Gypsy Sling!!!

Yes, she's complete!

Let's ignore the scuff marks at the bottom of the door and the touch up I need to do to the walls, OK?  THANKS!

My Gypsy Sling!

Cell phones nestled inside already and four (4!) pockets you can't see....this bag is the perfect size for me!

I used an outdoor fabric, Solaruim Outdoor Canvas-Merona Caribbean from Joann's Fabrics, which is the same fabric I'll use to sew the Weekender bag (at some point....I'm too tired right now).  The interior is canvas duck.  No, seriously.  I have about 10 yards of white canvas duck in the house that needed a use and this was it. I have a tendency to throw any and everything into my bags and I wanted something I could toss into the washing machine and not feel bad about it.  My last 2 bags are stained with chocolate, numerous water bottles, hot and cold tea, ink pens in various colors, a lip liner pencil, ink from papers that had bled next to the water bottles, and all the other various things that get stuck in the bottoms of women's purses (I just named the stuff I could identify).  Not to mention the numerous rips and tears in the delicate lining fabrics.  The white Sak crochet bag I bought 3 months ago looks like I've owned it for three years already.

So this bag, for me, was about beauty, elegance, and durability.  It had to look good, I had to look good carrying it, it had to be big enough (ie. Can I carry my laptop in this comfortably? Yes? Then it's big enough) to carry my everyday items. This is going to be the bag I schlep back and forth to NYC with.  This will be the bag I schlep around NYC with.

Making this was a labor of love.  I'm an occasional sewer; I can make what I want, when I want, as long as the pattern has great instructions.  Otherwise.....well, the results aren't always pretty because I don't sew enough.

So, what went into making this bag?

I read the pattern for weeks after receiving it.
I finally cut out the pattern pieces two weeks ago.
I spent 2 hours last night cutting out the exterior fabric, interfacing and lining.
I reread the instructions again.

I spent ~10 hours today sewing it.  No seriously, from about 10:30 AM to 8:30 PM I was sewing this bag.  What did I learn?

1. Take breaks.  Have lunch.  Eat dinner.  Walk away from it every so often.
2. Having a walking foot can save your life!  I've never used my walking foot before today and I can't imagine living without it now.  A walking foot is almost a must on this bag.
3. I don't think her instructions on making the fabric straps are correct.  If I had followed her directions, I would have had colossal straps (like 80" long per strap).  I took the first strap out, cut it in half, and sewed the ends together to get the correct length.
4. Amy must have a tiny phone, because there is so way I could fit my phone in her cell phone pocket.  I had planned to put 2 cell phone pockets in my bag anyway (I have a work and a personal cell, so it was a must), but looking at the finished size of her pockets, she must have assumed that everyone making the bag would be lining it in some super stretchy material.

The cell phone on the left (work) is on top of the pocket sewn by her instructions (using a 1/2" seam).  The pocket under the cell (personal) on the right is the same, but used a 1/4" seam.

The final result.  Each cell phone inside it's pocket....a perfect fit.  I didn't bother with the crease/pleat at the bottom either....too much bother.

I'm so excited and proud of what Ive accomplished.  I'm on vacation tomorrow, so I'm going to transfer all my normal purse stuff to this bag and carry it around town for a while. I'm also going to studiously avoid all the fabric and thread scraps on the floor (only what missed the trash) and the mess on my bed.  I need to enjoy this moment.

February Lady in September

When I initially started knitting my February Lady sweater, it was (cringes) November 1 last year.  I assumed that I would have it finished by Christmas (see what I mean by procrastination?).

I even planned (ha ha . . .planned...lol) to complete the jacket for the Ravellenic games!  I pulled it out of its basket, reviewed what needed to be done (everything) and added the appropriate tags of EventWIPS & TeamKPLovers.

I completed 2 pairs of socks for the Ravellenic Games.

Now, it's getting cool here in NYC and I could really use my February Lady Jacket.  To compensate, I did order some jackets from Land's End, but it's not the same as a nice, custom made jacket.

So, let's review what I currently have.

What's worse, I know I need to frog some, because I attempted to add short rows (to raise the back) and I didn't like how they looked.  So, I think the September 2012 game plan is to finish the Rubus Suberectus Socks, & finish Magrathea.  I think that's enough to be going on with.

Holiday Knitting? Already???

As much as I hate to acknowledge it, now is the time to start thinking about Holiday Knitting. Yeah, Christmas is only 3 months away, so in the true fashion of a procrastinator, I'll start planning now, ignore the plan, then knit like mad starting 3 days before Christmas.

And not finish.

So, once I finish 2 more pairs of socks, I will have officially completed the Sock Knitters "unofficial" 12 socks in '12 KAL". I signed up to knit 30 pairs of socks on May 28 and I'll probably reach my goal by mid-October 2012. 4 months to knit 30 socks (smh) . . . gotta stop sniffing the wool fumes. Anyway, I'm also thinking I'll cut back to two socks a month on the sock knitting to make room for the holiday knitting.

I'm looking forward to the possibility of a project that's just a bit bigger. I had a queue of 2012 projects that I've wanted to complete all year and I'm just now acknowledging that the majority of those projects will never see the needles, but some of them will. I'm determined.

I'm back in the groove

Yeah, I know.

Shocked, aren't you?

I'm actually blogging again.  I'm actually sitting down and putting my thoughts to....well, not paper, but on something.

Anyway, here's a status update:

New Crafty Interest

In the past six months, I've spent a considerable amount of time at home.  It was past due; I had not spent any appreciable time at my parent's home since I can't remember when last year.  So, I spent about 6 weeks at my parents in May and June before heading home for a while.  Then, I spent almost all of August in Georgia.

So why do I mention this?

Well, Mom doesn't knit.  She sews.  So when I run out of yarn and my fingers start itching for a project, I take a side-eye to her fabric stash.  During August, after finishing my two Ravellenic projects, I needed a project. I needed something to knit....but with only Michael's and Joann's at my disposal, sewing was looking good.  For the past few months, I'd spent a lot of time contemplating sewing again.  Mostly, this interest was sparked by necessity; I needed to recover 3 ottomans in my house.  Well, I've finished 2 ottomans; one was recovered in white duck cloth, with a blue and white navy stripe cording offsetting the ottoman and the ruffle at the bottom.  It took all of my rusty skills (thank you, internets!) to remember how to make a bias strip for the cording, how to insert a zipper, how to accurately cut the fabric (lol.....I still goofed quite a few times) and how to work my iron (no seriously.  I don't iron.).

Once I was done, I cast my eye toward a long-time, back-of-the-brain project that I've wanted to do:  An update on my knitting bag.

Project Bag from Coffee and Chocolate Swap

I received this from the Coffee and Chocolate swap 3 years ago and I've used it constantly ever since.  It has logged as many miles back and forth as I have.  However the longer I used it, the more I realized I needed to update it.

You see, when I travel I never check bags.  So when I step to security I have a 22" upright carry-on, a Swiss Guard Book bag, and my knitting bag.  After a while I realized that to make life easy, I could tuck my cell phone, keys, ID, credit cards and Plane tickets into that knitting bag and go right through security.  No digging through my book bag; no having to stuff my purse into my upright right at the ID check. After a while, TSA stopped checking the knitting bag.  But placing my ID, credit cards, keys, etc, inside the bag meant it got tangled quite often, especially if there were more than one project.  What I wanted was an outside pocket or two for those items.  So, that's what I did, I made one!

Ha!  Just what I needed.  And it matches my DPN Needle roll...

So, I've been bitten by the sewing bug yet again....Next up

:)  I can't wait.