Birthday Knitting

I promised a photo of Jessica's knit birthday presents so here they are. There are two boas which each measure about 33". As well as the little kisslock clutch purse. The scarves are 20 cast ons wit needle size 8, this was smaller than I'd heard recommended but it was what we had so we went with it. This fuzzy yarn is a tyrant to work with, and after the first 10 or so inches of the purple one I passed my off to my DH to finish. Of course this was after extracting a promise that he would finish both if I made a purse. Oddly, he found that to be funny.

Making a knit purse, why is that funny? Once again this was 20 cast ons, I increased to 25 total and knit till I was happy with the size, then I decreased back to 20, and knit about 10 more rows. The key to this yarn is loosely she goes. Knit the second size (I did one side in white and one in the purple... Then came the kisslock clasp. I hand sewed the two pieces together until I reached the of my decrease. Carefully I hand stitched the knitting into the anchor holes of the clasp. There are a whole bunch of them!

I wanted it to be lined so that the crazy fuzzies would only be on the outside and thereby not effect the clasp. I used a scrap of stretchy apparel fabric. The knitting has stretch so the lining fabric will accommodate more as needed also. I hand sewed the lining to the clasp. Sewing the lining second means none of the seams can be picked at messed with or pulled on, prolonging the overall life of the clutch, not to mention everything stays put while you work! Then I filled metal clasp on each side with a bit of hot glue. Be careful not to over do it on the glue or else you end up having to cut some away so it will close (as me how I know).

Last but not least my DH crocheted the shoulder strap using both yarns. He's really something else.