Recycled Sweater Overnight Bag

Earlier this week, I saw a cute Bowling Bag style purse on Craftster (thread for that bag is here). I am not much of a purse person, but I do like making them. (Irony? What?)

I wanted to try this bag (there is a link to a tutorial on the Craftster thread) so I was thinking about fabric and interfacing and zippers and things all day Wednesday when I was at work. When I got home from work, I was looking at my fabric stash and trying to decide which fabric to use. I have a weird block when it comes to fabric. It seems so final to cut into fabric, unlike working with yarn which can fairly easily be undone and reworked.

Suddenly I had an idea. I have a pile of felted sweater pieces from when I made the blanket for my friend. (i just realized i don't have a picture of it! I'll have to get her to take one for me.) So, I pulled out the felted pieces and made this Wednesday evening.



It's just big enough for a decent sized knitting tote or for an overnight bag. It is much bigger than the bag in the tutorial, which I mostly used for inspiration rather than a pattern.



I even managed to (mostly) match up the stripes on the sides. The zipper was recycled from a sweater and the felted icord is leftover from a bag I made a long time ago. Apparently I got a little carried away with the icord at that time. It was fairly tough to sew, the felted pieces of this sweater were quite thick. I haven't lined it yet, I'm trying to decide what I want for pockets etc. So far though, I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Handspun socks

I thought I had posted in the morning, but apparently I didn't. not that you would have known the difference. why am i still talking writing typing?



My handspun socks are done! I love them. The color feels Spring-like to me.

The striping even almost matched up. The difference comes from a bit of inconsistency in my spinning. The sock on my left foot in the picture (top) was spun first and is a fairly even sock weight throughout. Apparently I was getting impatient with the second batch. The yarn for the second is a bit thicker throughout.

I should get working on dyeing the 2lbs of roving I ordered from Custom Woolen Mills. I'm open to color suggestions. Anyone?

I tend to get stuck in the same color choices time after time. I would love some suggestions. I started spending time flipping through Kuler for color palettes (have you seen Kuler? if not, go now. I'll wait.), but even there I tend to be drawn to the blue/green/grey/brown color combinations. I'm in a rut.

I'm off to Saskatchewan to see my Mom for Easter. Have a great (hopefully Spring-like*) weekend!

*well, Spring-like in the Northern Hemisphere. If you're in Australia you probably don't want Spring right now. or maybe you do. I don't know. I've never been to Australia. I'm still talking writing typing. I should stop now.