sheep in the city

I'd like my buttonhole on the rocks please!

As soon as we found out that my Aunt and Uncle and grandparents were all going to spend the weekend with us in Vail over Memorial Day, my mom wanted us girls to all knit a project together. Buttonhole bag to the rescue! This is a great project that is quick and easy for all different skill levels! The first step was choosing yarn. My grandma and sister and I went to our LYS and found some Brown Sheep Bulky (I of course didn't have to get any because I have a large stash of leftovers and a ton from my trip to Brown Sheep last year!). I brought my tub-o-brown sheep up to Vail just in case anyone wanted a different color...my mom proceeded to dump the whole thing on my sisters head, and that's what we were doing in this picture! Silly mom.

We all got started Saturday evening, and continued knitting throughout the day (it was beautiful weather!) outside on the back patio where we could see the golf course and the little mountain stream that flows through the yard. It was so relaxing. Here's my mom,contemplating color choices for the side of the bag. She chose an all pink color scheme (that's my kind of girl), but really took her time choosing the order that the colors would be in...I love the way her bag turned out! (shhh, don't tell, it's my favorite!)

Of course, Alice even managed to get in on the action. My sisters Chibi and measuring tape have become her constant companions while we were knitting. That girl is so cute!! She's standing in the buttonhole bag that I made a few months ago.

This is here for pure "awwwww" factor. She sat on my lap for probably 5 minutes with her hands on mine while I was knitting. She was concentrating so hard as I told her (in a sing songy voice of course) each step that I was doing. So even Alice knit a part of a buttonhole bag!

The fun thing about knitting this project all together was that everyone's bag turned out so different! Everyone chose pretty distinct and different colors, which makes all the difference in the way they turn out. We were knitting all day on Sunday and most of the day on Monday (with only one quick trip to the yarn shop!)...seriously, if the guys hadn't been playing golf, we could have had one of them take a picture of us all sitting around, talking, knitting, occasionally watching a movie, but knitting all the while. I had that line from Finding Nemo in my head that Dory keeps chanting..."just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, just keep swimming.", but I changed the line to "just keep knitting, knitting, knitting, just keep knitting." It became my mantra.
I made some modifications on my bag so that it would be larger, since I had already made the regular sized Buttonhole. So, I felt like I wasn't knitting as fast as the other girls (because I tend to make these things a competition!), and that my bag was taking forever to knit up...but I kept at it! I was done with mine in the wee hours on Tuesday morning. I woke up and came upstairs to tell my dad that my pointer finger on my right hand was hot and sore. To which he told me that was a sign of too much knitting! I of course think that there can never be too much knitting! The soreness was due to pushing the needle through with my finger, and having so many stitches on my needle that it got a little tight and I had to use my finger more than usual. I think it's like a badge of honor, my knitting wound, I'm building up tolerance...someday I'll have thicker skin and a little marathon knitting session won't even faze these fingers! Right before my aunt and uncle left, (RayLynn was already gone) we took a picture all together with our bags:)

Parting shot: All the bags, unfelted, on the rocks! Enjoy!

Who were these lovely bags knit by, you ask? Well, let me tell ya! (clockwise from the top left)
1-Whitney, my sister, who I'm so proud of! She finished this project in just a few days! Way to go Whit!
2-Me...my monster brown and pink buttonhole...it's like the buttonhole that ate Manhatten...it's huge! I love it!
3-Grandma Sue, she decided to add those couple rows of Limeade, and it really made her bag pop! I'm proud of her too...she sure was glad to get this bag done because my Grandpa thought all of us girls were crazy for knitting so much!
4-RayLynn, who made her pretty purple bag for her mom...and was the first one done! That's because she concentrates and doesn't talk as much as me:)!
5-My mom's Pretty in Pink bag...I love it!
6-and last, my Aunt Roxanne's brown and red bag.
Everyone's bag has such personality, what a fun time we had...and great memories! Thanks ladies!!

*the felting pictures are coming...in the days to come...they are in the washing machine as I type!*

Here are the modifications that I made:
I cast on 3 like the pattern says, but I increased the bottom to 11 or 13 stitches (should have written it down!) and then I lengthened the bottom. I ended up picking up 80 stitches around the edge, increasing until I had 100 stitches on each side, and then following the pattern for the rest of the bag. When I made my handles, I had 17 stitches on each side of the buttonhole and 12 in the handle. 46 stitches on each side...for a total of 92 stitches around the bag in the final few rows. Let me know if this doesn't make sense.