Another Bag, More Socks and Mittens for the hubby

So as one can see from my sidebar I have a waiting list for bags. I wish I could make them faster and as I do each bag I do get a wee bit faster with them and then listen to feedback on what could or should be changed/added/deleted etc.

So here was the latest bag delivered this morning and the recipient was so happy she bought yarn to match her bag...which we all noticed also matched her current project bag, and yarn and her car!

Heathers Bag

I also realized about 30 min before my Monday Morning knitting group I really had nothing portable on needles so I had to remedy that! I have some beautiful Araucania hand painted sock yarn and no idea what it wanted to be. So I brought my cake along, in one of my sock bags of course, and cast on a toe while I was there. I am using size 1 (2.25mm) needles and generally like 64 stitches around on these needles, so figured I'd cast on and increase to 64 stitches before I came home to decide what the socks would be.

I decided on Express Lane socks (linked in the side bar) as it would give me a slight pattern to hold my interest while knitting, but, would be enough straight knitting to really showcase the beautiful yarn.

Express Lane Socks

I also had some Alpaca left over from the Hemlock Ring Afghan I made for the Olympics. I had to open a new hank of yarn to bind off the last 2inches of the afghan leaving me with about 108 yards of yarn to use on something.

My husband liked the feel and warmth of the yarn so I made him some fingerless/convertible mittens. I started with the Pele pattern but soon discovered that pattern just didn't work for my husbands hands (I'm not sure whose hands it would work for as they were about 4inches to short and 10inches too wide) So I used that pattern as inspiration but did a lot of modifications I noted on my Pele Project Page on ravelry.

Now they well fit like a glove and will keep his hands toasty warm and he has no excuse not to shovel this winter!

Hubby's Convertible Mittens

I also had started 3 times a pair of socks out of a beautiful Brooklyn Handspun yarn that Mardi gave me in exchange for her bag. I ended up settling on the Pablo Blue socks which I loved to knit, they were fun and interesting, however, a bit small for my foot using the pattern directions. This is alright though because they are a Christmas gift for my mother in law whose foot is about 1/2 a size smaller then mine so will fit her beautifully!

Pablo Blue Socks

So thats whats been getting done, craft wise, around here the last week. I have more bags cut out and more projects in mind. I do start my college semester oh in about 8hrs and expect with school, kids, homework and such things will slow down a bit on the craft front but not all that much! I find it very therapeutic to craft during school and such because it's kind of time for me away from a computer, kids, text books, TV's etc.

Just Sharing

So, as is life, time slips by and I neglect my blog. I could go through and do a different post of everything thats been going on but that would take a long long long long time, so, I'm cramming my FO's onto one post.


This is one of my few knock offs of the (IMO) overpriced Nolita knitting bag. It's compact to carry but offers TONS of room. I currently have 3 WIP's living in there together an made another one for my daughter and one for a swap




This was my daughters I finished off last week



and one for a swap with a friend in Australia (Jen who received the cable knit afghan as well)

While I'm showing off bags here's a few more:




In progress pictures of quilted serving bags I made my sil for her wedding shower back in April. The plates inside were part of the set I purchased for her then made the bags to hold them.

I also made her a Bridal survival kit which held some basic toiletries, threaded needles int he wedding colors, hem tape, glues, mints, dryer sheets, wet wipes, band aids TONS of things one may possibly need at a wedding but wouldn't think to bring. However, the morning i was making it I sliced off the top of my thumb with my rotary cutter. Painful yes but I pushed through the blinding pain and finished the bag, however, I didn't have time to take pictures. I have made another for a friend that looks similar in style with just different fabric.







This ones for a camp councilor so holds toiletries, first aid items, bug spray, sunscreen and the like. These bags are small though about 8x10inches give or take. They hold a lot in a little area and the recipients have always loved them. I need one for myself if I could stop making everyone else things.
















I know a lot right! Here's a HUGE bag I crocheted for aa crocheters swap. This bad boy is HUGE HUGE HUGE! I had 2 cones of cotton, 6 bulk skeins of yarn and 4 regular skeins of yarn in it to fill it to capacity (not pictured). I lined the whole thing with slots for scissors, 5 hooks and a nice zippered pocket to hold all of a crocheters needs and you could store a whole afghan in this thing.

Along with the bag I sent yarn, a Tunisian crochet book and hooks. The basket I made in sc and then did Tunisian crochet sample cloths to be used as face scrubbers. I made the row counting bracelet and matching stitch markers out of some beads and findings then decorated an altoid tin to hold them all in so they wouldn't get lost in that monster sized bag.





This I whipped up the other night for my foster sons 14th birthday. He moved in in garbage bags and has been borrowing a bag from my son for when he goes over night to friends houses. All he owns is his school book bag and that doesn't begin to fit his clothing. So a HUGE duffel bag was in order!

Let me just say the kid was beaming i made him something. He thinks its the coolest thing to have anyone hand make anything for you! He immediatly filled the bag up to see if it would work and was off later that night to a friends with his new bag. He loved it, didn't want to over pack it but found out he didn't have to. It's large enough to hold 2 days of clothes, shoes and his basketball.

So thats it for bags right now. I'm sure theres other photos in one of my web photo management sites but this is a long enough post now.

Happy looking I'm off to make a new bag now.

