I skipped the Thursday garage sales today because I’m planning on checking out Goodwill’s 99 cent day tomorrow. There’s nothing like some good 99 cent retail therapy and I haven’t been to the sale in a few months.

Since I didn’t have anything thrifty to report today, I took a look around my creative space, which is filled with thrifty goodness, and noticed a theme. Some may say that Nebraska has infected my taste in colors or I could be subconsciously planning for the holidays. I think maybe I spend too much time looking at cabbage roses and vintage French linen.

There’s a story behind the fabric. When one of my readers realized that we both live in Lincoln, she emailed me about a big box and big bag of fabric that she no longer wanted. Was there anything I could do with it? I picked it up that evening (small world: she practically lives in my neighborhood!) and started spreading the word.

First I met two friends for coffee and they left with almost half of it! Then I took what was left to knitting group to give to my friend who helps out with Sewing for Babies. I kind of feel sorry for those babies, because the knitters went to town on what was left. However, I’m happy that we kept a lot of fabric out of the landfill and bypassed the thrift store grab bags.* Everyone left with something they really wanted and the rest is going to a good cause.

Of course I picked out a few little pieces for myself. Right now I’m spending more time with yarn, so I can’t overdo it on my stash.

thrifting: The buttons and ribbon are thrifted from all over the place: Goodwill, church sales and garage sales.

* Don’t you hate it when you find one or two things you love at the thrift store and they’re packaged in a “grab bag” with a bunch of things you don’t want? Have you ever just bought the bag, taken out what you want and then immediately donated back the rest? Me, too.

The sleeve repair went smoothly, mostly because it was stockinette and straight forward kitchener stitch. I didn’t have yarn close enough in color so I “borrowed yarn” from the sweater’s seams. It wasn’t an exact match, but better than what I had on hand. I used stash yarn to re-seam the sides.

The ribbing was a little more difficult. The mended spots were definitely sturdy, but they weren’t the prettiest. I used yarn from my stash for the nitty gritty details and then duplicate stitched over the grafted parts with the sweater seam yarn for a nice looking finish.

I’m still trying to decide if the attention to detail with the duplicate stitch is worthy of praise or borderline crazy. Either way, I think it looks really nice.

What’s going on in your creative space today? Share in the comments! Then head over to Kirsty’s blog to see what everyone else is up to today.

resources: The grafting methods I used were kitchener stitch and weaving method for holes, both from knitty.com. You can also find really good grafting articles in the Interweave Knits Spring 2010 issue and in the Spring/Summer 2010 Vogue Knitting.

It’s taken me awhile to write about this project because it’s not just a set of simple instructions. It’s more of a guide to what is possible. Before you rip one seam or sew one stitch, I recommend you sit down in a quiet place with pen and paper to plan. I know this is hard for some — it’s hard for me! I don’t even really like following patterns. When you are working with an existing bag, once you cut you can’t go back. You can’t buy more fabric and start over.

So that’s how I started this project — with paper and pen. Below are before and after pics with my thoughts and ideas. I hope you give this a try. There are so many “almost perfect” bags out there. Visit your local thrift store or garage sale and give them an “absolutely perfect” life outside of the landfill.

Materials
seam ripper
good scissors
heavy duty needle
matching thread

Here is the original bag. Carrie didn’t want the fold over flap. She asked me to replace it with a zipper.

Because she didn’t want the flap, she didn’t need the big plastic clips either. I carefully removed them with a seam ripper. The ones on the flap were easy.

The ones on the bottom were sewn into the seams of the bag so I had to carefully pick them out and resew the bottom seam.

She was happy with the pockets on the outside, but she wanted more pockets on the inside. Most important was having a big pocket to keep her knitting projects safe from her other stuff.

When I opened up the seam to take out the flap I got a nice surprise: another pocket! The only issue was the unfinished edges. I decided I could cover them with the trim from the flap.

Here is the new pocket finished with the trim from the flap. It was too difficult to sew this with a straight stitch and get it even, so I zig zagged it instead. I added velcro and voilà: an easy access pocket for knitting projects!

I decided to use the gray fabric from the messenger flap for the inside pockets. There wasn’t a lining in this bag, so I couldn’t sew the pockets directly to the fabric — the outside pockets were in the way. I decided to make the pockets independent of the bag and then just anchor them at different places where the stitches wouldn’t show on the outside.

I saved the zipper for last. I just followed the stitch line on the existing trim when I sewed it in. Instead of anchoring the zipper end to the inside, I finished it off with a fabric tag. It felt a little more sporty that way and was also easier on my sewing machine!

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know I hate to let anything go to waste. It took a little bit folding and unfolding, but I figured out to make a zipper pouch out of the remaining piece of the flap. Cool!

Here’s the after picture again. I hope this “how to guide” is helpful. If you have any questions, let me know. Carrie loves her bag, by the way. Yay!

I recently refashioned a messenger bag for my friend Carrie. She asked if she could pay me in sock yarn. I laughed and told her I had too much sock yarn, but she was welcome to knit a pair for me out of my stash. I was surprised when she said yes. Of course, she’s a much faster and more dedicated sock knitter than I am.

They are one of the best fitting pair of handmade socks I have ever worn, and this has got to be one of the best craft for craft deals ever. I’ll be posting about the messenger bag refashion this week.

stash: Socks that Rock Bella Coola from the 2007 sock club. Pattern is Carrie’s own design. (ravelry link)

I couldn’t stop looking at this one, though. It was such a lovely color blue. I loved the gray accent. I didn’t think I’d ever wear it, but Tana said I could do what ever I wanted with it, so you know what happened next, right?

I’ve abandoned that silly vintage wool for now and have started making the Chromium Star blanket out of this yarn instead. It is already turning out much better than I had even imagined. Thanks for the two fabulous cardigans and this wonderful yarn, Tana!

reuse: Hand knit sweaters are such a joy to unravel. They are always seamed together with such care. I wish all sweaters unraveled this nicely. I didn’t lose one bit of yarn!

I don’t know which made me happier: the fact that my friend had such confidence in my abilities or the prospect of fixing something that meant so much to someone. I tackled the big hole first, knowing it would be smooth sailing from there. Here it is ready for the grafting.

It was trickier than I thought, but also easier than I thought. My experience with unraveling sweaters combined with my recent retreat class on steeking has really made me kind of fearless of dropped stitches.

Pop on over to Kirsty’s blog to check out this week’s creative spaces.

p.s. I’ve received a few requests for the crocheted star pattern from yesterday’s post. It’s another Chromium Star blanket and you can find it here.

I crocheted another one last night and remembered to take a “before” shot this time. The second swatch was washed in cold. It also felted. Except that it didn’t shrink. Before and after are the same size and shape. Maybe “felted” is the wrong term.

It’s like the yarn is blooming. It’s incredibly soft. I’m starting to think I might even like it. I’m going to wash it again — maybe a few times — to see how it holds up. What’s more important to a newborn: soft and cuddly or nice stitch definition? I’m thinking soft and cuddly.

I usually don’t swatch. When I do, it’s never the 4×4 inch square I’m supposed to make. Mine are small. Calling them 2×2 inches is generous. Usually gauge doesn’t matter for a lot of the items I make.

Last week I made a swatch, not to check gauge, but to check the yarn label’s claim: machine washable and dryable. 100% virgin wool. Keyword that was missing: superwash. I put the swatch in with some linens on the warm setting. It didn’t felt that much, but a lot of the stitch definition has disappeared. I’m going to try another swatch washed in cold. After that, I’ll be stash diving for some cotton.

vintage yarn: I am in love with the color blue of this yarn. I read somewhere that a lot of wool used to contain recycled bits, so that’s why so many of the vintage yarns say 100% “virgin” wool. I can’t help but giggle when I read it. Apparently I have the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old.

My latest gift-giving obsession continues: fancy soap and washcloths. I know so many people who deserve a little bit of pampering, but are too busy to take time for themselves. Hopefully these will help them relax and wash their stress away. They are crocheted out of the super soft Aunt Lydia’s cotton.

Want to make some yourself? Here are the patterns.

Note: You’ll notice that I don’t chain at the beginning of each row. I’ve started using faux double crochets instead. They really make your edges much neater.

Basket Weave
gauge: 4 stitches per inch, blocked to 10 inches
first stitch in each row is a faux double crochet instead of chain 3

• Row 1: chain 40
• Row 2: dc across
• Row 3-6: *5 dc through the front post, 5 dc through the back post* repeat until 5 stitches left, 5 dc through the front post
• Row 7-10: *5 dc through the back post, 5 dc through the front post* repeat until 5 stitches left, 5 dc through the back post
• Repeat rows 3-10 four more times.

Columns
gauge: 4 stitches per inch, blocked to 10 inches
first stitch in each row is a faux double crochet instead of chain 3

• Row 1: chain 39
• Row 2: dc across
• Row 3: *4 dc, dc through front post* repeat until 4 stitches left, 4 dc
• Row 4: *4 dc, dc through back post* repeat until 4 stitches left, 4 dc
• Repeat rows 3-4 until you have a square.