Itty bitty bag

I spent last night in the sewing zone and I have to say that I am reasonably pleased with myself. The printer cartridge had arrived so I printed out the pattern for a dress I've had my eye on for a while and then set about trimming and sticking the whole 30 pages together. I got further than I thought I would before throwing the scissors down and declaring that I couldn't take any more. I'll put in another 10 minutes tonight and it should be done. I'm not planning on making the dress just yet but I want to lay the pieces on the fabric so I know how much I am going to use and then I can get those bits washed and I'll have an idea of what is left over. Genius, huh? After cutting and sticking fatigue set in I went and got on with the bag I started yesterday. I very nearly finished it but I had a total nightmare with the closing flap. I was being all clever and doing it differently than in the how to but every step of the way it went wrong! At the moment it is actually in the right place, as opposed to stuck between the bag and the lining where it started, but the intended button hole went really wrong so I am going to sew the button on the flap and just stick some Velcro on the other side. Not quite as refined as I had planned but it will do the job. After that I need to think about handles. I hadn't actually given any thought to this before hand, the bags in the how to don't have handles because they are quite small, mine is a bit bigger but I wasn't sure if it was going to be big enough to need them. Turns out it could really benefit from some handles so they are going to have to go on as a bit of an afterthought. I have an idea in my head of what to do, but after the disasters on the closing flap I think I'll keep it to myself in case it is really stupid. Miniature disasters aside I really like my little bag, the instructions were really easy to follow and I'm quite proud of myself actually. Now to decide what to sew next!

What I did on my holidays!

I went back to work today after my week off, so it seems like the perfect time to have a little look back and see what I actually achieved. Please bear in mind that this is really just a way of making me feel better about spending most of the week sitting on my behind watching telly!

As I may have already mentioned we spent Monday pottering around garden centres and then planted our spoils in the garden whilst imagining the tasty treats we will be harvesting from the veg patch in the coming months. Clearly we are being a little optimistic as I don't think we managed to grow a single thing worth eating last year, however I think we are better prepared this time around. Chris has planted a whole host of things including squashes, pumpkins and spring onions and is most anxiously awaiting the arrival of fruit on his strawberry plants. I, on the other hand, have thought small and am daily checking for sprouting in what I hope will be my big pot of herbs. So far only the basil has made a tiny green appearance, but I planted that about a week before the others.

I made a fleeting mention of the sock I have been knitting in my last post, but was too excited by my sewing machine to elaborate. Here it is…

I've been thinking about knitting Monkeys for a while and kept putting it off because I had convinced myself there was a problem which meant I couldn't do it. Looking at the pattern I couldn't work out what on earth this 'thing' could be and merrily cast on. I am just about to start the foot and have been enjoying knitting them, particularly as the pattern just seems to fly off the needles. I think I'm gonna like them.

I am still awaiting the printer cartridge I need to print off the sewing patterns I wanna make , but I found this great how-to on the Burda style website yesterday and set about turning a couple of fat quarters I bought months ago into a little bag. As of last night I had produced a rectangle with squared off corners, I had hoped to get further but one hold up was trying to decide which fabric was going to be on the outside as I like them both equally. The main hold up, however, was Pootle, my little feline 'helper'. First he sat on the fabric, then he made merry with the measuring tape which I was trying to measure, then he kept trying to catch the scissors as I was cutting (that was not good for my nerves) and finally went off to sit on the ironing board so I could finally get on unhampered. I'm going to try and get the bag finished tonight and I'll make sure the door of the sewing room is firmly closed to cats!

Last but not least for my week of I have finally achieved running! I have put off going out for a run now for ages because I hate running, but this weekend we had lovely weather so off I went. It turns out that all the swimming and exercise videos have done me the power of good and I can run for much longer than I could last year without dying on my feet. I actually enjoyed my run on Saturday so much that I went out again yesterday and ran for 20 minutes without stopping. I hurt like hell today but I'm feeling quite smug so it's all good. I have also only got 1lb more to lose before I have lost an entire stone and I fit into the pair of jeans I had chosen as my first 'weight loss benchmark'. Woohoo! Looks like I had a fairly productive week off after all.

At last.

I've had the whole week off work this week, which has been great. We've been to the seaside and bought sea food, we've hit the garden centre and then planted loads of veg and herbs, I've got a bit of exercise done and I have just turned the heel on a sock (finally jumped on the monkey bandwagon, loving it so far). However I've been buggered if I can really enjoy it because I have spent the whole week longing to get on with my sewing. I was all prepared and ordered one last week believing it would be delivered the next day. No such luck. First it was out of stock, due in 2-3 days, then 4-5 days later they let me know they were never going to have it and did I want a different one? I told them 'heck no' and placed an order with my second choice company. Less than 24 hours later it arrived. Yay! Here she is.I'm just setting up my sewing space, but I've had a little go and I love it. It's nice and quiet and has a great compartment in the top where everything gets hidden away
I've even managed to get my head around the buttonhole attachment. The instructions with my old machine were woeful so I never worked it out, but these instructions must be way better cos, well a picture tells a thousand words!Plus Chris can (sort of) work it!
Now all I need is to get ink for the printer so I can print out all the patterns I need. Does it never end!

Normal service is resumed…

…well sorta. I did some knitting yesterday! Admittedly not very much, but all the same. A little while ago I dug out this (first pic) project, it had been in hibernation for ages because I was a bit bored of all the stockinette in 4 ply but I found it again when I was looking for another mindless project to take over from the plain socks I finished a while back. I did a few centimetres but then realised I couldn't find the pattern and had no idea if I had overshot where the shaping need to go, so it was off to the land of nod again. Luckily I found the pattern yesterday, inevitably while I was looking for something else, which remains lost, but nonetheless, it is found and I have achieved knitting! It is with some guilt, though, that I have to confess that the entire time I was doing it I was thinking about sewing. Does this make me an unfaithful knitter? I received Weekend Sewing on Saturday and it is such a beautiful I can't help but plan what to make. There are also several (and no, Chris, for the hundredth time several does not mean the same as seven. Oy) free patterns on Burda Style which I'm itching to try. Unfortunately I can't get on with any of that stuff until I have a functioning sewing machine, so for the time being I will just have to think about sewing while I knit. No matter how dirty that makes me feel.

Oh no – not another stash!

Still no knitting done – what is wrong with me? However, on the crafting front I have purchased a whole load of new sewing books and I can't wait to get back behind the sewing machine. This is slightly unfortunate at my machine is very ill, but I have been promising myself a new one as soon as I have lost a whole stone. The good news is that I am nearly there, just another 5lb or so to go (sound easy when I put it like that eh!). Realistically I think I'll just get it after payday. The reason for waiting was twofold, firstly it was going to act as a reward for getting off my rapidly expanding bum and secondly because I couldn't really see the point of making clothes when I fully intend not to fit in them for long. However, one of the books I purchased, Making Vintage Bags, arrived yesterday and as they aren't size dependant I can't wait to get cracking. Some of the patterns are just lovely and I can see everyone getting handmade bags for Christmas and birthdays this year. Also arrives yesterday was Make Your Own Clothes. I've had a quick look through it and nothing is really jumping out at me, but there are a few useful basic patterns there. The PatternMaker software that comes with it looks pretty useful though, particularly as you can input your own measurements before printing the pattern. I am now expecting one more book to arrive, but more on that one once I've got my hands on it.

More importantly, this week saw the arrival of my new cross trainer – yay! Chris and I built it together with very little fuss (now that must be a sign of a successful relationship) and now my very own torture device is set up in front of the telly in the spare room. I have been on it every day since we built it and I have never sweated so much in my life! It does seem to be getting a bit every day though so hopefully I will be more than ready to take on my 5k charity run by May. I completed the run in around 35 mins last year and I would love to do it quicker this year. Not that it matters, I'll get sponsored whatever, but it'd be nice. The clocks go forward next week I think so I'll be able to actually get outside after work and try some proper running. Maybe, I'll even be able to find a way to enjoy it this year!

Why can't I knit!!!!

No need to panic I haven't got a terrible injury stopping me from knitting - although it came close, more on that later - it's just that I have totally lost my mojo. I'm definitely going to have to start a new project because my current WIPs are just not inspiring me. I think this is the longest I have gone without knitting for years and it is making me feel quite weird! However I have been fairly busy elsewhere so I have been distracted. I have been keeping up with my exercise, and have now dropped half a stone - yay me. Our lodger finally decided to move out so we now have the spare room back. This is great because my new cross trainer arrived today. Check back tomorrow to see if we put it together correctly! Hopefully the rest of that stone will be history fairly soon too. Maybe I can knit and cross train together - hmm, worth a try.

Chris had his birthday party last Saturday. It seemed to be a success, the last people left at 4:15am so I think they were enjoying themselves! Chris went missing for about an hour and we eventually found him snoozing in the garage. He has no explanation for this, other than that he was tired. I blame the Guinness. Guitar Hero World Tour saw lots of action, which was cool until I woke up in the wee small hours with what seems to have been some sort of guitar playing RSI. Luckily it only lasted a few hours so my future knitting prospects are safe. I did feel like a bit of a loser though, surely only huge nerds play video games long enough to cripple themselves?!

Right, well I'm off to peruse my knitting queue and see if I can find something to get my mojo back.

Happy Birthday Chris!

No-one believes you are going to be 29 – again! He he, today Mr. Hannah Celebrates his 33^rd birthday. I don't think he has had a very exciting day, he is still out of work so he is at home all day and I have been at work but I got him 2 DVDs and an X-Box game so I think he has been celebrating by watching Lara Croft's bottom all day! He had a birthday tea with his family on Sunday, which was nice and he is having a big party on Saturday night so I'm not feeling too sorry for him. Happy Birthday Chris – you old fart!

Well once again I have been up to not much at all. Still exercising like it is going out of fashion and it seems to be going ok, I think I am at roughly W-5lbs, although the party food Chris' Mum brought round on Sunday may have adversely affected that! I have also promised that we can have whatever Chris likes for dinner tonight so I may not have a weigh in for a few days til I can be sure I have worked it all off. My non knitting continues apace (if that is not a complete paradox). I think I am just not sitting still long enough at the moment and I'm finding that even a couple of rows of 4x3 ribbing on my Sloppy Joe is enough to put me off the idea when I do pick up some knitting. I also seem to have lost a stitch on the socks I am knitting and rather that solve the problem I have just put them aside in the hope that they will miraculously be ok when I pick them up again. Am I alone in this kind of delusion?

I have signed up to do the Race for Life again this year. This may be slightly mad as I haven't managed to forget how much I dislike running as a sport after last year, but it is for a really good cause and the atmosphere on the day is really lovely. Sponsor me here if you like. Me and my Mum are fundraising together this year as we know a lot of the same people so it's easier. We won't be running together though as she has no intention of running and I don't intend to walk the whole way. Oh well! I'm promising that as soon as the clocks go forward I will start to go out running again and get back into training, watch this space to see how that goes. I hate running way more than I hate 4x3 ribbing – maybe the Sloppy Joe will get done while I am trying to avoid jogging. There is always a silver lining!