I started a new job two weeks ago, and even though it is only part time, I’ve had a bit of a time juggling my schedule and keeping things running smoothly at home. Not to mention, I’ve been exhausted afterwards as, I am not used to being on my feet for that long–everything I do, I do on my butt it appears. I read a lot–on my butt, I write a lot–on my butt, I surf the web and code web pages–on my butt, I go to college and do schoolwork–on my butt, I homeschool–mostly on my butt…and I knit/crochet–on my butt. You can see the pattern. My feet are feeling better finally but I have done almost zero knitting/crocheting other than a few stitches on my ripple blanket.

Wish BagThen Saturday night I thought I’d do something tiny and fun. My friend’s daughter (Sherry’s grand-daughter) was being dedicated on Sunday and I wanted to do something a little different for her. I’d been studying fairy tales a lot for my last major assignment in college last semester, not to mention a life long love of fairy tales–and the idea of people or fairies being invited to christenings or dedications to leave wishes is not a new one (think Sleeping Beauty). So I decided to make her a Wish Bag and put four symbolic wishes in it.

I used the Amulet Pouch pattern from Magknits’ Nov 2005 issue which I had first seen on Dawn’s blog and thought was adorable. I used Koigu KPPM fingering weight yarn with size US2 dpn’s and a small crochet hook for the chained rope. This was a very fun, very quick (one sit-down) project that I will definitely be making again.

Wish Bag--contentsAs for the wishes, I used a candle for fire, a feather for air, a rock for earth, and a shell for water. I also included a mini version of the poem Shine that I believe everyone should memorize, and children should be made to memorize at a young age to bring up a generation of people who truly shine. It was a lot of fun to put together–Bella is a sweet baby and I wish her a beautiful life well lived.

On the concept of wishes, I was quite impatiently waiting for a Ravelry invite and was able to get a hold of one much to my excitement.  I just started playing around with it yesterday but I’m loving it so far. My current favorite aspect is the needle/hook checklist that allows you to print a small pocket version AND allows you to text from your cell phone if a pattern you are buying needs a certain size needle–it will text back whether you have that size and how many you have. THAT is cool, and very very useful when out yarn shopping. Anyway, a lot of people have done detailed overviews, so I won’t do that, but it looks to be a great online resource/tool. My username is bkellya for those on it.