Offline

One of the towers that enables us to connect to the internet has been damaged. Apparently it will take several days to sort out, we'll be offline until then. I'm writing this on my phone, but that's impractical for proper posts.

Done

I decided to go with the cap sleeve. I've spent way too much time and energy on this project, enough now. I hope that the shiny red cotton will mean it qualifies as an 'evening top' without the addition of beads or ribbons. I found the pattern on Pinterest. I don't know if this link will take you to it or only takes me there! I had to adapt the stitch count because my cotton was finer, but I pretty well followed the pattern.

Heatwave

Phew, it's been hot here, the thermometer on our veranda registered 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) yesterday. It's hard to be productive and enthusiastic in the heat, but I did make a start on a smaller bag with zip pockets. I had to make the pattern first, ruler and pen to the ready,  newspaper and a lot of  measuring.

Here's a close up of the box on the table, which my grandchildren sent to me:

I like the sentiment! I have reels of cotton and bobbins in there.

Coming Along

I've been working away slowly on my crochet top. I had to redo the upper back because it was too narrow. I felt like Penelope as I undid it and started again. I'm working on the bottom edge, will neaten the neck edge, and then decide whether to make the cap sleeves a bit longer. I was worried that I'd run out of thread, but it looks as though I'll have enough for longer sleeves. It'll mean doing another Penelope and unravelling the ones I've already made.

A Few More

I made a few more market bags over the weekend. The lining fabric is much narrower than the animal print one, I have to cut very carefully to get the lining for two bags out of a metre.

Little Brown Mouse

I made Little Brown Mouse for a neighbour's newborn granddaughter. This is the second mouse I've made. A lot of counting is required. I write myself markers in pencil on the pattern, so I could just rub them out and start over. 

Simpler Still

When I went to the fabric shop recently, I saw this wonderful fabric with African animals printed on it - kudu, zebra and springbok:

 Since I'm currently in bag-sewing mode, I went back this week to buy some to make bags for gifts. It'll work well for bags because it's cotton drill. I also bought an array of bright cottons for linings, so that I can make the bags different to each other:

I used the same pattern as for the bag in the previous post, minus the pockets. I thought a simpler market bag would fit well with the current trend for reusable shopping bags. And be quicker to make! I did put a plastic pocket on the inside, but no zips. Here's the first one:

And inside: