My sewing is rather sporadic and usually leaves rather a lot to be desired. However at Fibre East this summer Anna showed me a lovely project bag she had made, and it was so nice that I had to have a go myself.

Anna recommended this tutorial, which is very nice and clear, lots of photos, and idiot-proof instructions 🙂

It is hard to tell from my photos but the bag is fully lined. It is the right size for a small knitting project, the yarn in there at the moment is two 50g balls. The fabric was a pair of fat quarters sold for quilting that I got from C&H Fabrics in Winchester when I was at the In The Loop conference.

I have some more fabric to make a second bag but at the moment am deliberating about whether I would like the second bag to be the same size or slightly larger than the first. I shall continue to ponder.

In another departure from the knitting, I have done a little bit of weaving. The West Surrey Guild of Spinners, Weavers, and Dyers held a pair of weaving workshops in October suitable for total beginners (there were also tutors there to help improvers), so I went along and had a go.

Sue helped me to warp up the loom, then I had a go at a bit of plain weave:

Then a  bit of twill weave:

Then a bit more twill weave where I tried to improve my rather wobbly edges:

I enjoyed the playing with different colours and getting interesting patterns, although I don’t think weaving is for me. It was great to be able to have a go at everything at the workshop, and then borrow one of the guild looms for the following week so that I could have a proper thorough play, but without having to buy all the equipment first.