Notion Pouches

As I've been using my own personal project bags, like I sell on Etsy, I have been wanting something to put my extra knitting needles and notions in. I have a cosmetic bag that I began using but I keep opening it to see what is inside. You see I have no short term memory so I keep forgetting what I put in there. Out of sight out of mind. It's why I drop things in my hand if I don't keep playing with them. This brain can be a real pain. These two needs, a notion pouch and a peek a boo side led to the creation of these notion pouches.

 

So I headed to the fabric store with an idea and bought zippers and vinyl. 

 

Further complicating things was I wanted to create something that didn't have seams that my knitting needles would catch in.

With these ideals and a basic idea I began my pouch first by sewing on a zipper to the vinyl. I ripped that out and added fabric before the vinyl. Sew rip, sew rip, that was all I did for two days during the time I had to work on the project. 

In frustration I turned to the Internet but nothing was like what I had in mind. The tricky part being the seams which left me full of frustration. This owl pouch was eventually tossed, minus the zipper which I saved and used on another pouch. 

I used 7 inch and 9 inch zippers trying out different sized vinyl pieces and ...

different heights, too tall, too short and finally just right. emerged. Now I have all sizes of pouches with nothing really wrong with them except they weren't just right like the blue one. That means I'll have four pouches at an inexpensive price of $5.00 and the blue one which will be the standard will go for $10.00.  Give me until tomorrow and I'll have them up on Etsy. 

Project Bags

 Yeah, a day for The Calico Bush shop. Not many of those have been available lately. My goal is for that to dramatically change so stop by the shop. I'm putting up items as fast as my fingers can fly across the keys. I've at least four more project bags to post in the next couple days alone. That's not mentioning the buttons and livestock bags I need to get up. 

And new items are still being made. Today, I'm going to attempt to creating a notion bag with a see through front and a zipper. Something I've been in need of myself. 

And Dawn, I can't get that double knitting out of my mind. I'm watching U-tube video late at night to see how it's done and figuring what Scandinavian pattern to try converting to a double knit pattern so I can create a warm winter hat.  Sorry, squirrel moment there. My mind wondered. Probably because last night was one of those nights I was watching double knit u-tubes.

The bulk of the day was taken up with grand kids and chores. Cute as they are, I did text my daughter toward the end of the day and said. "I'm done, she's yours." Our youngest, who is seven months old, acts like a premadonna some days and is a demanding handful. She wanted fed upteen times yesterday. The other three kids, aren't bad at all to watch but they do come in a package of four. Sometimes I get to sneak one or two out by themselves. Boy is that a treat.

Today is a luxury I'm going to fully enjoy. Have you noticed that the project bags you are seeing in this blog, which by the way I just put up in my shop this morning, have a theme? It's funny but when I go shopping, which fabrics stores are far and few between around here, (but JoAnn's is coming 40 miles away. I can hardly wait yeah!!!) (woops, another squirrel moment there.) I invariably always come out of the store with fabric in the same theme or basic color. I can't figure out why. One of the mysteries of the fabric world.

 

One time it was all fabrics with a brown theme, another time is was all blues. This time it ended up being pine cones. I could really go bonkers over natural theme fabrics. Don't see a great many of them though. That tells me something. Maybe we are a narrower audience.

 

Luckily, I'm a bit eclectic. I can appreciate and enjoy a large variety of artistry. It doesn't mean I want to take it all home. So in selection of fabrics for project bags, I try and carry a broad style of fabrics with a bit of class. One thing I don't carry is cutesy. Others are doing it and it is not my thing anyway so I stay away from those fabrics. What I'm trying to say is, if you don't see what you like, check back. Project bags are dependent on the stores selections and your style my just be what I happen to find on my shopping trips.

Lately, I have been in heaven sewing. One night I couldn't stop until three in the morning. I LOVE pine cones and the fabric just kept calling to me, "Don't quit now. See how pretty I'm turning out?" Think I'm crazy? Well, I'm here to inform you I lost it years ago and I'm having so much fun I'm not going to every be sane again.

Oh yeah, and by the way, this fabric comes in a large and a small  bag size.

Reversible Knitting

It's all your fault Dawn. You mentioned reversible knitting and I couldn't help but wonder. You had to know that would happen. My overly curious brain fires off questions about everything. So what did I do, look of course. But first the ladies room was calling so I took some reading material with me, a KNITS magazine that had gotten wet in the laundry room. I thought this was a good moment to glance through it and rip out the pages I wanted and toss the rest.

 Low and behold, there was an article about reversible knitting. It had to be a sign. But disappointment followed when I learned that there was just a lot of talk and no pattern. Talk is cheap and does nothing to still my cravings. What I need is a pattern. Particularly to this hat. It is WA>>>>Y cool. 

And so in my feverish state I left the thrown room and went toodling off around on the Internet looking for reversible knits, double knits and any other words I could think of that might describe the method. I came up with a few scarf patterns that didn't interest me and one beautiful Norwegian type sweater without a pattern but nothing like this awesome hat.

I'm begging you. Where is the patterns? I'll buy a book if it has lots of great designs. No, I'm not an afghan kind of gal. I prefer quilts or this one would trip my trigger but alas I didn't find a pattern for it either.

 I want Scandinavian sweaters and cool hats done in reversible knits. Does this book exist? If so, help. My brain is on overdrive thinking how wonderful thick warm hats done in this method would be against our biting winter winds.