New Camera, New Yarn, New Projects...

Recently, Marissa made a Cute Little Felted Bag that I decided I had to have for myself. A trip to my favorite LYS was in order.

For my Cute Little Felted Bag I chose Cascade 220 in black and Crystal Palace Yarns Fizz Stardust in Rose Chiffon - a prety rose pink with flecks of gold. I was excited to make the first project that will actually be for ME and not as a gift... FINALLY, a little selfish knitting. This would also be my first felted item ever, a technique I've been looking forward to learning. The original pattern calls for knitted handles, but Marissas is lovely with lucite handles and a beautiful vintage style brooch. I'm not sure whether I'll go with the knitted handles, wood, or lucite (black lucite may work nicely...) but I do think I'll look around for a black and pink vintage style brooch or button regardless of what handles I decide to use.


However, my plans for selfish knitting have been derailed.
My friend D's birthday is coming up in in 25 days. This afternoon as I was giving her a ride home from work she was looking through my copy of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, she noticed the "Letter Have It" hand bag. It is still felted, so I would get to experiment with felting anyways.
I may make it for D for her birthday. However, it calls for dpns. I've never used dpns. They scare me. I don't know how well I'd be able to knit it. So far, I've only knitted scarves. I've crocheted hats and bags before, but have never knitted them. Does anyone have any suggestions for knitting with dpns?
So, should the dpns ultimately intimidate me to the point that I decide NOT to make this bag I have chosen an alternate project.
Also from Stitch n' Bitch Nation, it is the "Saucy Tote". D liked this bag as well, and although she does not knit she saw that it looked like it would be easier to make than the Letter Have It bag.
I'll have to see how ambitious I'm feeling, decide whether or not I'm up to the dpns or not. I think I'll most likely go for the Saucy Tote and save the "Letter Have It" bag for a less time crucial gift. But, I'll include a little something extra with the Saucy Tote. D went to LYS with me tonight when I chose the yarn for my Cute Little Felted Bag and while we were there she asked me if I would teach her how to knit. I figure that I will chose some good practice yarn and some nice needles, and fill the Saucy Tote with those, and possibly a copy of Stitch n' Bitch. Knitting and Crochet for Dummies has also been of great help to me, maybe I'll go with thta one. I don't know how well I'll be able to teach her to knit considering I just started knitting a little over 2 months ago myself, but I do know the basics of casting on, knit and purl. I think I should be able to show her how to do that well enough. Hopefully she doesnt ask me to show her anything too advanced.
On another project in the works:

My mothers shawl. Her birthday is still over a month away so I have plenty of time to finish it. I'm not following a pattern. just put together a combination of stitches I learned while making some scarves from the Candi Jensen Knit Scarves! book. LOVE that book. I'm thinking I'll call it the "Seawrap Shawl". If I like the finished product well enough, I may attempt to write the pattern out and post it here.
All photos are courtesy of my new digital camera - the Kodak EasyShare C340. It has a glorious 5.0 mega pixels. So far, I love it much much more than my previous camera, a Canon PowerShot A60 which only had 2.0 mega pixels.
My new camera is courtesy of my 15 hours of overtime last week.