Last night I was packing up my stuff to take to a local crafting meetup and one of the wooden dowels on my grandmother's little stand-up crochet bag just... snapped.

I was crushed.

I've been using it for a few years now, since she passed in 2019, I think it was.

The fabric is threadbare and one of the seams has been slowly ripping further and further down the side. But I've kept using it nonetheless.

I've been thinking about making a new bag for the frame for a while. Like. Years. But... sewing is kind of my nemesis!

But I think she would actually be pretty tickled if I did that, especially if I used a fabric with my own artwork on it (I've been flirting with the idea of opening a Spoonflower shop).

Except. Last night I broke it.

But today? Today I fixed it.

I happened to have a dowel in the garage that I'd bought for something else and it was close enough to the right size. So I trimmed it down to the right length, sanded it, and replaced the broken one.

Luckily, the wood was soft enough that I didn't have to figure out how to drill holes into the ends of the dowel, so I was able to reassemble it (the dowel has to go through the fabric and the legs have to be crossed properly) and then just hold on tight and drive the screw in.

It stands up again, yay!

But it does still have that tear at the seam... Anybody wanna come teach me how to use my sewing machine?? Or help me set up a Spoonflower shop?

I really do think Grandma would have loved to see her crochet bag covered with Connie-made/designed fabric...

Anyway.

In other news, I've been trying really hard to rest my thumb, even holding my coffee in the other hand, which is hard to remember to do! And so I've only made a small amount of progress on my raglan sweater sample.

I'm also starting to feel like I might need to frog it and start again. The neckline could be a little snugger (or I could go back and add a ribbing, I suppose?) and I think I might need to start with fewer increases to make sure I get the right depth across different sizes. (Ah, math.)

But I haven't had the heart to pull it all out just yet. And so I just keep working on it here and there. But I'm about to run out of yarn, so that'll force a decision!

In the meantime, I'm excited to open a new box from the Heritage Wool Collective! I'll be live in the Facebook group tomorrow, Friday the 9th, at 1 pm Pacific/ 4 pm Eastern for the unboxing. You can RSVP here! (If you're not a member of the group yet, be sure to answer the questions and check the little box that says you agree to the group rules, please.)

All right I'm off to work on a different little woodworking project! (I'll share a picture if it turns out all right, ha ha.)

See you soon!

-Connie

P.S. Remember the beach babies from last week? You'll never believe THIS picture!