Project Bags For My Knitting

When I am knitting a pair of socks, I like taking them with me when I leave the house. Taking two bags can be a pain and just throwing my project in my purse can turn into a tangled mess, so I decided I needed a small bag.

I have been searching the Internet the last few days looking for a small project bag. I wanted something just big enough to hold a skein of yarn and the sock that I am working on. The first bag I tried was the Grab Bag from Allpeoplequilt.com, it was fairly easy and quick.  I love how it turned out but it called for batting and even though I used thin batting, it is too bulky for what I wanted right now.

 Today when I was searching I came across the "Pouch Bag Tutorial" It was an easy to follow tutorial and it had a lot of great pictures. I finished it in about an hour. I cut my fabric 11 inches by 13 inches and used a 12 inch zipper. I love this bag, it fits nicely in my purse and it holds my skein of yarn and my sock in progress perfectly. 

I would like to make some more but I will have to buy some zippers first. I am going to try the grab bag again, but I am going to use a light to medium interfacing instead of batting and see how it turns out.

Coffee and knitting

Spending some quality time with one of my daughters this morning. She is supposedly doing homework ( surfing the Internet) and I am enjoying my coffee and starting a new pair of socks.

I am just using a plain sock pattern and some Paton's Kroy. I love the color of the yarn but it's a little splitty, it will be interesting to see how they hold up.

Being Creative.

I feel better when I am being creative, I feel like I enjoy life more too. I want to challenge myself to be creative everyday, it can be something small that is finished that day or part of bigger project. This week has been a sewing week so far.

Monday I worked on my mixer cover, Tuesday I made two Valentines pillows. One I started the embroidery last year and set it aside and the other I used the tutorial over here.  It's not perfect  but that's okay. I plan on making another one and this time I will know what I am doing and I will slow down and be more careful.

Today I decided to make a heart shaped pillow using red and pink strips ( mostly from my retro fabric stash).
When I feel better about myself and life, I am definitely more productive and that's a good thing! Here's to a more creative and productive life.

More Coffee Please

I either need to go back to bed or have more coffee! After letting my project (mixer cover) lay around untouched for a few weeks, I decided to get the quilting done on it. Imagine my surprise when I turned it over to check the quilting on the reverse side and realized I forgot to put the inside lining right side out UGHHHHHH! That is going to be a whole lot of stitching to pull out.

Chewy Granola Bars

I saw this recipe for Chewy Granola Bars on Pinterest and decided to try it out. I have been looking for recipes to try out that I can send to our son, who is deployed

My first go try didn't quite turn out how is was supposed to. I learned, if you are working on limited sleep and in a haze from a cold, you should probably pay closer attention to what you are reading. I saw 1/2 a stick of butter but read it as 1/2 a cup of butter( 1 stick ) so they ended of very buttery but still edible. I also didn't fully read that you were supposed to bring it to a boil and completely skipped that.
                             

My second batch I followed the direction, but added peanut butter to the butter, sugar and honey, before I boiled it. They turned out yummy and held together nicely. Next time though, I will add the peanut butter after I boil it, probably right before I add the granola and crispy rice cereal. My family loved both versions even though I made mistakes. They definitely agreed that I need to make more.

In both recipes I used the mini chocolate chips and the tiny marshmallows and they worked great. I think there are a lot of different combos that can be tried with this recipe and I am looking forward to experimenting with it.

Picking Up The Needles Again

I haven't touched my knitting needles in forever! Recently I have been itching to knit but didn't have any projects that seemed to interest me.

My daughter was looking at cowls and scarves while she was doing her back to school shopping and ended up asking me to knit her a cowl.

I now have a new knitting project and I am enjoying it.

I Miss Blogging

I really miss blogging, even though I have always been sporadic. I just haven't really been creative lately, I have thought about blogging about other things, but just haven't done it.

 Life has been crazy hectic lately and very emotional. Our youngest just finished Elementary school and is moving on to Middle school, our oldest daughter just graduated High School, and our second oldest is getting married next weekend! Wow, life goes by quickly and changes happen so fast. sometimes it seems like it is more than I can handle. I don't know why I am sharing this, I guess maybe I just needed to write it down.

I really hope I can find some creativity soon, I really miss it. Maybe just posting this will encourage me to do something!!

Have a Great Day!!!