fulled sweaters and some sheets

If I had called this post "full-a sheet" would you have had any idea what I was talking about? Just some corny, foul-mouthed wordplay.

Somebody should probably tell me that birthdays aren't like weddings, and that the within-one-year-equals-OK etiquette doesn't apply here. These bags were both birthday presents for my sisters. I won't say when their birthdays were.

The gift idea started with the gray wool bag for Lizzie. Some seven years ago, Lizzie had a roommate who was particularly bad about borrowing and ruining clothing. The roommate borrowed this gray sweater and washed it, shrinking it to an unwearable size. At the time I thought I might one day hook rugs, so Lizzie gave it to me to cut into strips. I never made a rug, but I started seeing people doing cool bags with felted sweaters, and I decided that that was what I should do with Lizzie's sweater. Nearly two years later, I've actually done it!

I cut off the sleeves and the hood, and I shaped the body a little. I used a vintage sheet for the binding and the lining. I think it's really cute and I hope she likes it.

Jocie's bag is similar, but without the history. It comes from a sweater I found at a garage sale. It was J Crew and it came pre-felted, so you know that was someone's worst day. There is nice depth of color in the wool. The bag has a sheet lining too, and I really like its braided, knotted handles.

I really want my sisters to play scrablicious with me on facebook, but so far no luck. Jocie said that it made me the biggest dork ever. Online scrabble with my offline friends--what wrong with that!? Possibly it's the fact that I only just joined facebook, and only so I can play scrabble?