pink. I had the black suede base, in fact I have several of them in different colours, I made up my own pattern, and added a great little bead pull.

The directions that comes with the base has you knit the bag in the round and then sew it to the base (the base has tiny holes already punched), I thought there had to be a better way, and there was. I used a tiny crochet hook, and crocheted a single chain around the base, picked up the stitches with a 16" circular knitting needle and knitted in the round, finishing with a picot cast off.

I lined the bag using a pink and black cotton fabric square I also had in the stash. I have the same yarn in blue, a navy base, and blue cotton in the stash, and will be working on another one very soon.

As for the Christmas present stash, I have a baby hat finished, a vintage baby cardigan, a hat and sweater for our 2 year old granddaughter blocking upstairs, a knitted "pirate" hat and five more pairs of socks yet to show. James has requested two scarves a brown and a blue one, I have Gems for the brown one and Fleece Artist for the blue, and I have semi-solids for a log cabin cable sock I am toying with.

I love knitting from the stash no nasty bills in January.