Finished Booga! Plus a scarf, old mags, and a harlot!

The booga bag, she is done! Felted yesterday and assembled today. The booga bag pattern can be found here, and was done in Noro Kureyon in color 147. I didn't do any major modifications, although I did an I-cord bind-off instead of a regular one.

And a close-up:

I pleased with the results. Even after two runs in the washer, the felting was not total. The garter stitch on the bottom in particular did not felt as much as the rest of the bag. I did feel it was felted enough though, and I actually like the somewhat visible stitches.

The booga bag is the first X-mas gift to be completed. The total number of people I want to make gifts for this year is 14: my mom, my dad, my brother, my brother's girlfriend (recipient of the booga bag), my best friend Mary Ann, my fiance Aaron, Aaron's mom, Aaron's dad, Aaron's sister Kaela, Kaela's husband, my grandmothers, and Aaron's grandmothers. Yipes. Last year I actually managed to make gifts for ALL these people except Aaron's grandmas --- and didn't really start till the end of October! To be fair, they were mostly small gifts. I'm hoping to make slightly larger gifts this year.

So, I'm going to start a gift-o-meter on the sidebar to show my progress! I'll either make my goal or die trying, gosh darnit!

Next, a find! On a trip to Half-Price Books, I found that the location I was at had a shelf full of vintage knitting patterns (my guess is that one person brought them in to sell at once). Most were old booklets by yarn companies, but I also found this:

Bonanza! Four old Vogue Knitting International magazines - ranging in period from 82/83 to 86/87! I have a thing for old knitting magazines and booklets - I would never make most of the things but I enjoy having them and looking through them. Actually the last magazine (87) has two patterns that I found very cute, so I may knit a few patterns from these! Also, some of them had some very interesting articles, such as one by Elizabeth Zimmerman on making phony seams on a circular knit sweater. Very cool!

Finally, work has started on the X-mas scarf for Aaron's sister: Midwest Moonlight from Scarf Style in Debbie Bliss Cathay.

This photo does not do it justice, sorry for my lack of photography skills. The pattern is great - it doesn't seem like the type to get boring, but is extremely easy to learn and memorize. The yarn is a dream - it is very soft and has a lustrous shine that doesn't show well in the photo. Also, despite being mainly cotton and silk, it is not at all hard on the hands are difficult to knit with. I love it, and would recommend this yarn to anyone!

By the way, this scarf was the project I brought with me today when I went to see...YARN HARLOT! It was great, but being the doof I am, I forgot to bring a camera so no pictures. However, I was in the very front row, in the middle (first there!) so you may see me in a picture on her site! I am wearing the sparkly red knitted top and wearing glasses. She was hilarious, and I got my copy of Knitting Rules signed afterwords. Love. Her.