Vacation for some, work for others

This past week has been odd.  Pokey and Hobbit were both on vacation and I had to work all week. It made for some very off kilter nights, as they will both stay up all hours of the night and I have to go to bed by 11 o'clock at the latest to be coherent enough to work in the morning at 8am.  Then, while I was at work at 8 o'clock, they would roll out of bed around my lunch hour after noon.  Thankfully, it's all winding down - Pokey goes back to work on Monday and Hobbit is going back on her school bed schedule this week because she has orientation on the 20th and back to school on the 24th!

I have knit very little this past week. I made Hobbit a finger less mitt to go with one I had made back around Easter.  She now has  a complete set. While I've not been knitting, I have been getting geared up to get to know my sewing machine better!  I bought a ton of fat quarters, interfacing, and notions to make project bags.

They are super cute, aren't they!

The first type I wanted to try was the Japanese Knot Bag.  I tried two tutorials - Stacy Sews and Schools' DIY Japanese Knot Bag which has an envelop bottom and Helen Heaths' Japanese Knot Bag Tutorial which has a circular bottom.

I learned a lot with both of them and the main thing that I'm taking away is that I am not a Japanese Knot Bag kind of girl.  I like box bags or totes. I thought these would be cute for little odds and ends projects but honestly, I don't do odds and ends projects.  Most of what I knit or crochet is big and it needs a bigger bag.  While I highly recommend both - as they are very nice - I think my next adventure in sewing will be towards a tote bag and then a box bag.

I like them both but if I could take the handles from the envelop and put them on the other bag, it would be perfect.