Stitch and Bitch meeting today

We were planning to have our second Stitch and Bitch meeting this afternoon at Casey's Place in Alleghany, and I was trying to get a few chores done first when Cheryl called to tell me that there was a sign on Casey's door saying "Closed for vacation". She graciously offered to host us all at her house, where we had a peaceful and productive afternoon. Charlene was crocheting a panel for her afghan, Cheryl and Claudia were both making the most beautiful hand-crafted Valentines ever (Claudia's were from hand-painted paper and Cheryl's were bright pink felts), and Claudia had brought her friend Stephanie, who was darning a sock! Actually, turns out several of us knew how... Stephanie also went on to knit on a deep green sweater and shared the cool catalog from Knitpicks.

Cheryl let me use her washer to felt my purses (two I made in October and one several years ago, but decided it would look better felted). I hadn't gotten around to this step because I don't have hot water plumbed in to our wash house and have used only cold water for years, something I may need to change soon, since I am so taken with the felting process. I am just delighted with how they turned out, and my son Jesse thought I should make and sell the little red model. I stuffed plastic shopping bags into them to keep them in shape while drying, and then need to brush off the excess lint and tidy them up.

I also re-worked the Hoover Blanket a bit at SnB, but now that I have the technique right, am not sure it is giving me the desired results and am thinking about designing a different baby blanket that I will like better, sigh.