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!

No WIP Wednesday today- Sorry!

I've been having a long and particularly busy day today, so unfortunately WIP Wednesday will not be happening today. Bummer, right? :(

WIP Wednesday #1- Blankets and Hats, oh my!

Welcome to the first WIP Wednesday! I feel like a lot of them are going to feature the same things over and over, just in various stages of completion. But without further ado, here are my WIPs of the week!

1. Florida Gator blanket

So my dad graduated from University of Florida. He loves them even though their football team sucked this year. Last year, I got the idea to make him a blanket with Alfred on it. I made my mom a Donald Duck blanket, so he deserved a blanket with something he loved. Good idea, right?

WRONG.

I started this last... May? June? Ravelry tells me May 1st. It's not even half-way finished. I don't have the TIME. Luckily, I'll have time this summer. I'm excited for that. 

2. Hexagon Flower Blanket

This was inspired by a blanket I had as a kid. The construction is way different, though. However, it's a fun and mindless project. It's going to need some serious blocking when it's done, though, as seen in the flower above.

3. N7 Beanie

Aaahhhh... my favorite project. Because it's Mass Effect inspired. I love Mass Effect. The third game screwed me up badly but it was so much fun. I made two beanies inspired by the series already, so this is the third in that trilogy of hats! I'm currently working on the stripe. I'm thinking the red's going to end after this row because it's becoming a lot bigger than I intended it to be. Let's see how it turns out! I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes.

Regularly Scheduled Programming? What??

So I've been doing quite a bit of thinking (a dangerous past time I know) and decided that starting next week, I'll be having three days that'll occasionally get to be a series! Mondays will be called "Musings Monday," Wednesdays will be "WIP Wednesday" (for all my knitting/crocheting stuff), and Fridays will be either "Photography Friday" or "Finished Friday" (for my photography or finished projects, if any). I'll try to keep it as regular as possible, but with my busy schedule, sometimes it won't happen.