Travel Satchel- WIP Wednesday!

I've decided to hold a WIP Wednesday today, focusing specifically on one project: this travel satchel by Stephanie Shiman on knitty.com! Mine comes in light blue and a dark blue heather. This is my first time working on a project that needs to be felted, and I must say, I haven't screwed up (yet!).

Here it is unfelted. All curly because of stockinette stitch.

I realized (about 5 seconds after I wrote the above sentence) I could've used a normal messenger bag for my "travel satchel," but there's nothing quite like being able to make my own- especially since I can decorate this one with a lot of cool thing! Plus, my messenger bag was kind of falling apart. I've used it on and off since about 6th grade. That was nearly 8 years ago. The awesome part is that it was totally customizable- no one else will have a bag like this one! 

Seriously though, who else is going to be crazy enough to make a striped handle??

Someone with not enough of the primary yarn color, that's who.

I made this travel satchel because I'm going to Japan in June and wanted a travel bag that could hold my camera (which doesn't have its own bag), a notebook, some pens, my passport, my wallet, and some other odds and ends that I would likely need while traveling in a foreign country. Plus, it'd be a good conversation starter. Likely. If no one looks at me and thinks, "She's a foreigner so she must not speak Japanese." I look kind of Asian. Being a half-Asian: you get questions all over the spectrum. 

It's not quite finished yet. Obviously, because it's being featured on WIP Wednesday. I still have to cut off the extra little tails and sew everything together. I'm contemplating adding a fabric of some sort to the inside and to the inside of the handle, to reinforce it so it doesn't accidentally break. Not saying it will, but I like to be on the safe side. It'd suck if all my stuff exploded out while I'm in Japan. 

Until next time!

The Family's Christmas Presents

A couple of months before Christmas, I sent a text to my family asking them, "What do you want for Christmas? Make it easy on my college kid wallet."

The youngest, Johnny, didn't want anything handmade. He asked for NHL 09 or NFL 12. He got NHL 09. Oh, my brother. I swear he's become an All-American teen.

But the rest of my family wanted handmade things, and that was definitely my realm.

The middle brother, Ricky, is a total game nerd. He loves video games, but his current passion is card games. He asked me initially to make a bag to hold an entire deck, but after trying to explain to me how big it was, he eventually gave me dimension and said, "Go crazy." I asked for any specifics, and he said it had to be blue and black, and a water drop should be on there somewhere. Here's the result:

I crocheted it back and forth and then surface stitched over the blue stitches so the water drop motif would look cleaner. The cord is a foundation chain with one row of slip stitching. 

My dad wanted a lap blanket to go with the huge blanket I made him last Christmas. The color scheme was totally different, though. While the huge blanket was brown, gray, and white (neutral colors), the lap blanket was green and brown. I decided a granny blanket would be nice and easy to make. I asked for dimensions, and he gave me 5'x3'- which ended up not being the finishing dimensions. It is still an acceptable size, though!

I didn't block it, so it doesn't lay flat. However, my dad doesn't care. Woo! I did a reverse single crochet edging. I really love the ropy look reverse single crochet gives!

My mother was simple. She's really easy to make things for because we're both craft-oriented, and whenever she sees something she likes, she asks me to make it, and whenever I see something I like, she makes it for me. I picked up a wristwarmer knitting book from a Japanese bookstore a while back, and my mom wanted me to make her sleeveless gloves in order to keep her hands warm. She pointed out the pattern, gave me colors, and off I went! She loved them and wore them all break. I wish I had gotten a picture of her wearing them. They fit her.

My hands are rather large...

There you have it! My crafty 2013 Christmas. I may not do it this year and get one large present my family can share instead. This year, I'm doing selfish knitting. I have a ton of WIPs to work on that are very interesting for me. Keep an eye out for those!