Hi Ellen,
Hard to believe the weekend is already over. I did my best to spend it in “down time.” As I mentioned by e-mail, my FMS is flared up and I have been in energy preservation mode. Fortunately, knitting has a lot going for it when I’m feeling like this — it soothes my need to feel like I’m accomplishing something, it distracts me from the pain levels, it limbers up my hands and I can do it quietly in a warm chair listening to soothing music. So, I got a lot done.
The border of the wedding shawl is 75% complete, so I’d say that puts me easily at 95%. I did the rough math and the shawl will have approximately 45,000 stitches in it…easily add another 5,000 for the ones I’ve frogged. I’m feeling very accomplished that it will have been completed in roughly 3 months…of course it’s not yet done and the level of accomplishment will really be determined when I see the post-blocking results and the look on Marie’s face.
I took a break from the lace to knock out the last steps of a UFO that’s been sitting around since last summer. I made and felted the body of this handbag last June, but just never got to sewing on the handles or making and adding the embellishments. 
I’m calling it my Engelbreit Bag because the roses remind me of Mary Engelbreit’s artwork. Once again I am ruing that I did not keep pattern notes as I freestyled it. It’s been so long since I knitted it that I haven’t a clue regards stitch counts or number of rows, but I do remember the basic instruction set. Maybe I could write it up as a freestyle pattern letting users choose how long and deep they wanted it. It’s mostly out of bargain basement yarn I bought at a crafts store going out of business sale. I think I paid $0.50 for the Lion Brand Bolero “Very Berry” bulky wool multicolor yarn. The roses and the trim are both in Lion Brand basic wool — my preference for fun felting as it’s cheap and I get a pretty consistent felting rate out of it. It’s worsted weight. 
I doubled it for the trim to match the fabric weight of the bag, but the roses and leaves are single stranded. The pattern for the roses and leaves are adapted from Nicky Epstein’s, Knitting Never Felt Better.
I’m really very pleased with it. It will be a fun bag to carry when on casual outings…and I deliberately made it long enough for knitting needles!
I have a long week ahead of me…Time to head off to bed!
Happy Knitting Dreams! Love, Jan
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:06 am
First thing I thought of when I saw it - long enough for knitting needles. I think it deserves some sort of pithy instruction write up.
I am freaking out as we approach departure for our trip. Still have one night (fortunately the last one) for which we have to book a hotel, but that shouldn’t be too bad. What is starting to freak me out is how we will get from one place to another, when the subway doesn’t use English as much as would be helpful. Not that I have the right to expect them to use a foreign language, but I can wish for it!
Time to fed the animals and try to sleep.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I love that bag! What a gorgeous knitting bag (yup, I too noticed right away the perfect-for-needles length). I hope today is a better day
January 30th, 2008 at 1:36 am
I just had to add that Ellen, you made me laugh with your question about continental vs. English field methods
I agree, my general attitude is that so long as you get the job done, you’re doing it right, but I have many colleagues who would go to the mat for their form of field methods — the trick is to avoid letting them see me at work!