I cast on on the Isabeau Purse last week using Sugar’n Cream yarn but only got round to taking a picture of the WIP today. Pretty simple pattern so far and I’ve done some modifications to make it bigger. I’ll talk more about the modifications and my thoughts on the pattern once I’ve completed it. Uhm, hopefully that’ll happen sometime this year given my propensity for completing my knit projects. Heh.

Finally! Another FO! I actually finished the crocheting part last week and decided to wash and block it slightly on Sunday. Well, it’s still not completely dry today but I didn’t want to wait any longer so I sewed in the lining. For those living in wool country, does your woolly stuff take so long to dry as well? I can’t imagine doing my laundry and waiting days for my damn clothes to dry. I’ll be naked half the time. Although I suspect the culprit is the high humidity here.

Before sewing in the lining, the bag was floppier than Hugh Grant’s hair. I ironed on some interfacing to the lining fabric and it’s so much better now. After lining my Fat Bottom Bag, I still had lots of fabric left so I used the leftovers for my Fit to be Tied. I love the colour combination. Looks like it’ll make a nice Christmas gift.

Also, I’m no photographer but the difference between a crappy picture taken by my trusty K800i and one taken by my DSLR is tremendous.

Pattern: Fit to be Tied from Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker
Yarn: Slightly more than 1 ball of Knit Picks’s Wool of the Andes in Evergreen
Hook: 4.0mm

PS: I still hate seaming and sewing linings. I don’t think I’ll ever like it.

I bought Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker because I was seeing all these gorgeous fat bottom bags on the forums and blogs and I just had to make one for myself. Now, I’ve been seeing all these gorgeous stuff crocheted from Sugar ‘N Cream cotton yarn and thought that would be perfect for my fat bottom bag. There’s only one teeny weeny problem: we have no Sugar ‘N Cream cotton yarn in Singapore. Scratch that. The fact is I can’t even find cheap worsted weight cotton yarn anywhere here. Eventually, I did manage to get my hand on one precious cone of Sugar ‘N Cream yarn in ecru and I started work on my fat bottom bag right away.

Most of the fat bottom bags I’ve seen were lined. That stopped me cold. Sewing needles and I aren’t exactly the best of friends. When I was in school, it was compulsory for all the girls to attend Home Economics classes where sewing, cooking and craft were taught. I broke the sewing machine needle during my first lesson. For our term test, we were given a piece of cloth and told to machine sew a rectangle on it. My rectangle was a triangle. Needless to say, I failed the test. That’s how inept I am with a sewing needle. What saved my life was Kel’s fantastic tutorial on lining the fat bottom bag. If I hadn’t found that, I’d probably have ended up sewing my fingers to the bag in frustration. Not a pretty sight.

All’s well that ends well. The crocheting was a breeze and after 2 days of much cursing and swearing while doing the lining, I have myself a pretty fat bottom bag. Will definitely make more if I can get my hands on more cotton yarn.

Edit: Added new photos.