I finished three small projects this week, while I was busily working on my Liberty Geese. Here are two of them!
1) Rikke hat: I posted a little sneak peek of this hat as a WIP last weekend. I started knitting it the Monday before the snowstorm, worked the bulk of it while we were snowed in, and finished the crown this past Monday. I didn’t love the process. Love of this yarn kept me going. (And I decided that I love madelinetosh above all other yarns, and joined the Magnolia Society yarn club, in a moment of snowbound weakness. Watch this space for the fallout of this and other snow-related moral failings.) 
But the finished hat! The color goes great with my purple coat, and I’ve worn it nonstop since I finished it. Garter stitch in the round was way worth this finished product. Get the pattern free on Ravelry!
(Also, check out those clear beads: my Valentine’s gift from my husband, from Kenton Beadworks. This is my FOURTH bead necklace from there and I love them all to distraction. Unpaid advertisement here. I just love, love these beads. )
2) Pleated tote: I’ve made one of these before in two different Stamped Prints. I made the pleats too deep, and wonked up the dimensions of the bag. The finished product was still cute enough to gift, so I needed one for myself. A chance to get it right!
I used Ellen Luckett Baker’s tutorial as posted on her blog The Long Thread. This is one seriously cute bag, and it sewed up very quickly. Since I finished it two days ago I’ve used it as a combo purse-diaper bag for little errands when I don’t want to carry my leather bag and a separate diaper bag, or when I don’t want to overload my good leather bag with too much junk. It’s also the perfect size for a library haul:
You can see a peek of the lining, which is Madrona Road Wild Carrot in Straw, which has turned out to be a surprisingly useful and versatile stash fabric. I’m sad that my 1-yd cut is almost gone! Outer fabrics are from Stamped by ELB for Kokka.
One final note re: this bag pattern: don’t be a lazy dummy like I was the first time I made this bag–BUY the fusible fleece, DON’T sub batting scraps and steam-a-seam, even if you’ve got them already laying around and you’re trying to be thrifty (ahem). Save yourself a panicked call to your sewing machine dealer, and two hours of wrassling with your machine, and just buy the fusible fleece. The end.
My third small finish was a little iPhone pocket (in some treasured Charcoal Sketch lined with some blue solid–also, fusible fleece!) for my husband, who tried to buy a fabric iPhone sleeve for $13 from Amazon while I was sitting right next to him. Eyeroll. I don’t have a picture, because he’s tried it and found it acceptable and it’s with him now!
Linking up to Finish it Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts, yay!
Very cute finishes. Love the fabric on the bag.
That is such a cute bag! I have had that pattern bookmarked for a while now… maybe it’s time to give it a go!
Love a good tote
I love both of these finishes! Stamped is such a great line, isn’t it? 🙂
What a great week! Love the hat and the bag (with a peek of Llama Llama!) – I’ve been a little obssessed with bag patterns lately (I’m already thinking about end of the year teacher presents) but haven’t narrowed it down yet. The necklace is gorgeous 🙂