My first original design

Don’t you love the Noni bag patterns? If you’re not nodding enthusiastically right now, it must be because you haven’t seen them yet – so go check out Noni Patterns.

On the past two Saturdays, my friend R. and I took a wonderful class with Noni herself (Nora Bellows), called “Design Your Own Felted Bag.” And that’s exactly what we did. Nora talked us through the process of looking for inspiration, sketching ideas, and then translating those ideas into knitting patterns. At the second meeting, she shared her tips for finishing – that critical step that makes all her bags look so beautifully handcrafted. And with Nora’s help, I made this beautiful bag:


Here's a photo of the other side, where the colors are somewhat different:


I’m beaming with pride at how well it turned out, and can’t wait to use it. Look at the beautiful silk brocade lining:


and the nifty magnetic snap closure and pocket:


It’s even got feet!



Thanks Nora!

Suzanne’s Felted Lattice Bag
Yarn: 4 skeins of Classic Elite Lush, 4 skeins of Noro Kureyon
Needles: size 11, knitted with 2 strands held together

jewelry for your knitting . . . and for you

I haven’t posted in awhile, because I haven’t managed to get anything finished in weeks. One of the things that has been taking up my time is the launch of my Etsy shop:


My last post was about some sterling silver stitch markers that I made for my Secret Pal from the Knitty board. If you make handcrafted items, I’m sure you’ve heard your friends say “you should sell those!” This time, when my knitting group friends said that, I decided to follow up on it.

My shop is at Etsy.com, “your place to buy and sell all things handmade.” Etsy is a great site that lets handcrafters set up individual shops, and allows buyers to interact directly with the artisans. My shop, which is still small but growing, features stitch markers, pendants, earrings, pins, and charms. There’s a sampling of items over there to the left – click on any of the pictures, or on “acraftylawyer” below the pictures, to be routed to my shop. (If you click on “Etsy” or “Buy handmade,” that will take you to the Etsy home page, rather than to my shop.)

These pieces reflect my love of bright colors and simple shapes. Maybe I’m crazy to be selling stitch markers when there are so many others out there, but I think these are special, and I hope they find an audience. So please check out my shop, and read my profile there. And while you’re there, take a look at some of the other amazing Etsy shops, too.