Pre- baby finishes!

I did get a few more projects finished while I was waiting anxiously for Owen to show up. First, I finished the second finger and sewed in the tails on my third pair of fingerless gloves:

These ones are made of a cream wool, and more or less match my favorite crochet hat. The second pair of these that I made I gave to my sister-in-law for Christmas, and forgot to take a photo of. This pair is by far the tidiest of the lot, and on the sixth thumb hole, I finally figured out that "pick up two stitches and knit" means to pick up the stitches that are already present on the sides of the glove, rather than to cast on two new stitches.

This means that one of these thumb holes has the distinction of not floating around, held together by stitching in the woven-in tails of the thumb hole, but instead is actually attatched to the body of the glove on all sides.

I forgot to keep the label on the wool, but it is really soft and warm, and it shows up the cables nicely, so I'm happy with how these turned out. I think my next knitting project might be legwarmers. I want to knit something for the baby, but I'm afraid that he'll have grown out of it by the time I'm done. Maybe I'll start on some fall hats in August - I'll start with Andrew and work my way down, that way if they don't fit one child, there is a chance that someone else will grow into them.

The second thing I finished was the bag I was talking about in my last sewing post, the Nikki Tote (pattern from here ). I was a little nervous about this bag because of the pleats, the interfacing and the curved corners. I've never sewn a bag that wasn't of the sew-two-rectangles-together variety, so this one scared me a bit. But with all my experience sewing softies and clothes, I'm not sure why curves and pleats seemed so intimidating, as I've done both in the past.

I was really happy with the results. This bag is giant - just the right size for a laptop and some work files or for swimsuits, towels and lunch at the park. Last year I used my MEC backpack or a reusable Loblaws (Superstore) bag, but they both lacked a certain panache.

The pattern was really simple to follow and the pattern pieces fit together beautifully. As an experienced sewer I could finish it quite quickly - probably without interruptions this would be a half-day to a day long project. I used some of my favorite fabric, which has currently been reprinted - Freshcut by Heather Bailey. These reprints don't quite match the original fabrics, so my idea of using this mum pattern in a quilt with them wasn't going to work. The interior print - this yellow - is by far my favorite print in the line, and so I wanted to use it as a co-ordinate.

One great thing about this pattern is that although it is really clean on the outside, it has big pockets on the inside. These big pockets fit a commuter mug, or a good sized waterbottle, or a power cord (or a tin of pencil crayons). I thought it would be fun, since it will probably hold cup-type things, to pick a fabric that would remind me of the pockets' purpose.

The other side of the bag also has a "small" pocket, just right for my wallet, keys, and cell phone (plus a soother). The top has no closure, but because of the angle of the handles and the top of the bag, it stays securely closed, which is great.

Andrew did me a favor and posed with the bag to show you just how big it is - of course this had to be done with proper drama.