Cathy's Big Day, Her New Bag + Knitting Contrissmas

My very good friend Cathy Payson is celebrating a really big birthday this week. Cathy is one of the most generous people on the planet and an amazing knitter and designer. She churns out gift after gift, barely ever making anything for herself to keep. This is what kind of friend Cathy is... When Julia was in the hospital in Boston many times in her first few years of life, Cathy stopped by our "hotel room" (as Julia called it) with fresh dark roast coffee and breakfast for me. Unless you have been stuck in a hospital for several days taking care of a sick child with compromised health, not knowing what is going to happen, you can never know what a nice gift that is. The friendly company, supportive smile and conversation, gossip mags to read and good coffee..... I will never forget that for the rest of my life.

I wanted to mark her big day with a really nice gift. And I knew I had to make it because Cathy would appreciate it. I hate making things for someone who doesn't know what goes into them. Cathy, like every true knitter, has a lot of bags for carrying various projects. She lives in Boston and travels on the "T" (Boston's Public Transport system of buses and subways) and she always has her knitting with her. I thought she might like a handmade bag to carry her knitting. Cathy loves the color orange and luckily I found some beautiful orange wool coating fabric. I found some pretty cotton fabrics for the lining fabric in my stash and started sewing.

I must say, I love to make bags - they are quick to make and not too hard. They don't have to fit anyone and they make a fun statement. Here's the bag I made Cathy. It has short fabric handles like a shopping bag. I also made a long strap that is tucked inside in the photo so she can sling it over her head and shoulder in that city kind of way.

Before I sewed the lining in, I hand-sewed some of my Felted Zinna Flowers from my new PDF Pattern onto the wool. The flowers remind me of the Mary Quant flowers from their 60's packaging - love their bright colors and smily feeling. Each flower was decorated with French knots. Here is the link to buy the pattern on my website or on Ravelry. The cost is $6.00 and they make great quick gifts to knit.

Cathy is off on a big trip to celebrate her birthday with her twin sister and the orange bag is going with her filled with her knitting. What a nice thought - my friend enjoying her birthday with her sister and exploring a new country. Happy Birthday Cathy!

Hop on over to the Knitting Contrissmas series done by Tina. I'm the featured interview today. The series interviews creative people the first 25 days of December. What a great thing Tina is doing for the creative community - energizing all of us by reading about creative people. Thank you Tina for inviting me.