Sewing Daisies

Heather Ross - Everything Tote Bag...

I decided on Tuesday that I needed a new bag.  I chose to make the Everything Tote by Heather Ross from her book Weekend Sewing.

Yes...this is the same book that I made THAT summer blouse from. I know, the one currently doubling up as a Circus Big Top.

But this isn't a blouse, this a lovely 'throw the kitchen sink in' kind of bag - It's meant to be big!!

This Everything Tote bag pattern is fantastic for all sewers. It's easy to follow (if you pay attention) and in no time you have a great BIG bag.

I loved making this bag - from start to finish the project took less than a day to make and that was with my usual tea breaks, day dreaming and cat naps.

I only made one little change to the process; instead of machine sewing the inside binding to the lining I chose to hand sew it.

It took a little more effort but it was the right thing to do. The binding looks really good, inside and out. It has polished, professional look to it.

As with all of my projects there is always something that goes a little awry. This pattern is no different.

The Everything Tote bag pattern requires you to create box corners....Who wants boxy corners anyway?!

So here it is my BIG Everything Tote bag...

p.s I used Ikea Inger cotton canvas.

KYUUTO! Japanese Crafts - Lacy Crochet.....

Over the past few weeks I have been steadily working my way through Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts - Lacy Crochet and discovered lots of new things not only about crochet but about my own learning style so I thought I would give this little gem a mention.

As with all things Japanese this book is visually pleasing but I think the main attraction of this book is way it presents it's patterns.

Most Western crochet & knitting patterns still only offer written word patterns e.g. 

Row 1: DC in fourth ch from hook (3 skipped chs count as first dc), skip next ch, 3 dc in next ch,

Japanese crochet and knitting books however offer patterns in picture form; using symbols to represent each stitch. This sounds and looks a lot worse than it really is.

Kyuuto! Lacy Crochet is written in english so all the pattern symbols and crochet stitches are fully explained and the book also provides a great reference section in case you get stuck (which you wont').

To help you further every project lists the crochet hook size you need and how to start and finish the project.

I have never been a fan of long winded explanations written or spoken so I find using the symbol pattern much easier than the traditional written crochet pattern. I can see before hand what my project should look like at every stage and I can spot immediately  when I have gone wrong which is always a bonus.

I am half way through Kyuuto! Lacy Crochet and I am now that comfortable with using the picture pattern that I feel confident that I can use the untranslated Japanese crochet books I found the other day in Kinokuniya (Sydney) www.kinokuniya.com

I give this book 10/10  - it really is a little gem.

 

i love crochet........

I bought I Love Crochet by Rachel Henderson & Sarah Hazell last year when I first decided to to learn to crochet.

I got it because unlike the other crochet books I had seen this one was brightly coloured, the patterns were modern and more importantly they looked easy.

I dug this book out again a few weeks ago to see if I could remember anything from my brief dalliance with crochet last year and amazingly I did. In fact I am actually better at it than I was last year.

Not sure why but that's how it is.

I Love Crochet is still brightly colored, still has great photos and modern patterns (with Hook-Ability ratings) and the front section which covers the How To and different crochet stiches is still easy to read and follow.

So I decided to make something.

As I have already made a few scarves this year on my Ashford Knitter's loom I thought I would give the cushion cover a whirl (page 92), it only has a Hook-Ability Rating of 1.

Perfect for novices.

As you can see, in no time I made a nice little cushion (I used a beautiful Japanese fabric for the strips).

I only have two complaints about the book;

The first is that project instructions are little too simple. I had to make a few things up along the way because there wasn't sufficient information which was a bit frustrating.

My second complaint with I love Crochet is with the fact that every project mentions the Rowan yarn product name and not the yarn weight.

Which is great if you don't mind using Rowan products all the time but a pain if you want to try locally produced yarns.

 

Overall I think I Love Crochet is great for beginners. It's easy to read, has a modern feel and looks great on the coffee table.

I can't believe I'm CROCHETING! Crochet like a pro in no time! Lefties Too! is a different cup of coffee. it doesn't matter how you position it, it never looks good on your coffee table.