Intarsia front to back

Intarsia (*for non-knitter blitters, is color work that is not carried across the work but picked up when you get to that motif) is a love it or hate it thing. And I find that this varies some. When I first started the Ravenna Satchels 60 rows of intarsia (and had to frog it in the early life) it was a hate relationship. Because it had been way too long since I'd done much color, I think it just took me some time to get into the groove. Or something. Now I am 30 rows in------ groovin' away, yet having let it sit for a few days while I try to get on track at the studio------ and finding that I have gone through a love phase. Now looking at it...........

sitting there in all of it's glory----- I think I love/hate it. I can't wait for this gorgeous Satchel to be done----- I think I'm past the process of being a process knitter. I just want it done, I want to move on to felting it. Felting will, please please, turn the relatively okay piece of large stitch big knitting into a tight and pretty ready to assemble satchel. Felting in my non agitator washing machine is a huge challenge and I am not wild about it so this next phase will be kind of scary. There is another reason I just want it DONE----

Yikes and double yikes. That lovely mess above is the back of the Ravenna Satchel. Normally I wind yarns on bobbins but I gave Marti's method a go. She suggests that you cut long strands of yarn and just let them hang from the back, pulling them free as you knit and purl along. I like the method just fine, and you really can pull things out of a terrible tangle. The problem (for me anyway) is that when you finish with a color you should probably be a good little knitter and weave those tails in and clean it up as you go. I have clearly not subscribed to this line of reason. Instead, I figure when I (finally) reach the end, I will start and the bottom and weave as I go up, one nasty little bit at a time.

It has gotten cold here, although it is 'milding' up as we speak and should be nice enough for the next week or so. My right hand is back to its old trick of getting wicked cold on me and I'm wishing for a pair of fingerless gloves so I can warm up the hands and still be able to keep working. We'll see how that goes, as ever there is just not enough time in the day.

No knitting bride from last weekend because she was............. focused. Yeah, that's it, focused. I now wish that I had gone ahead and taken the shot, you know, made her work for it! :) This Saturday's bride is a delight so I think it is game on.