More focus on circles...

I've finished the main part of my circular sweater and am working on the sleeves. I took it to my knit club this week to get some sage advice about sleeve placement and design. Actually, I was hoping they'd all say, "Forget about the sleeves and leave it as a shawl." No luck. Strict orders to go ahead and do the sleeves. I was able to close the center stitches by picking up each stitch onto a yarn end and gathering until the space closed up. Yea! At one time I thought I would need to cover up the center with some kind of flower or decoration. I was glad my friends liked it and thought the color combo was ok. I love how the wedges come out curvy with the short-rowing. They look so much more graceful than a radius that goes straight from the center to the edge. A bit of luck on this project, the lace repeats came out even. The knitting goddesses were with me on that one. Good thing I didn't plan it. ;-) And, my kitchener stitching the first wedge to the last went off without a hitch.

And, more on the circular front, I did manage to get another project completed and written up for sale! I'm proud of it because it is so unusual. Haven't seen any felted purses like it. A few people who have seen it in person were surprised it was made on a knitting machine because it is round, for one, and so 3 dimensional for another. I knit it on my Brother KX350 8mm midgauge machine, but actually any machine could be used. It doesn't take very long to knit and has lots of color possibilities. I would venture to say that no two are going to look alike. The finished size is 14" in diameter, but you could make it any size you wish. I used three different brands of yarn, but they were all the same weight. I don't think the purse would work if you used different weights of yarn, because they would potentially felt at different rates. The felted texture is so wonderful and the worsted weight makes the purse nice and sturdy.

I named it The Nautilus, because it reminds me of a cutaway of a nautilus shell.

I'm offering the machine knit pattern for sale for $7.00. Click the Pay Pal Buy Now button to take you to the payment site. I will email you the pattern as soon as I receive notification of payment.