SQ,
I am afraid this entry is about more socks. I know, you have yet to be hit by the sock knitting bug, but just wait.. someday you'll knit a sock and understand. and perhaps it will peak your interest to know that the socks in question are destined for your feet.

PS. don't read further if you want your socks to be a surprise.

I may have caught the sewing bug.

This is the start of Amy Butler's nappy bag, a cute bag with a fluid shape that can certainly work as a purse.

The fabric is from Purl patchwork. The green stripe is for the exterior and there is a swirly brocade-ish printed cotton in matching green for the interior. It seems like this is backwards, the showy print should go on the outside, right? but I like the idea of a preppy striped bag.

So far some fabric is cut out. It takes a while to cut out fabric! I am making a couple small changes - there is supposed to be a cell-phone pocket on the outside, but I am putting that on the inside instead. Also adding an interior cord for my keys (how else would I find them?) and a magnetic snap for the closure.

Sewing is like a whole new realm of possibilites. My real goal is the weekender bag, something like one of these lovely bags. Let's see how this one goes first...

I had such a great sockpal for sockapaloooza. She emailed me multiple times about my sock preferences. Then at the end, she sent a nice package along with the socks.. containing a letter, postcard, and tasty peanut candy from the midwest (no longer available for the photograph).

The socks are great! She knit them using a toe-up heel-flap method. They look similar to cuff-down socks, but aren't. I will have to try this at some point. They fit great and the yarn is super soft. Thanks Amanda!

I finished the nappy bag on Saturday, despite running out of the perfect shade of green thread and substituting with mint green thread from the craft store around the block. This ghetto craft store could deal with more inventory.. the shelves are half empty and their thread selection is dismal. Its only advantage was being located about 3 blocks from the half-finished nappy bag in my apartment. Gold and mint green were the closest matches, and neither was perfect. The craft store woman actually recommended gold, which totally didn't match. Luckily, the mint green was close enough.

Specs:
Pattern: Nappy Bag by Amy Butler
Fabric: Free Spirit fabric (D1346-431 and D1353-431) from Purl Patchwork

On the quest for print-matching perfection, I initially wanted identical interior pockets and sides. There wasn't quite enough interior fabric to make this happen, but I managed to match up each pocket to the lining by flipping the print on one side upside down. This fabric has a large print repeat, so it was tricky. and in the end, it really doesn't matter a great deal whether the interior matches. but if anyone is looking, it does match!

A couple modifications: I put the cell phone pocket on the interior.. check out that print-matching! I had to redo the cell phone pocket flap, and forgot to match up the print the second time, oops. For the key hook, I cut a 2" by 20" piece of fabric, followed the instructions for the drawstring, then sewed it in when stitching the sides of the lining. I also added a magnetic snap to the interior.

Sam's favorite part is the key hook.

I am happy with the finished product. I found the sewing very engaging, and Amy Butler's pattern is straightforward. The bag is very comfortable to wear too. It actually reminds me of those large canvas ESPRIT bags from the late 80s - remember??

What's next in my pursuit of sewing? Well, I'd like to make another nappy bag, in different colors, and maybe also modify the pattern to make it smaller and add details like piping around the handles and an interior zip pocket. There are a couple sewing books en route to my house at this moment... once I get my skills up to spec and sew a couple more things, its on to the weekender bag.

The white sock yarn sits in the box with the other sock yarns, haunting me. I recently unraveled its previous incarnation as a too-small sock. I didn't intend to work with it at all, just went into the sock yarn box to get the orange zest Sundara yarn. There it was, the white sock yarn, a veteran of three incomplete socks, threatening to be in the stash forever.

haha, but I know a pattern so well-suited to your kind, that even you, white sock yarn, resister of all patterns, will succomb. The Gentleman's Fancy Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. Stretchy, on size zero needles, and seen lately on your relative, the purple and black tweed jawoll. Even you, white jawoll sock yarn, will work in this pattern.

It just wouldn't be the white sock yarn if a pattern worked on the first try.

After getting about 3/4 of the way through the cuff of the Gentleman's Fancy Sock, I compared it to my perfect-fitting previous pair. Same yarn, same pattern, same needles. Really, it should be the same. But no. The white was perceptibly smaller, and has less give to it.

Perhaps there is a reason for all my white sock yarn problems: maybe I am knitting it too tightly. I have way more experience knitting with green yarn... maybe the knitted white yarn looks like its letting too much light through, so I knit tighter.

So here we have the too-tight cuff on the right, and the white sock yarn in its fifth effort at sockness on the left. same needles, same yarn, same pattern, just many more thoughts about knitting loooooser. The resulting fabric *is* looser so far. This just might work!

I am keeping the first cuff around for comparison purposes. This could be it, but if its not, well, this yarn might need a new home.