Catch Up Post

Although this post is a bit photo intensive, I haven't been able to do much knitting or crocheting the past couple of weeks. For 3 weeks straight I put in a lot of overtime at work, and when I say a lot I mean 15-20 hours average per week. There wasn't much time to anything except work, eat, and try to catch a couple hours of sleep before starting it all over again. I put in so much overtime, I was able to take this past week (Mon-Wed) off work and won't notice any decrease in my next paycheck.

Before all that started, I finished up the bellydance hip scarf I was crocheting. It was a big hit at practice.



I also finished the crocheting portion of a bellydance halter. Beaded fringe will be added when I have enough time to string beads. I'm also going to make some kind of beaded tie to pull the front pieces together a bit. Even if I had something to hang out of this halter, I'm not so sure I'd want THAT much of it hanging out lol.






If I can find enough of the yarn, I'm thinking about making a skirt and gauntlets to match the halter.

I also finished the Swirly Girl socks! I love these so much. The yarn is so soft and yummy and the pattern was great fun to knit.



This past week I received 2 swap packages!

First was the holiday purse swap. My partner was great! She sent me tons of goodies and a great purse pattern.



The gigantic chocolate covered pretzels didn't last very long.



Aren't these stitch markers beautiful? I'm just about to the point where I can use them in my pattern.



Emily sent me the Sipalu bag kit from Knit Picks! I've been eyeing this pattern for quite awhile and I can't believe I actually received 17 balls of yarn in this swap! The colors are gorgeous and I couldn't resist casting on already.



Just finished the side panel and am about to start working on the front portion.



I bought myself the same pattern and yarn (in different colors) that I sent to Emily, and made this felted bag this week. I had these handles in my craftroom and think they will work great once the bag is dried and I've put the finishing embellishments on it.






The second swap package I received was from the Toy swap. My partner sent me 2 great toys. Isn't the bear adorable?



Also in the package was some knitting needles, a craft magazine from Australia, some fabric with turtles on it, 2 balls of really soft and silky yarn, and some sweets.



Now excuse me while I go kill some stuff ... there's a new mod out for Diablo :o)