Finished Projects Parade: Part 1

As you know, I made quite a few Christmas presents this year but didn't have time to blog about most of them once they were finished. The final few weeks before Christmas were like a race to the finish line. I am happy to say that I managed to finish all the knitted, sewn and crafted gifts in time. Well, I finished the last knitted one on December 26th but as I was planning to mail it after the holidays anyway I consider that on time.

Anyway, I am finally getting around to blogging about the finished gifts. Although I should be writing thank you notes for all the wonderful goodies the boys and I received, today I will be blogging instead.

The first gift I finished was this knitted Hello Kitty purse for my niece L. She's 3 and fell in love with Hello Kitty after her mom bought her some Hello Kitty underwear--funny, but true. I decided I wanted to knit her a purse with Hello Kitty on it, but couldn't find a pattern so I made one up. I used the chart from a dishcloth found here and the general purse construction of the cabled purse from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (Raveled here). I had some difficulties with intarsia in the round, but eventually found some help online and the purse turned out okay. My colorwork is not great, but the purse itself turned out pretty nice. The construction of the purse itself was very easy. I knitted a lining and picked up stitches for the handle. I ended up picking up additional stitches and doing a second handle because the first one felt too flimsy when I filled the bag full of Hello Kitty goodies (most from the dollar bins at Target--I love the dollar bins at Target.)

I love the knitted lining. So simple yet it really adds a lot to the purse--and especially important for hiding the ugly back of my colorwork.

Hello Kitty Purse
Pattern: My own
Chart: from Knit Diva's Hello Kitty Dishcloth pattern
Purse design inspiration: Cabled Purse from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Pink Heather (Lion Wool-Ease, 1 1/2 skeins)
All other colors are various worsted weights (Wool or Wool/Acrylic blend) from my stash
Needles: Size 7 16" circular and size 7 doublepoint needles (for the handle)

I cast on 90 stitches (45 for the front and 45 for the back). I knit 5 rounds with pink and then started the chart. I just centered Hello Kitty on the front 45 stitches. It ended up that there were 8 stitches before the chart began and 5 stitches after the chart (before the 45 stitches for the back). I did intarsia in the round which isn't really in the round at all. Here are some links to explanations of this method if you want to try it (here and here).

To do the simple knitted lining, you knit the purse until it is the size you want (I knitted 5 plain rows after I finished Hello Kitty), then you purl a row for your turn row. During the turn row, you put your stitches for the handle on holders. I did 4 stitches on either side for my handles--so there were 82 stitches (41 for the front and 41 for the back) left to be knit in the round for the lining. Then you just knit in the round until the lining is long enough to fill the inside of the purse. You then turn it inside out and do a 3 needle bindoff. Then seam the bottom of the outside of the purse. Then all that is left is to rejoin your yarn to the stitches being held for one end of the handle and knit the handle (I did 4 stitch i-cord). Once the handle is a good length, you graft it to the stitches being held on the other end of the purse. As I mentioned, I then picked up four additional stitches and knit a second handle.

Anyway, my niece really liked her purse and all her Hello Kitty goodies. Just wish I had gotten a picture of her with it. Oh well. More finished objects to come soon!