Well not today exactly. But a year ago, I blogged about Treaty Oak. It’s one of my favorite places in all of Jacksonville.

This year I’ve published a bag that was inspired by the tree – the aptly named Treaty Oak Bag. See how the swirls echo the patterning in the wood?

It’s a perfect beginner Fair Isle project. Some of the floats are long, but any mistakes you make will be covered up by felting. Plus with the big needles and bulky yarn the project goes fast. And for blocking, it fits perfectly over a gallon vinegar jug, so no worries there!

Treaty Oak is 250 plus year old oak tree that sits in a beautiful park in Jacksonville, Florida. Everything that is beautiful and right about old trees can be found in the benches that are built under its canopy. The knots and swirls of its mammoth branches are echoed in this felted bag worked up in three shades of woodsy brown. This is the perfect beginner fair-isle pattern. Although the floats are long, any mistakes you make will come out in the wash.

Needles: Size 13 (9.0 mm) 24″ circular and dpns (or size to get gauge

Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Bulky 113g, 125 yards – 1 ball each of Sable, Wild Oak, and Oatmeal.

Size: Finished bag measures approximately 10×5×11 inches

Gauge: 12 sts and 24 rows to 4 inches before felting, and 16 sts and 28 rows to 4 inches after felting

Ravelry Link

$4.75 USD

It’s been a very long week. I’ve been full of ideas, but not full of energy. I’ve not been sleeping well. At all. I’m not quite sure what to do about it. I did have fun with the boys on their first full week of summer vacation. We did the library, the bookmine, the park (3 times), and the art museum. I need to do some pre-planning for this week so the boys and I have lots of fun.

In the shop I’ve added a couple of bags…

And I spent a long day cutting out fabrics for other models.

Oh and also, everything in the shop right now has free shipping! All these new ideas need fresh capital to get them going. So some things are on sale, and **everything** is set up for free shipping. Also, if you are buying more than one item, send me a convo and I’ll give you a discount.

I decided to work today. I got up, I fixed the men some breakfast, I did some basic tidying, and then I got to work. There was a lot of ironing involved. Ironing is not my favorite thing. But I did learn something. A spray bottle full of water is the ironing woman’s best friend. Truly.

I decided it was high time I use up some of that fabric I’ve been stockpiling. Many, many prototypes had been sewn, and I was finally happy with things, as I told you earlier this week. So this is what I ended up with…

Bighugelabs seems to be down today. So no fancy mosaic for you! Anyhow, I made bags. Twelve of them. And I plan on making more. This seems to be a good way to bring in a little money (I need yarn to design with!!) and they are actually quite fun to make. I see a trip back out to the mega quilt shop in Trenton in my near future.