Another Bottlecap Pincushion

I made another bottle cap pincushion. This time I used a larger cap from a 1 liter soda bottle, its about 1 1/2 inches across.

I was going for a lotus flower look with a stuffed 3-D ladybug in the center.

Those spots are french knots. When I had finished to ladybug it occurred to me that I should have stuffed it with steel wool to make it a needle sharpener, there's always next time.

These pincushions are addicting, I could make one every day. I have a larger container that I'm saving for a special pincushion, it is the frosting container from a roll of refrigerator cinnamon rolls. I think I might make that one into a rose, but I want to practice a bit more first.

The Kelly bag

I admit it, I joined ravelry (everyone else it doing it) and now I can super organize my knitting projects and find new friends and patterns. BTW my user name is crafterella, if anyone wants to add me to their friends :).

To start off my new, super organized knitting I whipped up The Kelly Bag a super cute felted bag. I love the way the handle goes through the flap!

Here it is pre-felted (it's in the washer right now).I decided to add a swiss darned initial (can you tell it's a K?). I'm anxious to see how that felts up. If it looks silly Plan B is to put an applique or something over it. I also mitered the bottom corners of the bag to give it a little dimension. I am planning on lining the bag to give it a bit more structure, I have made felted bags before and they are just to floppy for me, and I need a little pocket on the inside.

This is a nice straight forward pattern and definitely easy to knit, it was really fast too! Once it's done drying and lined I post a finished picture.

Pin Cushion Therapy

When I am stressed out or upset sometimes the best therapy is crafting. Crafting works well for me because it is something that I enjoy and it keeps my brain focused on creating instead of everything else. It has been a rough week and so every night, after the children go to bed, I make a bottle cap pin cushion. They are simple to make and the embellishment possibilities are endless. You can find instructions and inspiration on craftstylish.
I think that matching round dressmakers' tape measures and needle books are in my future.

Jayne's AP Bag

While I was in the swap for knitters on Craftster I visited my local yarn store in Lincoln(Nebraska) and I bought 3 skeins of lamb's pride wool. I knew I wanted to make a felted purse, but I did not have a specific pattern in mind. I spent about a week looking for the perfect pattern and I found Jayne's AP bag pattern and immediately knew this was the pattern for me. The pattern uses four different colors of wool and I only had three, I just used orange for color A and color C.

This is all the yarn I had left, I guess I cut it pretty close.

Here's the final product, I have felted it, but I may felt it more I haven't decided. I think that I will make a lining for the purse, I like to have a small pocket on the inside of my purses and I think that a cardboard liner in the bottom would help the bag hold its shape and set better.
I really like how this pattern knits up, there is no seaming, just a lot of ends to weave in. When I was knitting the flap I accidentally knitted the stripe pattern wrong so the stripes on the flap don't match up like they should. I should also mention that I used a "bulky" wool and in hindsight I should have used larger needles(10.5 was recommended for the yarn) and that would have made the knitting looser and I think the bag would have felted better. I also like look of the leather strap on the original pattern better than my knitted version. I really enjoyed making this purse and I plan to make this pattern again.