Finished Friday

No knitting or crochet projects to show but I do have a number of sewing projects to show off. No surprise that they are all bags. This was going to be a photo heavy post but I was wondering what a button on the photo editing softwear did and it made collages. So here it is, a collage of all the bags I have made recently.



When I made this bag I commented that I was sure that I would make more. I found some shiny material that seemed ideal for a reversible bag by using the right and wrong side of the fabric. The original pattern calls for half-yard of each of two fabrics. I bought two yards. Not surprisingly I had loads of the fabric leftover so I made a reversible drawstring bag. This is different from the other drawstring bags I made as it has a square base and the drawstring is at the top. I purchased ribbon for the drawstring and a toggle.

In this post I showed off my pyramid bag and said I had made other bags. At the top right of the photo you can see the larger pyramid bag I made. I made a tab to cover the bottom of the zipper but after I cut the piece of fabric, I noticed if I folded it just so, I could get a complete cat. So it is bigger than a tab should be. Husband said he liked the tab as it helped with closing the zipper. The bigger bag has a handle made from the same fabric as the lining.

The bags on the bottom and middle right I made for my friend Clair's birthday. Check out her cool stitch markers at Purple Gecko Studio . I used the same fabric for each bag. I wanted the same colour zippers for each bag but they didn't do the colour in the smaller size so I was very pleased with myself that I sewed in a longer zipper and cut to size.

And then, of course, I had to make another bag for myself. I wanted a box bag for all my knitting notions to replace a bag I had stupidly decided I didn't need any more. It is the right size but probably would have been better with more interfacing.

I think that's all my recent sewing to show off. Although it won't be the last of making bags. I still have enough of the shiny material to make one, if not two, bags. And I have some fat quarters waiting.

WIPing Wednesday (no. 2 for March)

You might have noticed a small lack of updates this month. This is because I have been to Spain and decided not to try to update my blog while I was there.

I managed to add two Wips to the pile. I like to take a crochet project on the plane, with a plastic crochet hook so that there is not any question about knitting needles being allowed. I didn't have a crochet project on the go so I started one on the first flight using the yarn I bought as mentioned in my post at the end of February. The good thing about that is that I was working on a project that I really wanted to make; the bad thing is that it used four different colours of yarn every two rows. So I had to have four balls of yarn in my hand luggage. As this project is intended for Christmas it will go to the bottom of my WIPs.

Knitting needles and yarn went in my checked luggage and I did complete one sock and cast on for another while I was away. I used The Fiber Imp yarn shown in this blog post and am knitting a Cookie A pattern from Sock Innovation. This project will be near the top of my WIPs.

I have had to look at my last post to refresh my memory of my other project on the go as I have not got any finished projects to show you. The shawl is at the stage where I have to see if I have enough yarn to complete a row and cast off so there is likely to be more unpicking on that one but it is really close to being finished. I have no idea how many rows of the charity scarf I worked. I remember that the main thing was to get it cast on. I think that should be my main project so that I can finish it before the end of the month and be ready to start another project. The toy is still a yellow blob and I just need some time to finish that. It would be nice if I had something to show next week.

I did not cast on the tea cosy for March. I have chosen the yarn and it should be a quick knit. I would like to complete it in the intended month but I might make it in April instead.

WIPing Wednesday First One of March

The count for the past week is one item finished (the tea cosy shown yesterday) and two items cast on. I know it's not good to cast on more than I have finished but I do have an excuse. One of the cast on items is the car project. I finished the last car project in the middle of February and I decided it was about time to start a new one.

The other project I cast on was a scarf for charity. I have mentioned that the group on Ravelry for Operation Gratitude suggest patterns at the beginning of each month. This month was scarf patterns and I decided on the knit pattern - using yarn from stash of course. the pattern is knit lengthwise so there were 211 stitches to cast on. I decided to get the cast on over and done with so that I could work on the scarf whenever I wanted. it too longer to decide which cast on to use than to actually work it. Single crochet is worked all around the scarf so the look of the cast on didn't matter plus if it was a little loose the crochet would adjust for that but I didn't want anything too tight. The cable cast on was ruled out but I didn't want to work a long tail or any variation. With that number of stitches I was unlikely to get the right amount of yarn at the start and although I could work long tail with two ends of yarn this results in three ends having t be sewn in at the start, not a good idea for a scarf. I ended up with the knitted cast on and knit the first row. It did not come out really loose or with gaps between the stitches so we shall see how it looks once I get further into the pattern.

I frogged back the shawl as I said in last week's post and completed the third repeat of pattern D. I weighed the yarn and I should have enough to complete the border pattern E and the cast off.

Also I finished all the knitting for the toy which now needs to be stuffed and sewn up. Still no photos as it really is a yellow blob.

Looking at these WIPs, I'm not sure that I will have any completed items by next week. We shall see.

Tea Cosy Tuesday and Finished Friday

It is the first Tuesday of the month and time for another tea cosy. I've chosen my yarn - left overs in stash - but haven't decided when to cast on.

I finished February's on the 28th. So it qualifies for Tea Cosy Tuesday and Finished Friday. Although I thought I was going to run out of the purple yarn I made it all from left overs. The pattern had a flower on the top but we liked it with the top of the lid showing.



You can find the pattern here.

And I can show the baby cardigan that I finished a week ago.



I used two 50g balls of yarn and a small amount of another yarn in my stash, probably Sirdar Snuggly but it didn't have a label. I didn't have enough yarn to knit the sleeves to the length in the pattern but I wasn't worried about that as sleeves on baby garments are usually too long. The pattern is from a collection from Sirdar that I bought when my niece was a baby and she is now 15! I made her the sweater and hat shown on the front cover.



I now want to make another cardigan from the collection for the other baby but that will involve buying yarn. I thought I had plenty of baby yarn but I don't have enough to make a complete garment.

Sew Cute

I could have kept with the alliterations and titled this Sewing Sunday especially as I have a few bags to show but this little bag deserved a post of its own.

Through various links I found a pattern for a pyramid bag. I have wanted a pyramid shaped bag for a long time but haven't bought one as Esty is such a pain to search and want is entirely different from need.

Now I can make my own. I made the pattern as written but I have successfully upsized it to to a project bag. This is a perfect size for stitch markers but I am not intending to keep this one for myself. The best thing about this bag - cost. The fabric was left over from these bags, the ribbon was left over from the baby booties and I used a coupon when I purchased the zipper from Jo-Ann's.

I made this bag last Sunday and I followed it with a larger pyramid bag and a box bag and then yesterday as it was a rain day (like a snow day but warmer), I made another box bag and small pyramid bag. A separate post will include details of these together with a couple of bags I made at the end of January which I have not shown yet.

The photo was taken with my phone with the bag on my computer keyboard so you have some idea of size. (The zipper is 10 cm in length.)