ok, ok, ok

so, i reassessed the small blue bag last seen on my sweet friend's head.

i modified the corded closing so there are pull cords from either side of the bag, which makes opening and closing of the bag a bit easier. modifications were done in time for a ferry trip to the city for a meeting; i decided to do a test run with it. i filled the bag with my cute husband's socks, which are being knit on two circulars, a small pair of scissors along with some stitch markers. not only did it all fit, but the bag worked out really well!

the only thing was the bag got lost in my big tote. so i decided it needed a snap tab that would connect it to the tote handle. that way i could snap the tab around the handle of the my tote bag and always have my knitting available and easy to get to. which prompted me to put snap tabs on all of the bags i had made, so now they look like this:

as you can see, there is a big blue bag that matches my small blue bag. i found i had inadvertently cut out more material than i needed for the small blue bag. not wanting it to go to waste, i made a dark pink bag, only bigger and with cording modifications. instead of running the cord from the inside, i put contrast casing on the outside and thread the cord through it. the big blue bag is the perfect size to carry long single point needles without them peeking out the top, which is what i was wanting.

but the most exciting project made this week was these:
needle cases. the straight point case is just that. it was supposed to have two pockets on the inside, one on the bottom for knitting needles and one on the top for crochet hooks. it also was to have fusible batting. i left off both the fusible batting and the top pocket. if i make this again, i would shorten it by about 1.5-2inches.

the case i truly love is the circular needle case. it holds my circulars snugly, including my new size 7 natura's, and though i had a difficult time envisioning the way it was put together, it was rather easy to make. the material selection for the pattern was a little odd. it calls for 2 contrasting colors and a remnant. the remnant is for the front and back (dark blue); contrasting colors are for the inside. i found what i really needed was 3 contrasting colors. 1 for the outside, 1 for the inside and 1 for the pockets. luckily i sort of figured it out, but didn't really think through the pockets so had to use some muslin i had lying around. if i were to make the case again, i would choose material and colors differently. cases and bags are a butterick. if you would like the pattern numbers, let me know.

in knitting news, i once again goofed up the eggplant stole. i spent a couple of sessions trying to get it back into knitting shape instead of unknitting it. and i think i may be there. wish me luck!