Hold Your Ears While I Shout

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I finished the gift project - The Hot Water Bottle Cover. I have it posted on Ravelry.com under my name dteresasimmons. I decided that I would keep it for myself rather than give it as a gift, since I had a naked hot water bottle and I really like the colors of the chosen yarns. So this first gift project is a gift to me.

I improvised this pattern from one in a book by Chrissie Day. I chose to use a cast on and bind off that left no seams to finish. The Turkish cast on creates a finish like that in the toe of a sock. Knitting the cover on two circular needles allowed me to have seamless sides. Then I cast off by picking up a stitch and knitting it together with the first stitch originally on the needle. The bind off then left a smooth seamless edge. I am very pleased with the finished product. See for yourself what it looks like.

The finished edge from a Turkish cast-on.

The finished edge using a pick-up stitch and knit two together with a bind  off.

The I-cord drawstring through the eyelets.

The finished product covering the hot water bottle.

I am now ready to start the next gift project. I have gotten all my supplies together and will start it tonight after I finish the day. I will be meeting my friend, KaTie in 1/2-hour to go to the PGA golf tournament meeting here in Phoenix. We will spend the day watching the tee-offs and the hole-to-hole plays. I will be quite ready to sit down and relax after walking all day. This will be my first time to attend the conference, which is held here each year. Steve will be driving a limo all day transporting different ones to the event. KaTie and I will be driving ourselves and paying for the parking. At least we won't need to tip the driver or pay those expensive "let's rent a limo" costs.

Because my next gift projects will actually be given away as gifts, I will not be giving too much information about them. My sister, Rita [the one who guessed the mystery gift - the hot water bottle cover], is very sharp and would probably discover this secret, too. So, "mum is the word". I may choose to give clues to see if anyone can reveal the secret just to keep it fun. We will see.........