Fibermania

Purses

At knitting yesterday our guild president brought in this adorable felted purse (and wore that AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS SWEATER) and we all ooohed and ahhed over the cuteness of this purse. It was made from an existing sweater, felted, cut and sewn to make this item.

The flowers, also so adorable where cut from strips of the felted wool and applied by hand. The striped bottom (perfect!) was the yoke of the former sweater. The straps of twisted yarn were slipped through holes in the purse and because it is felt the holes held the straps securely.

I admit I am usually not much of a felt lover, and yet this one piqued my interest enough to dig out my camera. Something about the cleverness or recycleability of the old sweater sent a zing through my mind.

But it ended there. When it comes to purses, I usually leave mine in the car.

Here's my dear old purse and you can see it is tiny. I like it because it fits snugly in the door pocket of my van, out of sight, but handy should I get pulled over and need to get my license out quickly. (never happens, but you know, just in case).

I have nothing in there but 11 dollars, some change and my IDs, a pen, and credit cards...2 which I usually only take one into the store with me. What else does one need?

I learned to pare down what I carry when I was on the road teaching. The supplies I brought to class were enough lugging and I wore a small cloth pocket around my neck with my room keycard, a few dollars and my credit card. I left the rest at home and found I never needed it.