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More finger weaving

My kid is on a roll and has been falling asleep every night with yarn attached to her fingers! See my earlier post here for a link to finger weaving (or finger knitting) instructions. This is a great activity for fidgety 8-year-olds.

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Fall Handbag

Though fall isn’t quite here yet, the crisp air around here inspired me to get out the wool. I made this handbag from the Tiered Bag pattern in 1, 2, 3 Sew. As you may know, I can never follow a pattern — apparently not even my own, so I made some modifications.

If you don’t sew, you will be totally bored by this paragraph, so just skip on down to the next one. I made the folds, but basted them in place inside the seam allowance and just let the bag have a more slouchy look. I also added a middle panel and curved bottom, rather than the squared bottom that I made for the bag in the book. I was fresh out of magnetic snaps, so I’ve left the opening in the lining to add one later. Knowing me, I will walk around with it like this until spring comes. I’m undecided about whether I will topstitch around the opening after I add the snap. I did a zig-zag on the inside, so it should be plenty secure and though I recommend it for the bag in the book, I sometimes feel a topstitch spoils things.

The wool was sent to me by Heavens to Betsy and I used a vintage Vera Neumann sheet for the lining (along with some fusible fleece to make it nice and sturdy). I also added a strip of vintage lace down the center of the back and front.

This is a speedy bag to make and can be modified in all sorts of different ways. If you have the book, I’d love to see how you made it.

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For the love of pink

My six-year-old loves hot pink. Wears it everyday. I don’t really understand children’s obsession with color favorites. When an adult visits a classroom, the teacher may ask the kids “Do you have any questions for our guest today?” and whether the guest is a visiting parent or Barack Obama, one child in the class will inevitably ask “What’s your favorite color?” This will be followed by oohs and ahhs if the color matches their own favorite, making a kindred color connection. And I’ve tried to stomp out the gender distinctions between colors around here, but it seems pretty well ingrained in our society. I think it’s best not to over-analyze it, so I just make my daughter pink stuff all the time. I’ll miss these days when she becomes a goth kid in high school.

Anyway, I made this dress from Burda 9702, but of course made some modifications. It’s a super simple pattern and a good dress for a beginner to make. And I made this scarf from this awesome yarn that my daughter picked out from Purl Soho when we were in NY. The yarn actually has sparkly trims and crocheted flowers in it. Yarn like this is good for me, since I can’t really do any fancy knitting.