in the bag

A few months ago I bought a few metres of heavy floral fabric at my favourite, now closed, thrift store. It smelled a bit musty but I loved it. It was only $5 to boot, how could I leave it there?



Whatever else was to become of it, I knew that I wanted to make a bag from this fabric. I had a design in mind, but as I'm a very novice sewer, I knew that constructing a bag without a pattern was not an option for me. So I looked and looked. I found a Simplicity pattern that I liked, that was mostly what I wanted, but it was discontinued. Then, one day, I found this pattern. I was in lust. It was perfect. Alas, it was too good to be true. It was nearly impossible to find in Canada and the thought of paying nearly $30 to have it sent from the US made me queasy. So, I put the fabric away and forgot about it for a while.

Fast forward a few months later. In the mean time I'd been on the lookout for a pattern every time I stepped foot in a craft store. Nothing was right. Then, at a closing out sale, I found a pattern. No exorbitant prices. No shipping. No waiting. And it was pretty damned close to the dream pattern -- if you forgot about the bow. Plus it was half price. Sold.

So, you'd think that after all that searching for the perfect pattern, I'd have made the bag immediately, right? Haha. The day I got the pattern, I was headed to the airport for my trip to Ottawa. By the time I got back, I'd sort of forgotten about the pattern. Recently, though, I've started to think about the fabric and the pattern again. I've come up with a million excuses to not make the bag.

Yesterday, in a fit of recently uncharacteristic productivity, I decided I must make the bag, and now. In full disclosure, I did cut the pieces for the bag a week or so ago. I haven't been so good with the follow through lately. At any rate, yesterday I took a notion that I really would like to have a new bag and I'm not in the position to buy one. Necessity is the mother of invention, or industry in this case.







Even though I'm positive that the sewing gods were try to send me multiple messages (broken needles, jammed thread, uneven tension), I persevered. Dammit, I wanted that bag. A lot of swearing and a few hours later, success.





I'm quite pleased that I could follow these directions and make relatively quick time on this project. Although, my zipper betrays me. It's a bit messy and I'm not altogether pleased with it, but not bad for my first attempt, I guess.



And my off to see a play pose:

top down

A few days ago, Lori Z of Crafty Brainwave wrote about finished and failed? objects. She talked about how a finished piece can be a learning tool.

When you start, you think it's going to be everything you want. The fabric, the pattern. (I even found the perfect colour buttons.)

But in the end, it's not quite what you expected. (And for whatever reason, this material is difficult to photograph -- it's a dark orange colour, not the strange red that these pics would suggest.)

Cute, no?

Pattern: Simplicity 4179.

Fabric: Cotton poly blend from thee shall not be named big box store (hey, it was cheap).

Thoughts: I like this pattern a lot. And the colour of the material is perfect. It would be my new favourite shirt except, um, it doesn't exactly fit. After careful measurements of myself and some tops of similar construction, I cut my size accordingly. About halfway through sewing, I began to suspect that the top might not fit. Maybe, I thought, when I sew the buttons on, something miraculous will happen and it will fit perfectly. So, yesterday I sat and sewed the buttons on (holy moly do I hate sewing buttons. Is there some secret?).

Buttons, done. I was still afraid to try it on again. As long as I didn't try it on there was still some hope that it would fit. But alas, the trying on confirmed my fears -- this lovely top is a bit... snug. All hope is not lost, however. I'm entertaining delusions that with a tank top underneath and only a few buttons done up, I'll still be able to wear it. Right?

I'm not exactly sure what went wrong here. Measured the darn thing multiple times and still managed to come out one size too small. I suspect that I didn't properly take into account the width of the facing. Next time I'll know better. I did learn that there's quite a difference between the finished garment measurements (how I determined what size to make) and the body measurements on the back of the pattern (which would have led me to make a top three sizes too big).

Lesson learned.

the long and winding scarf

in november of 2005, after seeing it on knitting blogs everywhere, i bought the yarn to make my so called scarf. it was the most expensive and luxurious yarn i had ever purchased (and still is, i guess). i cast on immediately, but a number of factors kept me from getting very far. big needles, christmas knitting, work, other projects, and a stitch pattern that just didn't like me.



i would dig the scarf out of my wip basket now and again and work two or three rows, but would soon put it back in the bottom of the basket, frustrated by my inability to work more than a few rows at a time. i had picked the colour because i loved it, but it didn't match my winter coat at the time.


about a month ago, in desperate need of a winter coat, i found a lovely olive green wool pea coat at my favourite local second hand store. while my pumpkin orange clapotis matched well enough, the not even half finished scarf would be perfect.



spurred on by the desire for a scarf to match my new coat and a need to just finish the damned thing already, i once again pulled the scarf from the bottom of the wip pile. every few days i would knit a few more rows. and then one day, something clicked. the stitch pattern (which i had loved the look of but hated to knit), my fingers, and my brain all at once worked in harmony. without noticing, the scarf was quickly working itself out.



then last thursday, in a marathon of television watching (the oc), i finished the thing. i almost couldn't believe it.



after all that time, i was worried i wouldn't love it anymore, but really, what's not to love? i like the thick and the thin. the first skein was noticeably brighter than the first (as is normal for kettle dyed yarns) but i chose not to stripe the two skeins together. on first glance, you can't really notice the difference anyway.



molly kindly agreed to model it (it matches her well, don't you think?).



(the yarn is the yummy manos del uruguay multi. i've misplaced the tag, but i think the colour might be autumn.)

at the risk of rushing things a bit, thank god it's almost march. (yay spring.)


now to tackle the rest of the mountain of knitting...