Crochet That Fits - Completed Sweater Bag

I finished the Sweater Bag from my new book, Crochet That Fits. I crocheted this bag with Elle Toy Story yarn, a local brand, using two strands at the same time throughout the pattern, in Magenta. Not sure why the colors never show up right in my pics. Maybe I need to take pictures in daylight. Another super-easy and fun bag to make! I made this bag on our weekend away in ONE evening!

Because I crochet so lose, lining is essential for my bags. This bag presented a problem to line as the top opening was very narrow. After trying several ideas, I had a brainwave. I turned the bag inside out, attached the lining by hand just below the narrower top and turned it back right side out again. Worked like a charm!

This is a nice, roomy bag. It came out quite big, but I love it! The handles are made from my new leather fabric called "a touch of leather". I am not sure how fabric can have a touch of leather and not be leather, but this is great fabric. Soft to the touch, easy to handle and almost like real leather. It sews so much easier too. I attached O-rings to the handles and handsewed it onto the inside of the bag.

Despite all my plans to do some sewing this weekend, I never did. Instead I started on a new crochet bag from another new book, Positively Crochet, from Mary Jane Hall again. This is the Patchwork Purse and I selected three colors I think look awesome together - brown, orange and turqoise blue. I am almost finished with the bag and will share soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend and a fabulous week ahead.

Crochet That Fits - Lining my felted Houndstooth-check purse

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a fantastic book with extremely easy, classy items to crochet inside. There are hats, scarves, belts, dresses, skirts, tops and my favorite, handbags, inside. I have made two bags from this book and last night worked like a crazy woman to finish the first - The Houndstooth-check felted bag.

Lining a felted bag is a bit easier than lining a plain crocheted or knitted bag. Mainly because the non-felted bag still has a lot of stretch in it, so you have to be careful to ensure the lining is big enough. I normally cut my fabric way bigger than the actual bag as you can see in this photo. I then start sewing the side only until I am happy with the fit. Then I sew the bottom and make a flat botton last. I leave a long extra piece at the top, which I fold over (on the inside) and then sew to the bag. With felted bags, sewing with the machine works well, but with plain crocheted or knitted bags, I find that machine sewing stretches the bag out of proportion and takes the elasticity away, so I handsew. Not my favorite, but it looks better.

Now I have finished sewing the fabric lining, complete with 4 pockets that I require to keep my necessities neat and handy in my purse. You will see above that I have already folded the long top piece of fabric back, but have not sewn the lining on yet. If you are putting a magnetic snap in the lining, this is the time to do it.

This picture gives you a better view of the lovely look of this crochet pattern. It is the best, and easiest, houndstooth pattern I have ever seen. Next comes the handles and magnetic snap. As you know, I make my own leather handles and I found these dark grey handles in my stash, all made up already. I have opted to attach the handles to the lining instead of sewing it onto the outside of the bag as per the pattern.

The lining and handles are all nicely sewn in now. I decided to make a firm bottom for the bag and quickly cut a piece of my plastic I use for this. I sewed a fabric cover for it and inserted it lose in the bag. I decided to put the magnetic snap in the flap as the pattern did, but had to search for an extra piece of felted yarn I could handsew the snap to. This is just extra re-inforcement because the felted yarn will eventually get damaged with frequent use.

I will upload this project to Ravelry today as well and will list the yarn details there if you are interested.

All done! I am already using my bag today! Love, love, love it! Can you believe that I often, like today with a new bag, chose what I will wear that day according to the bag I want to use? Is that crazy? Maybe you girls won't think so, but my non-crafty friends think I am!

Tonight I hope to finish the lining of the black and orange crocheted bag I showed you recently as well as make the leather handles and lining for the other project I made from this book, the Sweater Bag. Have a great day!

Crochet That Fits - projects and review

Not a very productive weekend, but I do have an excuse! (Apart from the FIFA soccer finals) I spent last Saturday in Pretoria with my sister, her kids, my cousin and my kids, a belated celebration of her birthday, on 4th of July. It was a fab day with lots of laughs and great food.

Then a cold front moved in this week and it is freezing! (I know, I know, not freezing like the snow in the Northern Hemisphere at all! But we are used to sunny, mild conditions here!) I have been looking for earmuffs for several years now and last week found a pair locally! Since my second annual visit to Chicago, I have developed problems with my ears in windy weather, so these are fantastic. I have been wearing them inside and outside for three days now!

I found the most fantastic book - Crochet That Fits by Mary Jane Hall. At first glance, I would never buy this book as it appears to be garment patterns. But inside are the most gorgeous patterns for scarves, gloves, bags, and yes, garments too. They all have one thing in common - extremely easy! I have already made TWO bags from this book! The first is the above pattern, the Houndstooth-check felted purse. Such a very simple pattern, yet stunning.

This was my first attempt at felting in my new washing machine. The first try was unsuccessful because I could not figure the machine settings out, but the second was right on the dot! And how lovely does this machine felt! The machine has a gentle spinning cycle and no more badly creased felted bags for me!

I will share more about the actual pattern and yarn I used when I post the finished, lined bag soon. I just love the lilac and grey together.

The second bag I made is the Sweater bag. I made the bag in magenta. Looks so classy. Another super easy pattern with a stunning result. I just need to add lining and handles to both bags and they are done!

I admit I am so bad at taking on bigger projects (like sweaters and coats), so I might just look at the gorgeous clothing patterns in this book, like the cap-sleeve top above. Another extremely easy pattern.

And isn't this sweater gorgeous? There are many more stunning, extremely easy patterns in this book. Worth buying!

I am also still busy with my T-shirt yarn bag. I ran out of yarn for a second time and need to cut more fabric before I can finish it. Last night I started on a yellow drawstring felted bag, this one knitted with circular needles using some of my precious stash from the USA. I am also very keen to make some fabric bags. Gina's reversible bag is on top of my list! See hers here http://gingini.web-log.nl/gingini/2010/07/11-juli.html. Then of course, I have a pile of stretch knit tops I want to make. Let's see what time permits. Hope you all have a great week!

Meet Jessie!

I have been very distracted lately. Many reasons for this - I can admit to reading a lot, following the Soccer World Cup games and being very busy at work, but here is another reason for my distraction. Meet our new baby (the closest I will come now to a new baby!) Jessie. Not the greatest picture, but I must have taken 20 pics before I got her to sit still long enough AND look at the camera!

Jessie is a pitt-bull terrier, our 5th one, and no, they are not aggressive dogs unless you treat them badly. When we got her a few weeks ago, she was really ill. She was tiny and did not pick up any weight, despite eating well. The Vet gave her lots of injections and medicine and in 4 days she grew double the size! Now she runs around the house chewing on everything and steals my balls of yarn! I see a long line down the hallway and find the yarn in the lounge, "hidden" under the couch.

This is my latest craze. Fabric yarn. I saw the most awesome tutorials on Ravelry and just had to try it myself. I have almost completed a bag with the orange and brown and will share when it is done. I did not have the heart to cut up any of my T-shirts so I used some of my clothing fabric. There is an awesome tutorial here: http://www.craftpassion.com/2009/05/recycle-tutorial-making-of-t-shirt-yarn.html. You use stretch knit fabric and I used a very large crochet hook, size 10mm or 12mm. it gives you a very thick, very strong bag. I am already planning my next bag!

I also made a lovely scarf last week in preparation for our short 3-day break into the country. I used Rowan Biggy Print yarn in 100% wool, using a size 20mm needles. A quick project and great fun.

I also crocheted 3 new bags during our few days away. The long cartrip was ideal to crochet. I will share these soon too. I just need to get going on finishes like lining and handles.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Knit jersey tops

My apologies for being absent for so long again! I have no excuse except that things have been so hectic at work and home the last few weeks. Not that it has slowed down a lot, but I missed my blog friends, so here I am! Creativity has also suffered greatly the last month. I seem to have plenty of WIP's, even more than before! And I keep starting new projects and not finishing them. Urgh. I think this is a sure sign that I am not feeling very creative at all.

I did finish this gorgeous orange and black bag above. Love, love, love it! Just wish I can now sew the lining so I can use it! I just adore this bag. It was a pain to change colours the whole time and I tried several methods, but ended up with the old fashioned method of cutting the yarn and starting with a new color. This left me with hours of finishing work, but well worth it. The little belt and buckle is so cute. I plan to make leather handles but I am debating a new way of using them. I will share the finished bag once I get to it!

I did make a few knit jersey tops in the last few weeks and am already wearing them. This top I made with lovely black and white knit fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby this year in Chicago. This is from a new pattern I bought online.

This top I made from a very easy pattern and it only has two pattern parts. Quick to make!

This is my first attempt at sewing ruffles to my tops. Real easy and such fun to make. I really like the end result. Apologies for the shiny photo!

I have had this fabric for quite a while and cannot understand why I have not used it before. It is a lovely quality knit fabric. I just love the colors! This is another top from my favorite Bernina Inspiration magazine pattern.

I am experimenting with combining colors in my tops and this is the first one I made. Love the bright orange and black together. Not sure if this is what I really wanted, but I have worn it a few times already.

Apart from these, I have a zillion new projects such as bags, scarfes, hats, tops, etc. that are halfway. Too embarrasing to share all of them! I hope to have some completed projects to share as soon as I can get myself inspired to finish something. Hope you all have a great week!

Parcel in the Post

My apologies for being absent so long. This flu is really nasty and took hold of me for two weeks straight! Things are hectic at work so no chance of even taking a day or so off, so I suppose that's why it took so long to shake it. I was cheered up no end when I received a parcel from my friend http://sewkalico.blogspot.com/ on the farm a few days ago!

Inside, the most delicious goodies! Some stunning wool yarn, a sewing magazine, a gorgeous crochet pattern for a bag, hat and scarf and two bag handles! I had to laugh when I saw the empty easter egg wrapper inside! Thank you so much Karol-Ann for all the lovely goodies! I cannot wait to use the yarn and handles.

I will be doing the rounds to see what all of my favorite blog friends have been up to the last two weeks and to say hello. In the next few days I will share the few projects I have been busy with lately. Not much, but I hope productivity will improve!

Zero productivity!

Productivity in my craft room has been zero the last ten days....

Unfortunately I picked up a horrible sinus-related flu two weekends ago and even if I wanted to, I could not even try to make anything. Between using tissues to wipe my nose every 2 seconds and then my runny eyes every 3 seconds, I did not have enough hands to sew or crochet! I am feeling a lot better this week and I am slowly getting back to creativity and productivity. I hope to share some new projects with you soon! Hope you are all having a great week so far.