I want to start tonights blog post with a very huge, very sincere, thank you. Thank you all so so so much for helping my friend Christina. I got so many emails last night, facebook messages, twitter tweets, you guys made me cry. I love you guys to bits and pieces. Thank you all so so so much and as I hear more from Christina, I’ll post it here. Seriously. Thank you so so so so much again. If I could give you all hugs, I would. xten.

This is going to be a ramble-y entry. Just giving you a heads up.

I’ve been having a super hard time sleeping. I think it’s from the medicine I’ve been taking since I had my charming allergic reaction. But really, who knows! Daylight savings? Too much energy? Need to create until dawn?! Last night was a doozy, I wasn’t asleep until around 5 am this morning. Nice right? Mr.McPorkchop has been teasing me saying that 12:30 am is the new 2:30 pm because I’m up building stuff!

What am I building? Not a quilt for the quilt a long because I’m lame and can’t seem to pick fabrics.  I worked on a knitting bag for myself. It’s no secret that I’m really social online, but not to much in real life. On ravelry I joined two local groups in attempts to meet new crafty local friends. I had plans to go to Purl ‘n Hurl Humboldt last night, but they were cut out after I had to have a business meeting. Yup. A business meeting. Crazy right? It sounds so official!

ANYWAYS! I made myself a knitting bag. So I can take my knitting places without shoving it in my purse. And tangling it up. Because I’ve done that before. I’m really grumpy right now with yarn in general, you know how earlier in the week I mentioned a package going missing? Well I ordered yarn for Mr.McPorkchops Valentines gift, yarn for a swap for a pair of Maine Morning Mitts, yarn for a hat for Mr.McPorkchops dad and the package is missing, USPS shows the seller printed postage, but it never entered their system and the seller hasn’t responded to any emails. I filed a paypal claim. I’ve *never* done that before and it made me very, very, very, grumpy. I hate being without yarn, without money and I can’t work on a swap, Mr.McPorkchop is Valentines Day giftless and Mr.McPorkchops dad is hatless. BOO!!!

BUT! I decided to take a second chance with buying yarn online. Since Jan.1st I’ve lost a little over 12 lbs so I thought a treat was in order for myself and I ordered a skein of SweetGeorgia sock yarn from the twitter suggestion of Yahaira! See the scarf she’s wearing oh so beautifully in that link? I’m knitting that! Holy smokes! I’ve never knit anything remotely lace-like before! So exciting! So scary! The pattern is called Ishbel and it’s designed by Ysolda Teague. I’m knitting it in a hand painted green color way called lichen.

Pretty right? I think green is becoming my favorite color. Well I wanted a sturdy bag. Something fun. Something rad. I wanted something deep but not huge, something that could stand up on its own, something structured but soft and something quirky.

I cut my remaining pieces of three fabrics that go super cute together and are also limited print/out of print. Deep breath!!! I wish I’d brought the pink fabric down a little more. I’m also unsure how to keep it crinkle free, you can see some wrinkles in the photo from where I flipped it inside out and then right side too. But all in all, it came out neat! I’m jazzed about it!

I used two Heather Ross fabrics, one from lightning bugs and the other from west hill. The lining is from Erin Michaels Lush and its the prettiest wood grain print. I added a little typewritten tag on the inside that has a Harry Potter (big fan of the Potter) quote about knitting! Awesome! You can see the tag here.

I also used a metal zipper! How cool is that? It gives the bag a really sturdy feel. I got the idea from Heather Ross’s book, Weekend Sewing. I ended up using 3 different types of interfacing on this bag. Fusible craft heavy weight fabric on the outer fabric to keep its shape. Soft fusible fleece on the lining to give it some body. And sewn in heavy weight pellon for the panels along the zipper so the zipper wouldn’t fall in with the weight of its self.

The little pin I just had to do. I’m such a big fan of mockumenteries and the tv show The Office. I’ve been watching Best in Show and I decided I totally needed prize badge of some sort, plus the horse fabric is begging for it!!! And then the preppy pink and green combo? Totally inspired by Andy Bernard! Have you seen the things he wears? He looks like he’s stepped out of a J.Crew catalog and just finished sailing for the day! I love it!!! I also love that Michael Scott turns EVERYTHING into a dramatic production or contest or holiday. So my knitting bag isn’t just a knitting bag, it’s a dream that I’m a champion knitting- horse back riding- bug catching- day dreaming extraordinaire! Hilarious!!!! I have plans for some Heather Ross jodhpur fabric and wall paper fabric as well. The more preppy the better. I’m bringing out my East Coast roots…kinda.

I made this bag while twittering with my friend Kristen about bikes and bike bags. Who knew I’d find something new to be completely obsessed with?! I finished the bag and several custom orders around 3 am. Awesome!!!

I woke up this morning afternoon, worked on more orders, took a shower and was grumpy. Actually, I laid in bed and cried my eyes out for a good 45 minutes. Crazy right? For the past 6 months I’ve been allergic to shampoo. So I’ve been switching. And switching. And trying new things. And spending wayyy too much money on shampoo.  And over time, the allergy has gotten worse. Enter this morning, me in the shower and my hair coming out in clumps. I’ve never ever had hair this long in my entire life, its only a little past my shoulders and I’m not emotionally attached to it, I just want to be able cut it and donate it hopefully this fall and be able to help someone. I’ll spare you the details but lets just say that it was an extremely painful shower. Mr.McPorkchop brought me to Target, I had a list of things to avoid from my doctor and we found yes to carrots! Mr.McPorkchop very kindly bought me the hair mask! I put it on and it felt really cool and nice. I’m stuffed up, but Mr.McPorkchop said that it had a very light and clean smell. I left it on for 20 minutes, it says 15, but I was in the middle of prepping veggies to be baked. I rinsed it off and no burning, no pain, nothing. No new hives which was *amazing*. I let my hair air dry then I gently combed it. Success!!! My hair is super shiny and soft. I was able to part it differently and loosely braid it to hide the damage. Awesome!!! I’m totally going to head to Target tomorrow and buy the shampoo and conditioner. I even joined their carrot club and facebook group, lol! No animal testing! Ecofriendly! Affordable! Available in lots of places! That is so so so awesome to me! Clearly as the small owner of a small ecofriendly business, I love and want to support other ecofriendly businesses!

Can I vent for a moment? I hate having allergies. Most people think its something as simple as avoiding something, but it’s totally not that easy. Allergies come and go. I get allergy tests once a year and each year, crazy differences. Lately they’ve been through the roof insane, so I’m hoping going to Redding this summer will help, a very dry climate might be amazing for my asthma. This post pretty much sums up allergies. I have had sinus infections ever since I was a kid. I get them once or twice every 2-3 months, these are the kind of sinus infections that knock you on your butt! I had tubes in my ears in elementary school to help with chronic ear infections. I tried allergy shots. I’ve taken (am taking) steroid regimens that have made me gain weight. Allergies, in short, are horribly lame and I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy. So when I can find something that doesn’t make me itch or sneeze, I sing it from the roof tops!

See! I told you this post would be ramble-y! I did get a few liners done today for the shop, I’m going to work on more through out the weekend and will update the shop either Sunday or Monday night. I got some new fabric in the mail today and it’s going to make the *cutest* liners ever!

Have a great weekend everyone!!! Thank you so so so much again!!!

xo