When I travel, I often take my trips as an opportunity to catch up on my reading. (It eliminates any hassle I might have going through security with my knitting needles.) Recently, I flew down to Florida for a couple of days of meetings. (Yeah, I know, Florida… life is rough.)

So, I grabbed a book that’s been sitting on my nightstand for a few months.

Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.

Two of my favorite things — knitting and reading! If you haven’t read this book yet, I recommend it. It’s a fun read! And, it’s the first in a series! Next on my reading list:

Knit Two, by Kate Jacobs — the sequel!

Natalie is giving knitters a creative way to provide much needed assistance to our Haitian neighbors!

Through the end of February, she’ll donate 50% of the proceeds from her 2 sock patterns — Bevel and Crosshatch — to Doctors Without Borders/MSF for aid for the recent earthquake in Haiti.

To purchase, click on the Ravelry links above or see the left sidebar of Natalie’s blog.

Admittedly, I was tempted to claim this as a 2009 finished object, but eventually decided to (rightfully) claim it as a 2010 FO — because even though the actual knitting part of the project had been completed last year, the odds and ends weren’t completed until…

TODAY!!!!

I give you… my felted doctor’s bag!!!! (Ravelry link)

I decided I wanted to line the bag, even though the pattern doesn’t call for it. I bought the fabric and was all prepared to tackle the lining myself… and then decided to ask someone who knew what they were doing to make the lining instead. Thankfully, Sandy agreed to help me out and made a fabulous lining using the fabric I’d found!

She even strategically placed three pockets inside — perfect for my cell phone, iPod, etc! I sewed the lining into the purse by hand (which means my stitches look very uneven … but I wasn’t sure I could easily use my sewing machine to do it … ok, and I was also a little too lazy to drag my sewing machine out of the closet). And, I also sewed on the handles and button.

I think this is definitely one of the cutest things I’ve ever knit. I’m so glad I did it, even if it did take me forever to finish!

Additional details available on my 2010 finished project page and on my Ravelry project page.

Ok, so I know this will be “old hat” for most knitters, but I don’t care. Let me revel in my pride!

I’m doing cabling and chart work for the first time, all thanks to the Koolhaas hat!

The other day we made a box of mac ‘n cheese for dinner (it was a comfort food kind of night!):

But something was amiss. Or missing. As in, the noodles looked tiny.

Granted, the noodles got bigger after we were done cooking them. But, is it me, or are these some teeny noodles?