November begins

Feeling every bit of this desolation sometimes.
(60mph from the backseat)

What a blip the months have become. We are now well into fall, the late year heat finally broke, but there still wasn’t much in the way of leaves changing, one day they were just gone. It’s below freezing now, and we’ve officially had the first November snowflakes.

Found a tub of forgotten linens tucked away in the artroom closet, my crooked little studio has a nice big storage cranny for stuffing things, I can’t remember what we went in there looking for, but this came out. Future sews. Gosh I just love old bed sheets.

It’s a tiny start of a Silky Petals Shawl and a minty Tombow MONO Graph shaker pencil. Not together for any reason other than I’m a crocheter who also loves study supplies.

(without pencil)

(Bob Ross Voice) You can make the shawl as big as you want. ☁️

I mean look at that giant cone. I can’t resist mill ends. Ever.

This is a 3ply cotton wool blend that’s a smidge lighter than fingering weight. I tried a few different yarns before settling on this, mostly because I forgot it existed, I keep my cone yarns in a different spot than my skein yarns and I’m always forgetting about them. Also, when working on patterns that need lots of yardage, I almost prefer fuffing with unruly cones instead of having a bunch of joins and ends to weave in, especially when the fibers aren’t very grabby making them difficult to hide.

More cute pens, that’s the stuff. ♡

From the left – Shinzi Katoh Xeno needle point pen
Mildliner x Sanrio
Pentel Orenz mechanical pencil
Pilot Fure Fure Me shaker pencil
Mildliner

Look at this magic. I 100% believe in wet blocking with tender aggression.

..then I went and rumpled it up for photos.

The way the rows build on each other to form the rounded petals, lacy but not lacy perfection.

It looks so good paired up with my sour dress. I made this self drafted sack dress years ago and it’s still a favorite. One of the best things someone ever said to me was “I love your dress, wait, OH MY GOD IT HAS POCKETS!”. Normally I couldn’t care less about compliments in general, but acknowledging my pockets, my huge perfect intentional pockets, that’s always appreciated. I’m so glad it’s cozy season. ♡

cut & sew

This is the day my life is going to change ..well probably not, but there is a pink light in the studio and it’s perfect.

I’ve had the Sandill Sling pattern for almost 2 years and I’m finally ready to get started on it, but before I can sew, I have to get through all of the cutting (my least favorite part) and I’m making Jason one first just in case I screw it up, so really I’ll be double cutting everything, gross.

Ok it wasn’t too bad, because the pattern has these handy printable tags that give the cutting dimensions for each pattern piece, it also lists out what needs to be cut of each of the materials and has check boxes so you can mark it off once complete, most importantly for me are the check boxes, I could’ve lost my mind.

Jason picked a dark brown canvas and vintage graphic floral for his bag. (P.S. The floral matches a face mask I made him and I love that he picked it again! Yep we are still masking and just got our updated boosters, because Covid is still very much a thing.)

Brown bag trial run success.

Finished size is roughly 11″ x 7″ x 3″

A few things: I made the adjustable sling strap out of the same brown canvas so it would match, there is a section in the pattern detailing exactly how to do this. I also added a few inches to the strap length, because I wasn’t sure if the sizing took into account all body sizes and I hate it when a bag rides high and looks like it doesn’t fit right or looks baby sized on my big body. This one’s good, the extra length wasn’t really needed, but I also don’t mind that the strap is not maxed out.

Officially starting my own sling.

Cream bags are it, I’ll take mine fruity on the inside. 🍊

I’m starting to not completely hate putting in zippers.

I only changed a couple of things the second time through, I opted to skip the top elastic on the inside pocket, and added a slotted lower pocket for my cute pens & pencils.

I also added a hang loop to the top.

Oh, and I only had 1″ cotton webbing and hardware so I trimmed the width of the shoulder connector down to fit, no problem.

I moved the D-ring strap holder from the bottom of the bag to the side, because it felt like a more comfortable placement to me, and I followed the pattern tip about making two of the strap holders, one for each side, so you can change it depending on if you want to wear it slung over your left or right shoulder.

One more peek at the inside.

Cream bag ready to be destroyed.

Some August

We’ve had some really perfect August days, windows open and not completely melting. I can’t remember why there are fans in every window here, maybe to pull in the cool air or reversed because we burnt popcorn? I do remember sitting here looking at this view and loving our house, weird shit everywhere, so many clocks all keeping slightly different time, chalkware, moss balls, robot heros, just out of frame is a 6 foot Jango Fett wearing nerf blasters, you know home stuff.

I was looking for something else when I ran across this deep stash linen cotton blend, ahhhh such a gorgeous oat color.

Ok I know, more hooks.. but these ones are metal (aluminum), they’re cold to the touch, weighty, and tink like (no disrespect) crappy wind chimes, I only bought 3, but now regret not getting more, they sold out in a snap so there’s that.

I don’t even care, it’s a thing I do, and I’ve been on a spree.

This was the yarn I was looking for, it’s Madelinetosh Pashmina in the color Norway Spruce for a Trasnú, the pattern is a summer cross back tube top, but mine will be a fall woolly cross back apron top to wear over long sleveed dresses, like the true layer cake I am (or wish to be).

Starts.

Just moving my pile from one sunny spot in the house to another.

My cute piece of porcelain popcorn is from the wonderfully quirky French ceramicist/artist monochromatiques, it’s a treat to have several of their beautiful porcelain pieces in my funny little collection.

I couldn’t get over how tied up these skeins were, granted there were no tangles, but damn.

Same bags, same progress, getting nowhere slowly. My favorite handmade bags, a Field Bag stuffed in a Wool and Wax Tote ..like they were made for each other, oh wait they literally were.

P.S I made my Field Bag prior to there being an “official” pattern, I based it off the one I already owned. If you’d like to make one, Grainline Studio x Fringe Supply Co. have released a sewing pattern and video tutorial for the original Field Bag.

Last year I tumbled out the back of the garage, then Jason built me some giant grandma steps so it would never happen again. ♡ Oh, and the lilies are blooming!

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