Ketchup!

A family of tomatoes were out walking one day and the little boy tomato kept falling behind. After admonishing him over and over, his father finally just got fed up, walked back to where the boy was lagging behind, stomped on him and shouted: "Ketchup!"

yeah - lame - I know, but there it is, and that's what today's post is about - catching up.

First, we haven't been anywhere or done anything in a while, so no exciting trips to report. Finances are a bit tight right now so we're keeping a low profile. But, that does give me an opportunity to knit and sew more than I usually would - oh, and improve my crochet skills.

So, first, I made this messenger bag that I love so much I can't figure out what to use it for:

As you can see, I used a log cabin pattern to make the flap

I used my indigo's to create the outer portion of the bag - even the browns are indigos - well, except that little pocket on top of the larger pocket - that's batik.

And, I used batik's to line the bag and create the inner pockets. I love all the pockets on this thing. You can see there's an outer zippered pocket in the front - well, there's another in the back. Then, there's an inner zippered pocket (the yellow one), not to mention all the pockets on the front, right inside the flap. There are also two side pockets that you can barely make out in the second picture. This is what I spent my New Years weekend making, and seriously - I love it...now what to do with it?

The whole thing was created because of one of my favorite Ravelry groups, called Tiny Owl Knits (TOK). We're on a year long "quest" and this is my quest bag. But, of course - it's all virtual, so having made the bag for this notion, I now want to use it for something real.

I was originally thinking of using it for all my knitting notions - needles, etc. But that seems like a waste - it would hardly ever leave the house. It's definitely big enough for a laptop, but I associate my laptop with work, and I don't want to use this for anything work related. So, right now, I'm still mulling it over. Open for suggestions.

Speaking of my TOK group, I've also been doing a few swaps, which has helped me increase my skill set. One of my swap partners had this little gem in her queue, and I thought it would be fun to try. In the end, I had to meet up with someone who teaches crochet and have her help me, but I'm fine with that. I remember when the only patterns available for crochet were those hideous afghan's. Now, there are lots of really cute things out there, and let's face it, crochet eats up a lot more of my stash than knitting does, so that's a good thing, right?

Finally, the winter weather has been SO boring this year - in fact it's over 60 degrees outside right now - you'd think I lived in TX again. However, we did get a dusting of snow this one day, and I got this picture - I wish someone could dye yarn to look like these colors together - it's just incredible!

So, that's it. Not much to report, especially considering how long it's been, but what can I say. Times are tough.