Knit n Things

Do you remember the feeling you had the very first time you knit something? That "holy crap look what I just did!" feeling? Sometimes you forget how amazing it is to learn something new and then to make something that actually looks good with your new skills. Don't get me wrong I am totally charmed by every little thing that comes off my needles – but to do something that you have no skills with, to create something cool that you didn’t think you could do – that’s a special feeling.

When T talked me into the Sock Kit Swap she swore she’d help me. Last night T & I finally got together to make my bags. Sewing is not really my thing and the making of my bags was an interesting event – much laughing, a great deal of cursing, and a little blood. (sewing needles are crazy sharp!)

First – I couldn’t manage to measure 10". If T hadn’t been standing over me subtlety double-checking every single move I made I’d be heading back to the fabric store today.

Second – I’m afraid of the machine. She’s got this cool surger thing that has the four needles and sews everything together and trims the extra so you have this. This machine does not do the nice slow speed that I feel comfortable at – it wants to race along the edge and eat everything in it’s path (this is probably T’s fault because she doesn’t do slow.) The first few minutes with the surger were colored with much cursing and squealing.

Third – I can’t sew a straight line. Really I can’t. Tisha still can’t believe I can’t, and her instructions of "just use the foot as a guide and keep the fabric lined up" didn’t help at all. Knowing and doing – completely different. My seams are charmingly roaming all over the edge.

The funniest moment had to be when I triumphantly held up the liner of my bag and hollered at the top of my lungs said "look I made a bag and it doesn’t have any holes in it or anything!!" and then stuck my hand through the gaping whole in the side seam. Tisha and I completely collapsed into fits of giggles. Despite a few mis-measured cuts (I did managed to screw that up regardless of Tisha’s watchful eye) and a couple of wonky hems I managed to make this. I’m ridiculously proud of this little bag. I hope my KSKS partner likes it as much as I do.















**Many thanks to Tisha for letting me play with her very fancy sewing machines - and not yelling at me when I did something stupid that might put a machine into mortal peril. Everyone should be this lucky to have a friend like her!