Ticking them off

 Another Story bag finished!  It is such a great feeling, to be completeing all these projects all at once.  I am pleased with how everything seems to be coming together.   And it seems to give me so much more headspace.  Little bags made to fit the the story book in perfectly, and then enough space for the knitted characters in the main part of the bag.

 I love how an idea develops.  I had initially thought of just a bridge with a stream running beneath it to symbolise the story, but as I was putting it together it developed into the banks, and then the squareness to match the bag.  Little details probably lost on the recipient, but that make me feel rather satisfied.  It can get rather addictive this creating lark, but I am going to tear myself away from it to get on with the allotment, honestly I am, but I still have a 6 inch ring to finish, and a bag to make, then there is the guild challenge I need to start spinning for, and...

... see what I mean!  Addictive!  But off to sow some seeds... tomorrow!

Busy sewing

 I had set myself the Easter Holidays to try and clear the custom orders I have for story bags and bunting.  I am nearly there, and have had a ridiculously producitve morning today, making the bag for Little Red, which I am very proud of, it looks, well, rather good! 

 Also managed to finish off some bunting, for a little girl's birthday at the beginning May, as well as the longest bunting I have done to date. 

I just have the bag for The Billy Goats Gruff to finish off (it's a good job there was a long time scale on this, as it seems to have taken a long time from me starting it to finishing it, but then the deadline was mid May) 

After that I am putting a seasonal halt on custom items, as whilst I would like to think that I can do everything, I do also have to be realistic.  If I want to be able to things properly, I need to be able to devote more time to them, so spring and summer are allotment times, and autumn and winter are my Aisling Design times.   I may still create a few things that will make their way into the Etsy shop, but I will be switching my attentions from sewing to sowing. 

Little Red Riding Hood

 All the knitting is done now of the Little Red Riding Hood Story bag, so I thought I would update you all in the yarn along, that Ginny holds every Wednesday over at Small Things.  There were a few false starts, and I ended up using a different pattern for the wolf in the end, as I wasn't happy with my first attempt.  I have tried to match the clothes and hair colour to the characters in the book I have picked to tell this story.  Except for the wolf, as he changes his clothes in the story, and I couldn't hope to try to do removeable clothes!!

 Mother, Little Red, and Grandma.  In the book Grandma has glasses, but I couldn't work out how to do those! Not sure whether to put a mouth on Little Red either, as she expresses many different emotions during the course of the story.

 Apologies for the sideways pictures.  Silly camera!!

There wasn't a woodcutter in this version, which meant a little less knitting for me!

Just got the bag to do now, and they'll be off to their new home in Ireland.    As for reading, still working through "Car Sick" with a little Thicht Naht Hahn's "A Path to Emancipation" thrown in for good measure!

Yarn along- Little Red Riding Hood

Knitting has been happening again, with the production of some story bags.  I am currently making the characters for Little Red Riding hood, trying to match the clothes etc to those in the story.  Little Red is nearly done, just awaiting the eyes.  I don't know why it is, but I never like putting the eyes on, seems to spoil it in my opinion, but I think she probably does need eyes.  The Big Bad Wolf is awaiting stuffing (not with Grandma, this is the nice version ;) ) and mother is on the needles at the moment.  I love making these little characters, the children are probably fed up of me showing off my little creations, but I get a real sense of satisfaction of creating something like this from some yarn!  The pattern I am using as a base for the dolls is Phoeny's Man Dressin Up doll, and the wolf is JellyBum's Wolf.

Reading wise, I'm still reading Car Sick.  It is a great book about how to reduce car usage in our society which is so often built around the car.  Not just a book preaching "don't use your car", but how to engage the wider society about reducing car usage.  The recent bit I have been reading about is walking buses, and cycling training.  All these would be do-able in our local area, but it's getting the impetus and support from the local people.  Last time they tried to organise a walking bus at Ethan's school they had 2 volunteers, and that was it.  I think it might be time to approach the school again.

Joining in with Ginny again for her wonderful Yarn Along, looking forward to see what everyone has been up to this week.

Today is the last day for entering my give-away.  If you are quick you might be able to have a chance.  Just leave a comment at the end of this post and join in the celebrations of 300 blog posts.