WIP Wednesday: Something Old, Something New MAL

 I'm a pretty avid knitting podcast watcher lately, and one that I've consistently enjoyed is the Wool Needles Hands podcast by Tayler Earl. It's just talking about knitting, her projects, ideas for future, her tools, etc. She is a hand dyer, so she talks about that sometimes too. All in all a good time. Well she just launched a fun Make Along and given that I've finished so many deadline projects lately, and given that I had an idea of what I wanted to make for this, I decided to join in :)

It's the Something Borrowed, Something New Make Along and the criteria are that you have 1 month to make something that is not a garment or accessory you would wear, is made with stash yarn, and incorporates something you are repurposing (i.e. use yarn from an unraveled thrift store sweater, etc). ALL of my makes are with stash yarn, so now worry there, and I have LOTS of repurposed items that need use because I just can't bear to throw things out that could be useful. For my project, I decided to crochet a bag - something I've literally never done before. I also watch The Copycat Stitch's podcast and several months ago she made up this pattern and I immediately put it on my wish list.

This is the Stonecrop Tote by ChiWei Ranck - it's a simple tote bag with a neat textured stitch that uses 2 skeins of bulky weight yarn held together. The thing that struck me when The Copycat Stitch was talking about it was how sturdy it came out - a big reason why I've never made a crocheted or knitted bag is because they always tend to stretch out from the weight of stuff inside them and I just don't like that look. So hearing this one was very sturdy made me want to try it out for myself. I cast on May 7th (the official start date) and made great progress thus far. I have made some changes mainly because I tend to crochet so tight that when I reached the end of the bottom of the bag section, my bottom was sized for a small handbag, not for the tote the photos show. To fix this, I just continued the bottom increasing until there were 11 stitches between the corners and this looked like a much better size. Once the bottom is made, it's just smooth sailing in the round until the bag is 13 inches tall, and it's been fun to work on.

I'm making my bag in some yarn that was given to me a few months ago by a woman who sew quilts but tried learning to knit and didn't like it. She gave me a huge bag she had made with all bulky weight yarns, including 2 skeins of James C Brett Marble Chunky in the purple colorway. These skeins are huge - 200 grams each - and I almost never use bulky weight yarn so I had no idea what I would use this for and it was taking up so much space. Now it will free up some room and have a use :) For my repurposed element, I plan to make leather handles out of my stash of leather that I scalped off a couch that was in the trash at a condo I lived in years ago. I may also add a leather pocket, we'll see, and I am definitely going to add a fabric lining, possibly a chip board bottom to stabilize the shape. We will see about all those things when it get to that point.

So that's my latest project. I'll be sharing the finished object later this month as my entry in the make along. If you have old materials laying around, why not join in? It's been so long since I was part of a make along of any kind and I'm excited to be back at it again.