Infinity Scarf- Knit Edition

I knit this scarf a few months ago. Ya know...back when it was cold. Then I left it at a friends house, she wore it for two weeks, sent it back, then I wore it for a long time and today I realized I had forgotten to document it here. It's a circle/tube. It took me 4 times to start it correctly, but once I did it was quite simple. I only made one mistake, and since the scarf has no begging or ending I can just hide the mistake behind my hair.

Whenever I knit I tell myself I should do it more often. It's so repetitive and meditative. It's also a lot more portable than sewing projects. And Charlie absolutely loves it when I knit in the car. 

He also loves when I make him take my picture. 

Lauren 

Vacation Purse(s)

Going on vacation always equates to making a new purse, at least in my eyes. I've loved the "Go Anywhere Bag" since the pattern came out. Seeing tons of other people's renditions of the bag on Pinterest pushed me even more towards buying it. It was totally worth the seven dollars, and made a great vacation bag. So good in fact that I made two. This is the first one. 

 I did something I never do, followed all of the directions to a T. I used navy blue linen, white piping, and Denyse Schmidt fabric for the body. *side note* Joann's has been selling the Denyse Schmidt line for over a year and yet it seems that whenever I go into one and ask about the line everyone who works there says "we don't carry that fabric." Then I make it my mission to hunt it down, I am always tempted to say; "Yes you do have it!"but I never have the guts.

This bag can seriously go anywhere, because it fits everything. There are four pockets on the outside of the bag and a huge interior. I can even fit my lunch box inside.

After using the purse for a few weeks I decided I needed a smaller purse. I have this issue where if I give myself an alloted amount of space, no matter how large or small, I will fill it. I liked the pattern a lot though so I just shrunk the pattern pieces to 93%, and came up with purse number two.

Besides the sizing the other change I made was to add a zippered inside pocket instead of a regular pocket. I kept my passport safe inside the zippered pocket on our trip, when it wasn't in the safe in our room that is.

The outside pockets are perfect for holding and separating my sunglasses, cell phone, water bottle, book, sunscreen, camera, and other vacation necessities. I brought both purses on our trip, my Mum used the larger and I used this one. We laughed while we were there because I put the room key in the same pocket everyday and could always find it quickly, and she could never remember which pocket she put hers in.

 For this one I used a pair of work pants that I accidentally ruined with salad dressing. The thick pant material adds quite a bit of strength to the bag. The upper fabric is from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line. I liked the piping detail so much on the first bag that I used it again on this one. The inside fabric is the same color red as the piping.

Both purses were well used on our vacation. In fact I noticed today that I had sand stuck to my cell phone from being inside one of the pockets.

I really love both of these bags and would recommend the pattern to anyone. I seem to be on a Noodlehead kick lately, and seeing her new "Envelope Clutch" pattern may just continue that kick. Off to contemplate fabric choices, and watch Downton Abbey on Hulu.

Lauren

Simplicity Skirt

Back in September at my brother-in-laws wedding, his mother-in-law, Nancy, who knew I liked sewing, offered to send me fabric that a relative of hers had given to her many years ago. (enough commas for you Dad?) I am not one to pass up free fabric, and therefore jumped at the opportunity, without even knowing the color. The package arrived and I loved the fabric. It is nothing I would buy on my own, which made it even more exciting. I knew I wanted to make a skirt with the fabric, but could not find the right pattern. 

 Then in December, Anna, of Noodlehead, did a sew along to Simplicity 2226, which sparked my interest. The pattern was even on sale at Joann's for 99 cents, so I had to buy it. I made the skirt over Christmas vacation, with my Mum's help.

I've worn it a few times to work and always get compliments. One teacher said she liked the look because it was different from all of my other clothes. I think that's why I like it too. 

Nancy even sent along the suede fabric which was perfect for a belt. I found the buckle at Z Fabrics in Portland. It took me a while, and the help of some co-workers today to figure out how to use the buckle. I think the belt ties the whole outfit together. 

I love the pockets. And yes Grammy, I am wearing a slip. 

Lauren 

Photo A Day: Make Up

Hello! I am back from vacation and survived my first day back at work. Since I missed the last few photo a day days I am going to post pictures from my trip that I took on that day. I must admit that some are a stretch because I forgot what a particular days theme was, or I thought Monday was Tuesday. I am only going to post pictures from the correct day however. In a few cases I just went through my pictures from one day and picked the one that fits best. Here goes.

Saturday, Day 25, Green:

On Saturday we flew to Antigua. This is not Antigua, but another tropical island in the Caribbean, I'm not sure which one. It was so nice to see green leaves, grass, etc instead of brown, which is what NH looked like prior to leaving.

Sunday, Day 26, Night:

 The view of sunset from our resort. Doesn't need much more explanation than that.

Monday, Day 27, Something You Ate:

On Monday we woke up and decided that since we had had spent the entire day on Sunday at the beach we should try to find something else to do. Prior to eating breakfast we decided to just go to the travel desk and see is there was anyway we could get a trip around the island or something along those lines to do for the day. It was about 8 am, the woman called a company that does tours around the island and found that a driver was on his way to the resort at the very moment to pick up a couple who were staying there and do a tour. She told us we had about 20 minutes to get ready before the driver arrived. We got our hustle on to say the least. We ran to the breakfast area, grabbed some muffins, bread and a box of cereal, quickly went back to the room to change into our suit, and made it to the waiting driver and a British couple with no time to spare. I snapped this photo of my breakfast in the back of the vehicle as we sped off to see the sights.

Tuesday, Day 28, Money:

This one is kind of a stretch. To be honest I forgot the theme of the day and didn't figure it out until Wednesday morning. On this day we boarded a Catamaran that picked us up on the beach of the resort and was going to take us around the whole island. Unfortunately the seas on the Atlantic side of the island were too rough and we had to turn around. If the seas were calmer it would have been great, the captain tested out the waters for about 5 minutes and the thrashing and up and down of the waves was enough for me, I think I, as well as most of the people on board would have upchucked if we had gone much further. Looking through my pictures of the day this one seemed to say "money" most to me. Maybe there was a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Wednesday, Day 29, Something You're Listening To:

Waves crashing on the beach. Wednesday was a relatively quite day. We were still tired from the tour and Catamaran ride so we just hung out by the pool and on the beach all day. We had heard through the grapevine that there was going to be a wedding on the beach, so we walked down the beach, found chairs, and pretended to look like we weren't waiting for the wedding to start. I got bored of waiting so I walked down to the jetty where I snapped this picture, as well as a few others of the tiny shells here, all while thinking "Who gets married on a leap year?"

I have tons more pictures from the trip, I'll upload them onto facebook and maybe my flickr page, even though I don't think anyone ever looks at them there. It was a fantastic trip.

Lauren