I Never Felt So Good!

The bag turned out so much better than I imagined it would. I actually finished the knitting a while ago - I've been faffing around over the straps. I made 2 i-cords which I intended to felt and twist together, and they just took ages (you know that magic sort of knitting where your fabric gets to a certain length and then just stops growing? However much you knit?)

Eventually they were done (yay) so I put everything into pillow cases and stuck them in the washing machine on a boil wash. I was a bit nervous about breaking the washing machine (I put plastic boxes filled with water in as well to "agitate", and the sound it all made was horrendous, grindy breaky expensive noises) but everything came out well - I was really surprised how much it shrunk by.

I blocked the bag body by filling it with paperback books, and just laid the straps out straight. It didn't take that long to dry, so I sewed the straps on the following day (deciding not to twist them as planned, they just looked good sewn on straight) - added some flowers, made a closure out of some plaited yarn which just hooks over one of the flowers. It looks really cool, much better than I thought.

And already I have more projects on the go. I ordered some yarn from the US to make Clapotis for my mother, so that's underway - the yarn isn't quite right so I get the impression I might have to do more pattern repeats than the pattern says, but I'm not worried at the moment. Also got a quick hat for my grandfather and a cricket sock for P (in his team's colours!) on the needles. I am putting a yarn ban on myself for this month - I want a new kitchen, which I can't afford thanks to the paltry payrise my company gave me, so all my savings are going towards that.

Mind you, I've promised myself that before....