Personal Day

It's been an incredibly busy two weeks at work. So much so that I ended up sleeping most of Saturday to recover from a few straight days of big meetings and travel, and enough extra hours to take a day off all to myself. I didn't get to sleep in much, but I did get to knit a bit on my Quaker Ridge Shawlette while I watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey. (Wow, what an episode!) Yes, lord help me, I'm knitting a shawl. I tell myself that it's just a big squishy scarf and I'm not 100% an old lady just yet. And it IS nice and squishy, as I'm using a pretty tonal shade of malabrigo Arroyo in Aguas. I'm a little worried about running out of yarn. My calculations have me running out at the cast on row, so perhaps I'll just do one or two fewer rows of the ruffle. Those are mighty long rows to have to knit backward.
 

I also got to putter around in the studio a bit, clearing off the big table, getting things in order. The shelves still need their trim pieces, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I started filling them instead. I finally found a cute little tin to corral my double pointed needles. I mean, I hadn't actually been looking that hard, but I found it in the dollar spot at Target.

I plan to get a rotary cutter this weekend. It's been on my list for quite awhile, and I think the time has come. I tell myself it will make my cutting much more even.

I dipped a toe back into sewing with a couple of little project bags. I wanted them to be sturdy so I interfaced the outside fabric. The stuff I had on hand was really too sturdy for the job, but I didn't feel like making a special trip out. I did make the bags a bit harder to work, and harder to line up the seams as you can see on the fruit print bag. Oh well, learning experience. They're just for me anyway. I'll have to pick up some ribbon to make the drawstring closures. I might get a zipper too to make a larger wedge type bag for sweaters or a baby blanket or something. These bags are good for socks and mitt size projects. I thought it would be nice to have something a little cuter to corral my projects than the makeshift bags I've been using - which are actually the casings to a couple sets of twin sheets! They work pretty well, but I've been wanting to dip a toe back into sewing and this seemed like a nice quick project. It would have been quicker if I hadn't made a few dumb mistakes! If the directions seem goofy....there's a good chance it's operator error. :)