Grandma's a tough old bird

I'm back in Granbury to see my Grandmother, and she's weakening, but still here amoung the living. J took M to GOAM's daughter's third birthday party today (Thanks, J). I hate missing it, but I feel that I need to try spend what little time I have left with my grandmother. If I learned anything from when my grandfather was in the hospital, it's dead is dead. I won't be able to see her anymore after she dies.

Anyway, on to knitting!

I finished all four of the bags for the teachers! Yay! I was not there for the presentation of the bags to the teachers, J was. According to J, they were the hit of the day. The mom's were looking at them and saying which purse they would want and in what color. One of the teachers has requested a purse with longer handles. I'll take the one I made for her and send it to my Secret Pal. I plan on making a few for the school auction. Hopefully they'll be well received.

I started another blog: http://iknitanoni.blogspot.com. The idea is for others to post their finished bags, too. I just love how these bags knit up.

Debbie Stoller of Stitch n Bitch fame has sent out the call for submissions for her new book. Specifically she wants stuff geared towards beads, cables, and lace. I have an idea to try to design a mermaid skirt with a bikini top. Initially, I thought about adapting the pattern that I saw on the Knitty site for the Pomatomus socks as another person adapted that pattern for fingerless gloves. She calls them Mermaid gloves and they look awesome.

But I feel that stitch is a little above my skill level. Then I came across the Noni Fish Scale purse. It's a hidden gem that I totally overlooked as it's on the b-side of one the purse patterns:

Do the skirt with in a green stockinette stitch with green paillettes and a couple of layers of ruffles on the bottom for the "flippers". Then the top could be a bikini with star fish or shells - beaded instead of made with the paillettes.

On the needles right now: The Brioche Bodice from this month's Interweave Knits. I have really enjoyed wearing shells with shirts and I think this would look great in the Knit Picks Shine Worsted Green Apple. It took me a bit to wrap my head around knitting the stitch - mainly because the instructions didn't say yarn over but yarn to the front. A quick goole search yeilded a good look at what the Brioche stitch is - and it's really very easy. I had to go down on my needle size - which is a first for me. I usually hit gage when I go up two sizes. I actually had to go down a size to meet gage on this one.