Practical sewing

It's nice when two hobbies collide. Because of starting with the crochet and knitting again, I have several projects on the go. And a rapidly increasing collection of knitting needles and crochet hooks.

All of which require project bags and storage. Hey, I can make those, thinks me (though okay, I caved and actually bought myself a knitting bag...a lovely Namaste Malibu in Peacock but mostly because I really liked it as a handbag...I have this handbag problem and one of my faves came to a cat induced unfortunate end recently).

So last weekend I did some experimenting. And then I realised that maybe the superknitting sil probably should be the first recipient given she's gives me good deals on wool and needles and is partly responsible for me taking this stuff up again. She likes dogs and retro prints, and now that Australia Post has delivered them I can reveal:

Knitting needle roll (all circular needle sized)





There's heaps of knitting needle roll tutorials on the web and I took ideas from a few of them to come up with this one. I'll probably tweak it a bit more when I make one for me.

And then a couple of project pouches. The rectangular one is also a mash up of some internet tutorials and a Lazy Girl designs pattern I had. I was aiming for a square so need to change the measurements a little. More tweaking when I do it for me. The pyramid purse is based on this free pattern by Nicole Mallalieu. I made mine bigger (from memory a 22 by 40cm rectangle) and the size came out about perfect for a small project like socks with one ball of wool and your circulars. Or a crochet project. After I make some for me, I'm going to try some drawstring project bags too. Small projects like this are great because you can do them in a couple of hours. When you spend a lot of time doing long projects like say, writing novels or making quilts, small fast projects are a good way to get that nice sense of "yay, done".

A new skill

So lately I've started to knit again but also I've been learning to crochet.

Mostly because I found this guy in a market and thought he was adorable and worth learning to crochet for.

He's from Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden which I promptly acquired. Since then I've been practicing and getting the hang of the whole hook thing. My mum didn't crochet neither did either of my grandmothers so I never learned growing up.

So far I haven't made a creepy amigurumi yet but I did make this little dude the other day.



He's Roman Sock's elephant pattern (I think her ami's are some of the cutest round the web). I used Patons Zhivago which is slightly fluffy and learned a lesson about the difficulty of seeing stitches clearly when working in slighly shiny slightly fluffy yarn. Which means he's a slightly wonky heffalump but he's still pretty cute. I'm still getting the hang of working in the round and doing spirals (much counting of stitches) but I'll get there. I've also been practicing granny squares and increases and decreases as homework from my crochet class. I think a wampyr buddy for my Adelaide Drac is next on the list now that I've acquired some non shiny non fuzzy black and white yarn.

Inevitably the returning to yarn-y crafts means I've discovered Ravelry (I'm bookgal71 if anyone's on Rav). Seriously, when it comes to crafty things, the internet is a fabulous invention. Tips, advice, techniques, videos (I'm a surprisingly visual learner when it comes to knitting and crochet. For some reason I really need to see things for them to click. Some weird hand/eye link), more free patterns than you can poke a stick at and general goodness to keep me inspired and help me try stuff out.

Hopefully this blog will track some of my adventures along the way.