It's muggy and drizzly today-- my favorite. I love when it rains on the weekends because I can stay home and putter without guilt. When it's sunny I feel obligated to go out and do something, even if I don't really want to. This might be the last wet weekend until Autumn, so it's extra special :-)

Still working on flowers for the craft fair. I'm really, really enjoying knitting them. They are addictive.

I made this envelope purse so I could practice decorating it with my new needle felting skills. I knit it with Lion Brand Wool and and then felted it in the bathroom sink. The strap is a felted I-cord.

The pitcher was made by Teresa Wik of T Pots Pottery . I was given several pieces of her pottery as gifts, and I adore her work.

The swirlies are needle felted sock yarn. The button is needle felted, too.

More swirly-whirlies on the back ...

I didn't write down the pattern for the purse, but here is what I remember-- I used size US 11 needles and knit it in one long strip, and then created the flap by doing a K2TOG at the beginning and end of each row. I seamed up the sides and attached the strap inside along the seams after felting.

The Lion Brand Wool felts up nice and thick.

It's my favorite kind of Sunday-- rainy. Outside, birds are twittering, and inside, I'm puttering around in my pajamas, chatting with the cats and indulging in my new obsession, needle felting. I'm so glad I took that class at Stitches! The instructor, Debbie Radtke, who designed these charming hedgehogs , made it fun and stress-free. She encouraged us to experiment and play with the needle felting, likening it to finger painting.

I pulled this felted PDA case out of my drawer last night and got to work. I made it a few years ago based on a pattern from Leigh Radford's Alterknits , but I felted it too much-- it turned out too thick and too tiny, which is why it was stuffed away in a drawer with my other knitting mishaps. But the needle felting has breathed new life into it.

Here it is before:

And here it is after:

The ceramic button is the work of Carol Milich. I adore her buttons! Here are a few more I bought at an antique store in Boulder Creek last summer.

I also worked on the Kureyon bag last night. First, I decided to line it. I bought some cotton fabric at Joann's , but I don't know how to sew, so I had to turn to my handy-dandy Girl's Best Book of Knitting, Sewing and Embroidery for guidance.

I'm glad you can't examine my stitches closely because they are rather awful. But I did manage to line the bag.

Then I attached a leather handle I bought at Stitches on Friday. These handles are kinda different-- the buttons really do go on the inside of the bag.

The bag has a million imperfections, but that's okay. It'll work as a shopping tote or a book bag. And at least I got to practice my sewing skills.

I made this bag last month and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. It's knit with Noro Kureyon and hand felted in my sink. I knit it in the round and attempted a three needle bind off, but forgot to turn it inside out, so now the seam is on the outside. It actually looks okay, though.

While the Kureyon is heavenly to knit with and looks awesome felted, it didn't felt up terribly thick. I need to either felt it again or line it. And then I was thinking of using these gorgeous Grayson E small rolled leather purse handles.

It's the perfect size for a laptop case, and also works well as a cat bed ... here are a couple pictures of the little black kitty settling in for a snooze on top of it.