Wanted: project bags

Before I say anything else, let me quickly explain that I'm not going to steal beg for ask you to share your precious collection of project bags.  I'll make them myself, my soon-to-be-recycled fabric drawer is overflowing anyway.  I just badly need a few, and the urgency chimes well with the idea of a wanted poster.  I'd make one such poster if I could draw but really, stick figures are the peak of my artistic ability in non-fibre media, so the dramatic post title will have to do. 

You see, I used to be a faithful knitter.  I would take one and only one project onto my table, and then I would plod away at it until it was finished, even if the very sight of the same yarn for (e.g.) three weeks running made me sick.  Among other things, it meant that projects got finished - if only because I so badly wanted to work on something else, or get my hands on some new yarn or whatever.  Something about the neatness of such strategy worked for me, and when I say 'neatness' I mean this metaphorically and, well, literally.

Just look at this mess.  Here I am in the new house, trying to keep it as nice as possible, and suddenly I find myself with three projects going and yarn/fabric/thread/notions EVERYWHERE.  Skeins keep falling on the floor, rolling happily in my dog's hair (which, I am convinced, hides somewhere whenever it sees the broom and resurfaces happily after the danger's passed), and there's no free chairs anymore because, well, yarn sits there. 

A long time ago, I started a lace shawl for my Other Sister.  I'll be frank - I was sick of it almost instantaneously.  The pattern is simple but so. damn. boring.  I have this much...

...and I'm adding a few rows now and again but on the whole the project is not exactly speeding by. 

No wonder then that when a friend commissioned a crocheted beach tunic, I jumped with joy and forgot all about the blasted lace.  I'm improvising the pattern, working in the general direction of a picture I was shown but I was given a free rein so the piece is definitely going to be unique.  I do hope it's also going to be wearable...  but that's another story. 

The tunic is worked in two pieces and today - oh, glory! - I finished the first one.  

As you can probably guess from my tone, by now I'm slightly fed up with project no.2 as well.  Hey, it's a big one.  And there's a mountain of new sock yarn in my stash, singing siren songs to me. 

For now I'm resisting and socks will wait.  However, another project jumped the queue and changed status from 'I'll deal with it one beautiful day' to 'need to finish soon'.  You see, about a year ago I designed and knit a dress (I will show it to you one day, I promise).  I had some yarn left over, so I added matching boot cuffs.  Yarn still there, so I crocheted a tote bag to finally use it all up.  The bag turned out rather nice, but it needed lining and I'd rather knit than sew so I packed it up and forgot about its existence. 

Last week I had my sister here for a few days and she sewed some 80% of the lining for me (thank you!!!).  I'm a few hours away from the bag being done, dusted and usable.  It would be a sin not to finish it now.  So there you go, project no. 3.

With all this, various tools and pieces are slowly taking over my living space.  Project bags, guys, I badly need project bags!  But - and this is a huge but - sewing project bags would mean starting even more projects and this is simply too much mayhem for me. 

Deep breath in.  Finish what you have.  Sew project bags.  THEN go to socks and the myriad other projects that float through my mind.  Become a faithful knitter again.

That's the plan.  We'll see how it goes. 

Colour Fiesta cross stitched bag

Another project from long ago, this time cross stitched.  Knitting and crocheting are my preferred fibre crafts, but once in a while I get the irresistible need to grab a proper sewing needle.

Stitching up a bag like this takes eternity.  The embroidered part clocks (precisely!) 24,336 cross stitches, so, as you can probably imagine, three or four months of intensive sewing passed by before the project was completed.  I'm not complaining, not at all.  I seem to have a natural knack for large, time-consuming creations.  I don't find them tedious at all, especially if - as in this case - pattern and colour changes frequently. 

I'm not much of a visual artist, but I can handle geometry.  Each square is composed of very simple shapes, symmetry and colour do all the work when it comes to final effect. 

A few of my favourite squares, close up:

Finishing projects off is my Achilles' heel and it shows.  From a distance is doesn't look THAT bad, but when you look up close, the imperfections are obvious.  I got better since then, fortunately :)

Back of the bag is made from upcycled upholstery fabric (an old swatch book from a furniture shop can be priceless if you know what to do with it).  Front and back are joined on three sides by handle strap - length of thick felt wrapped in lining fabric.  Lining and satin ribbon on the opening edges to neaten them up complete the job. 

Snags or not, I'm quite happy with my little bag.  Such a festival of colour simply cannot fail to lift one's mood. 

PATTERN:

I copied one little square from a schematic found somewhere online, otherwise the design is entirely my own. 

I will be happy to make it available if anyone's interested, but mapping out a diagram this size involves a bit of work and I will do it only if I know that someone wants it. 

If you would like to purchase the schematic for this project for a small fee, please let me know in the comments or email me and I will write it up for you.