Day 3

For Day 3 I sent my partner 3 hand made bags. The first here was a vintage print material and this bag is HUGE let me tell you. I have made one for myself as well because I loves all the pockets. There are 6 pockets on the outside all the way around. Then, there are 5 pockets sewn inside and an insert in the bag that can be removed that has one large pocket for a small note book computer, magazines, books. Then that insert has 6 smaller pockets all the way around it as well.

Then the BIG bag in a small size lol.
My daughter fell in love with this, actually everyone that came over while I was making it fell in love with it, wanted to take it with them and couldn't believe I was making it for a swap. My partner loves it though and I think her expression was "Holy s&%^ I can't believe someone would actually make me this" paraphrasing of course.

The strap can either be 2 smaller straps to put over the shoulder or cam be made into one long strap to be worn across the body. It's a light sage green color in a wonderful cotton fabric.

There are 2 internal compartments lined. Instead of trying to show that while all together here is an image of it in the construction phase to show the vintage paisley print I chose for the interior.
Then I made her a small green bag (its green ultra suede) that has I believe 4 pockets on the exterior and a draw string. It's perfect for that smaller project like socks, which I know she loves to make.

I received...

A hand knit hat

matching mittens

and a matching scarf

Here it is all together with the piece of material it was wrapped in (and that I can use later for a project) It's so soft and the colors a pretty pink. It looks wonderful with my grey wool coat.

Mad about bags

This is a slightly image heavy post but I haven't had much time to work on my blog lately and had things waiting to be downloaded from the memory cards.
Ok for the end of the kids school year I decided to make bags for all the teachers. I searched all over and decided to make this one and that and then changed my mind on them all, of course LOL. I unfortunately fell and sprained my wrist the night I was finishing all the bags, because, I always leave finishing until last and then I was up until 3 am working on the and washing them all to get them to the school the next day and just didn't take pictures. But, I had made some for myself as well, you know practice pieces like trying the cake before feeding it to loved ones just incase! So here is some of what I had been working on.
This one is still unfinished because I have attempted a handle twice now and not liked the finished product. I originally wanted a knit i-cord in the grey cotton I used, but, I wasn't getting a thick enough i-cord using the needles I chose. I went up in needle size but then the i-cord itself didn't look good because the needles were too large. So I am still thinking this out.

This is one side of the bag that was designed by Angela ‘ARNie’ Grabowski .
She was experimenting with a tunisian illusion technique and created a pattern for a small clutch. I used the technique and the idea of a purse but changed the pattern to the size and shape I desired.
On this side when you look straight at the purse you see the grey and red intermixed (the camera picks up the detail of the stripes in the left hand picture but you don't see them in person like this) and then when you lay the item down and look at it from the angle in the right hand picture youget the effect of solid grey and red stripes.

This is the other side of the bag. Looking at it straight on you again see a mixture of grey and red but no noticeable stripes in person. The picture on the right shows that when viewed from an angle you see solid red stripes running vertically up the bag. It's really neat in person and people do a double take when they see it as they aren't sure if they really saw stripes or not.

Here is a Market bag made from 2 strands of #10 thread held together. I found the pattern here. I altered the bottom to be just mesh as I made a few for teachers I knew liked to go to the beach and thought this would be perfect for holding beach items and with a mesh base most of the sand would fall out before making it back to the car.

The pocket on the front is there so you can fold the bag up and it becomes self storing. I can't personally slip this in any of my purses (if you've seen any you'd know why) But, for those that carry luggage you could easily slip this in your purse and have a handy market bag for a farmers market or the store. I do actually use this now to go shopping and love this thread one for boxes of cereal, paper products and produce.

Now I love the thread bag but it took too long to make. I won't say how long because long for one is short for another and I don't want to prevent anyone from trying it, it really is worth it! But, I wanted a bag I could more so mass produce. So I took the pattern for the thread bag and altered it to make my own out of ww cotton. Instead of a beginning chain of 87 I did a beginning chain of 45 and went on from there following the pattern just making sure to keep to 45 stitches on a side.

I had just enough cotton left to make a granny square for the front. I don't fold the bag up and stick it in this square because the square is not big enough to hold it, but, it makes a great place to stick your car keys so when you walk out with all your bags you can press the unlock button or find the keys easy. I have been sticking my other market bags in this one and then stick coupons into the pocket as well so I recall to bring them to the store with me.

Now I had to try a recycled plastic bag bag as well and just had to take a picture of what the target bag states.
If you can't see this it states ways to recycle your target bag......they left of crochet a new bag though. I think we should email them.


Well to start we gathered all the plastic bags in the house. I mainly had bags that were white with a red logo, CVS, Target, my local grocery store. So the executive decision was made to do the bag using ONLY white and red bags. I had 120 to start. I cut the bottom open on each bag and then cut the handles off if need be (some had no handles and that was great! less waste!) Made my ball of "yarn" and got going with a size M hook. I just winged it chaining how many I wanted to achive the width I thought would be good.

after running out of bags twice and then finding more as we went to the stores, this is where I am at. I would like to add a few more rounds to the top if the bag to reinforce the handle more. At this point there are about 160 plastic bags in here to make this one bag that's about 18 x 15 inches. My daughter has now "borrowed" this because it goes so well with her duct tape wallet...