Woman meets machine

LOOK!

I made that.  All by myself.  No need to rip and start again.  First time.  With a sewing machine and everything.  Me.  Yes indeed.  I'm so clever I could skip.

Okay, now that that shameless bragging is out of the way, let me tell you.  I went to my sewing class yesterday all excited.  I got there 20 minutes early and hung around outside nervously waiting to be let in.  Everyone arrived and we all settled down while the teacher went over everything she'd already explained about machines last week.  (The woman has the patience of a kindergarten teacher.)  She gave us scraps to practice on first.  I would show you this practice piece if my sampler looked like the woman's next to me, with neat rows of all the machine's stitches as she went through the settings one by one.  My sampler looked different to that.  A bit challenged really.  Random bits of stitching all over the place.  Still, I got there somehow without injuring myself or breaking the machine.  And then at some point the teacher told us to take out our fabric that we'd cut last week and start to sew the bottoms of the fabric for the inner pockets together.  So that's what we did.  After that, it went by in a bit of a blur with only the odd hiccup.  (Note to self: never sew with the foot raised.)  And by the end of class I had this:

I could tell you the million and one things that are wrong with it and what I might try to do differently next time.  But mostly I want to come round to your house with it so that you can see it for yourself and  ooh and aah and tell me your stories about how you learnt to sew and what a lovely bag this is going to be.  Oh yes, and how clever I am...

Of course, this is only the inner lining of the bag.  The apple print fabric will be on the outside with the dotty fabric making an outside pocket.  But when I open the bag and look inside, this is what I'll see:

The dotty lining with two apple pockets.  Sweet, no?

Last class next week where we make the outer bag and the strap and put it all together.   So expect more shameless bragging then.

C.x

Not quite slack Alice

You might be forgiven for thinking that this blog has lost its way somewhat in the last few weeks, and should really come clean with its intention to tell you little about my attempts at crafting and lots about my gallivanting and my capacity to drink coffee and shop.   But I have been a little less idle than that.  Really.

Remember this?

Well, now I have made these!

Nine whole squares!  Okay, so they probably wouldn't withstand too close an inspection from the crochet police, but I think they're pretty good.  A king size blanket is out of the question - I would have to give up work, or eating. or sleeping, or pretty much anything else and just crochet until I was 489 and still not finish it.  But I have a throw that I measured these against, and by my estimation I would need over 200 to reach that size.  Still very daunting.  But we'll see.  For now, I'm just going to concentrate on making a square when the mood takes me.  And if all I end up with is a cushion cover, then so be it.

I also felt spurred on by my knitting fit...

 ...to try my hand at something with two needles.  And I have made this:

Yes indeed.  It will be completely obvious what this is.  But just in case...

Still none the wiser?  Well. its supposed to be a coffee cosy.  The trouble is, I'm not sure I have any cups the right shape.  Here it is on a glass...

Yes, well...  I can claim no credit for the pattern.  I found it in a book that I'd bought for a friend, and came across the pattern as I was flicking through it.  It really is a lovely book.

Even if, perhaps, knitting is not its forte.  Or mine, come to that...

I got the lovely shiny buttons in a really fab shop that I need to blog about another time.  But now, we are getting on with it in the house of noknittedknickers.  We are washing...

... and determined to find some Spring on this grey, grey day...

There's a definite air of back to school.  Work tomorrow.

A lovely holiday, now over.

Hope you have a good week.

C.x