A couple of FOs

Hello internet... I've been a terrible blogger, I know. Suffice it to say that I've been busy and/or uninspired. Even now, I won't be writing about what I had planned, which was to talk about my crazy bathroom disaster, and to show off my pretty new magazine. Alas, these will have to wait until I'm at home, and not procrastinating at school where all my pretty pictures aren't. Instead, I'll write about a couple of finished objects (FOs)...

First off, an object of wonder and awe...



If you just said to yourself, "Holy shit! That bitch is crazy!" I totally don't blame you. Yes, this is a giant granny square with a gazillion rounds. I used up the rest of the fluffy white and green stuff and pretty much kept crocheting until I ran out. I ran out of green long before I ran out of white, but I like how that border looks.



It's a very cozy blanket, and surprisingly soft and light for something made out of acrylic (I think). Mostly, I'm just glad to be rid of those giant rolls!



The second recently-completed project is this adorable little tote bag, made from Estelle Young Touch, a sport-weight mercerised cotton. This yarn is very slippery and splits easily, and it was difficult to find a pattern that it would work with. Turns out the Elisa's Nest Tote fit the bill.



The only modification I made to this pattern was to do a row of double-crochet around the opening of the bag before putting the handles on. The cast-on and bind-off edges were definitely of different sizes (because I bound off too tightly, I think), and so I wanted to even it up a little. Here's a WIP shot:



My favourite part of the pattern was definitely those applied I-cord handles. Such a cool technique, and such a pretty finished product! I wasn't extremely happy with this project until I put those handles on. And the fact that I badly twisted one of the I-cords before sewing it up doesn't really bother me so much. However, if I were to make this again, I'd probably do a crocheted base and then knit in the round for the body of the bag. Seaming sucks.