Surprising myself...

Ok, so I swear that I hardly ever sew, but I managed to surprise myself with how well I did sewing up the liner for my Brea bag. I started by tracing the individual knit pieces of the bag, leaving some space for seam allowances.

Here's all three of my fabric pieces, ready to sew. I started pinning them together at the bottom/center point.
Here it is all sewn up! Not too shabby, and most of my seams are even pretty straight.
I included a cell phone and regular sized pockets on the inside of one of the pieces. I think this is a touch that will make it much more usable like a store bought bag. I got half of the knitted parts themselves sewn up last night, and will finish sewing it up tonight, and will pin the liner in.

I also FINISHED SOMETHING! (cue triumphant music). This was the Mommes Lysedug doily pattern I've been working on as a wedding thank you gift for my Aunt Becky, made from my great grandmas (her grandmas) old crochet thread. I ended up leaving off the last patterned section from the doily, since I was running out of room for stitches on my circular, I wanted to get it done, and I couldn't quite get the pattern to work out just right after row 100 of the pattern, so I just stopped and bound off. I think it still looks great.

Taking a break from our previously scheduled program...

With...the AEOLIAN!
I really did want to start this shawl as soon as I saw it. But, there was a little problem. I had NO needles! They sell Addi lace needles at my LYS, but they make my hands smell like pennies and I don't prefer metal needles. I used this as a very good excuse to buy a few sets of fixed KnitPicks Harmony Circulars. They arrived last Friday, and here they are along with the lace weight I had already dyed for the shawl.

Incidentally, I don't know how I EVER knitted without these needles. (I keep petting them and enthusiastically wiggling the cable around, because I can. Normal? I think so.) An interchangeable set will be mine, SOON.
I'm through the first chart of the pattern, and am just starting the transition charts to the next pattern. (I've decided to opt OUT of the 'nupps', since it is apparently a nice word for "this one stitch will make you want to kill yourself") So far, I'm loving this shawl. It's a great pattern to turn to when I've been working on things for the wedding way too much and I need some quiet time to chill. I'm sure that it will also get shoved into my bag to keep me company on the long car ride to South Dakota, along with the February Lady Sweater I have begun. (Pictures of that later when it's a bit more interesting.)

I'm very pleased today, because I got to give someone new the spinning bug! Sarah came over to my place yesterday for lessons. I gave her my old Ashford student spindle that I never, ever use anymore, and a really nice spinning book since she's been hinting at wanting to learn for a while now. She picked it up like a natural, and her first yarn actually LOOKS like yarn! (My first yarn looked like a bag of fleece threw up.) Yay, Sarah!
Other than that, I'm just plugging along with wedding plans, and the required knitting for gifts. I'm headed to buy fabric to line my Brea Bag today, let the hilarity of me trying to sew ensue. (Really, it's pretty funny. I'm NOT a seamstress.)