More on My Manhattan Frivotities

This handbag is turning out to be quite the project. I finally finished the knitting part, but now I have to do all that sewing I've been whining about. Oh yeah, and I have to figure out what I'm going to do about straps. I'm going to need something extremely strong. Something about Manhattan causes women (e.g. me) to carry obnoxiously large handbags everywhere, and to keep them full. In college, I rarely carried a purse anywhere, even on my occasional nights out on the town. I had my phone in one pocket, and my keys, school ID, and wallet, in another. Now, I am no Carrie Bradshaw, but after just over a year, I have morphed into this crazy and slightly ridiculous being.

Amazingly, my bags are usually much smaller than girls I am friends with and girls I work with. For example, although I keep a giant wallet with a year's worth of receipts and change, a pencil case full of makeup I don't wear, and painkillers for any kind of spontaneous injury, I do not usually carry an extra pair of shoes, and I only carry a novel on occasion. Nevertheless, what by rights should have a simple project to keep my occupied over a knitting night or two has lasted me about a month. At last, I have giant pieces that need to be sewn together. I need to figure out how to sew in a zipper and, um, to make a strong lining. As far as straps, I'm thinking I might just use whatever fabric I use for the lining - maybe I'll get some metal rings to ensure that the straps don't misshape the knit fabric or tear it. Or maybe I'll knit some out of the same fabric I used to make to bottom. So here it is. The source of the past month's rants. I'm actually pretty proud of it. When I took the picture, the bottom part curled under, but I think that's just because I knit that part pretty tight. I think that when I sew it together, it will come uncurled.

And now I can move onto other things! (while I figure out this sewing machine thing). I do have the UFO project, but I think my most immediate thing will be my first pair of socks. As usual, though, I have I second project in ming. Once again, I am inspired by my high school friend, Anna. Her blog got me really excited about the Irish Hiking Scarf. It's a cable scarf knitalong. I've wanted to make a cable scarf for a while now, and I've never done a knitalong. As much as I love mindless knitting, I think it will be a while before I can make anything in plain stockinette stitch, garter stitch, or ribbed. I owe my Aunt Carol a scarf and plan to make one for Sam too, so this pattern will work for either of them.

At the knitting night at Kathleen's, two weeks ago, I had no idea what to knit. I brought a book with me, as well as ample yarn and needles. It seems that, for various annoying reasons, I was unable to knit the things that I had been working toward. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Grey sweater started last year: couldn't find one of the needles!
2. Dad's sweater: couldn't find (either of) my knit1 magazines, one of which contains the pattern
3. new projects from new knitting books, such as "Sexy Little Knits": When I bought yarn for one of these patterns online, it turned out to be more or less useless (more like thread with parts hanging off of it) than yarn - not at all useful for the patterns.
4. sweater I started crocheting last year: couldn't find the crochet hook - besides, wanted to knit for this group, at least for right now
5. gauntlets I'm almost done with: started binding off and almost made it but found i didn't have quite enough yarn to finish (very annoying!) took some of the needles for another project and now they're somewhere in my apartment.

From this list, two things are apparent:
1. I need to clean/organize my apartment
2. I need to actually buy the yarn for the patterns in the books I buy - the patterns won't knit themselves!

So, when I went to Kathleen's I just through I bunch of yarn and a book in my bag.

When I got there, I decided to knit with some recycled silk my mom had gotten me when she visited me in Philadelphia. I casted on a number of stitches based on a pattern from speed knitting, but decided that the yarn would work better if it was not bumpy. Besides, straight knitting and purling makes socializing easier. But I decided that I would knit one long piece and flip it over and sew it up so that it would look like the "messenger bag" with a flap over it.

I worked on this bag at Kathleen's and the next time I picked it up was at Joanna's. But then on Friday I got my wisdom teeth out and since then have had very limited mobility. Sam knew I was getting better when, on Sunday, I asked him to help me find my knitting!

So I knit a lot on Sunday. I realized that I probably wouldn't use a messenger bag much, since my wallet along could barely fit in one (living in New York does that to you) and making an extremely long one would probably look very weird. But my work could be salvaged! I would use what I had done so far as the first of several panels, which I would sew together and line with something strong and durable and make a purse. I'm very excited about this and, as usual, running away with my imagination - I'm even thinking of finally getting a sewing machine (something I've been wanting for years anyway).

So far, I've just finished the two main side panels. Here is a picture of what it looked like yesterday, when I just had one and a half of the panels:So this brings me to knitting at Central Park, which is how I spent some of my Labor Day. So much fun! Yesterday, I finally went outside for the first time since the wisdom teeth. Sam took me to get some frozen yogurt. The five minute walk there and back made me feel so much better. I knew what I was lacking: sunshine! I knew for a fact that Jen and the girls were knitting in Central Park, so I decided to join them. Knitting is so therapeutic! I was kind of whacked out on pain killers and a possible overdose of antibiotics (I still don't know how many doses I took yesterday) but it was, nevertheless, lots of fun. I am definitely going to host the new knitting night at my place the week after next.