Amy and I went through the bookstore on our way to get some coffee yesterday afternoon and saw something very exciting (and I can't remember why I didn't get around to posting this yesterday): a much anticipated new sewing book.


One-Yard Wonders looks like it is a wonderful project book but it holds some special excitement for me. Turn to page 125 and take a close look at the pattern you find there.


Can you see it? That's my name.

I'm still (impatiently) waiting to receive my copy. I haunt the mailbox and listen carefully for anything that sounds like a Canada Post delivery person on our front porch. I'll share a little more once I've got this is my hands. For now I'm just too full of excited anticipation to say much more than "Eeeeek!" or "Look, Look" to everyone I know.

I wanted to write today but was not sure what to say or show. I'm not given to grand thoughts or deep introspection but I think it is important to have some quiet, introspective time today, to remember those who have fought and died for for our freedoms and beliefs, and to think of those who are taking up that calling now.

These photos are from a walk I took for an afternoon break last week when the sun decided to show itself. They are not in any way related to Remembrance Day but to me they have a quiet thoughtful quality that I felt might be appropriate.





If you would like to see more of my walk you can find it on my flickr.

Pattern: Linen Grocery Tote (er ... sort of) via The Purl Bee
Yarn: Louet Euroflax in Melon Mix (I think - it's been "in stash" for a while)
Size: 48 cm / 15" long
Yardage: aprox. half a skein
Hook: 3.75 mm

In the last year or so I've been seeing a lot of fabric produce bags being made up in blog world. I've been a long time convert to the canvas shopping bag but somehow I'd never gotten into sewing my own produce bags. A little while ago I realized that it was because I like to be able to see what's inside and my solution should be a crochet bag instead of a sewn one.

I must have been picking up on some crafty vibes because as soon as I thought "I need to crochet myself a produce bag" a crochet grocery tote pattern popped up on the Purl Bee. Even better, if you check the comments you'll see that Whitney offers suggestions for making a slightly smaller version of the grocery tote. I grabbed the ball of Euroflax that was hanging out in my stash (how often do you already have the perfect yarn when the project you need to make comes up?) and a likely looking hook and jumped in.

It's a funny sort of project. It starts off looking like a wonky doily, moves on to a lacy cloche hat, and finally arrives at a cool stretchy bag. I found the yarn a bit splitty but I think that is just the nature of linen. I wanted to have a drawstring so I made a few alterations to the top of the bag as follows:

Work the smaller bag, as suggested by Whitney in the comments, to your desired length.
Round 1: 2 sc in current 6 chain loop, 3 sc in each 6 chain loop around
Round 2: sc in every sc
Round 3: chain 2 (equals 1 dc), *chain 1, dc in every second sc around.
Round 4: sc in each dc or 1 chain space
Fasten off.

Make two crochet chains long enough to act as drawstrings for your bag. Thread them through your "eyelet" round. Head to the grocery store knowing you won't have to open up your produce bag for the clerk to know what kind of apples to ring in.

This bag wouldn't work for small things, like Brussels sprouts, but is great for apples. In fact it's a little bigger than it needs to be and may be ripped back a little way if I don't have enough yarn left to finish a second one