Egads - is it that time already?

How can it almost be July? July is supposed to be ages away. By my calendar I have tons and tons of time to sort out some yarn and pattern for the felted bag I'm making for my goddaughter's birthday. But by the rest of the world's calendar I have only a few weeks.

Eeeeek!

I expect the making of the bag won't be tooooo time consuming. But finding the perfect pattern will be. I want her to love the bag. I want her to think - "Scooby" (she calls me Scooby)(Soo became Sooby Doo which over time became Scooby Doo which was shortened to Scooby)(anyway) I want her to think "Scooby is so cool." not "Sigh. Scooby makes me stuff - wish she'd just give me vouchers." Any and all ideas gratefully accepted if anyone who happens upon this blog has any..... In the meantime I'll have a search through the stash and pattern pile.

On a more productive note I've finally picked out my first project from Victorian Lace Today. It's the Alpine Scarf. I'm not very far into it, but it's an enjoyable knit so far. There are only 2 'plain' rows in each 16 row repeat so it requires some concentration. But on the plus side, when you mess up you are most likely to find out in the next row - which improves the odds of being able to correct it without frogging.

I'm using Fiddlesticks Zephyr in plum. I love the yarn and the colour. Unfortunately, I'm using rosewood needles - dark wool on dark needles is not a good idea. Some bamboo needles ordered yesterday and should be with me tomorrow. Phew.

Speaking of needles, the pattern suggests 3.5mm - but I've dropped down to 2.75mm to get the pattern definition I'm happy with. Some people might have done that by a bit of swatching on 30 or 40 stitches. Not me, my process is:

*cast on 121 stitches

knit 16 rows

decide knitting is too loose

frog

repeat from * FOUR times dropping .25mm in needles size until you finally settle on 2.75 mm needles

When oh when oh when will I learn??????