Oberlin Tote Bag from Klum House

I made my first tote bag: the Oberlin from Klum House. I love it, and would probably make a ton of them if I had uses for a bunch of nice totes. I'd probably make a ton anyway, but luckily I'm easily distracted by the next project. 

I used this waxed canvas from Fabric.com. For my bag, I used the charcoal and moss colors. The fabric should crinkle and age really nicely, and the leather straps will darken after I've carried it for a while. 

If I were going to make another version, I think it would be really luxurious to make the whole bag out of leather or faux leather.

I bought a finishing kit from Klum House, too. They are great kits, including the leather straps and all the hardware so you don't have to track down individual pieces. You can choose the color of the leather (mine is tan) and the rivets (brass). 

If you don't want to buy a kit, you could make fabric straps and sew them on instead of using hardware. There is a zipper pocket inside, but you could easily find your own zipper or even add velcro instead. The Oberlin also has a magnetic closure at the top of the bag, but you could just omit it if you don't want to track one down. 

There's also a D-ring that I can clip my keys onto. Cute!

I love using this bag to carry our water bottles and snacks when we go to basketball practices or wherever we're going. It looks nice, sophisticated, and like I chose it on purpose. I have some very inexpensive, neon tote bags that I use for groceries, and I used to grab one of those to haul snacks as we were hurrying to leave the house. They looked cheap, like an afterthought, and not look at all stylish. This Oberlin is a nice upgrade to our basketball look.

Strathcona Sweater from Good Day, Night

This is the second sweater I made from my Make Nine plans for 2019. It's a mash-up between the Strathcona and Moosonee patterns from Tara-Lynn Morrison's Good Night, Day pattern book. 

Some of the stitches are stretched out a bit, but they may even out when I block it. 

How I combined the Strathcona and Moosonee: the construction is the same for the main part of both sweaters. I used the shorter collar from the Strathcona but lengthened the hem's ribbing like the Moosonee. 

I also made the sleeves a little more balloon-y like the Moosonee. I wanted them to be more balloonish but I ran out of yarn. I literally tied together scraps at the end to finish the sleeve hems. 

This is the Crazy Sexy Wool from Wool and The Gang, in Cameo Rose. It's great to work with, feels nice to knit and to wear. It doesn't split apart or tear. It's a little bit thicker than the roving I get from Bluprint. 

I love these chunky, minimalist sweaters. They work up so fast, it's super satisfying. I think they are really cute. I still need a coat with big, loose armholes and sleeves to wear over them. Have any pattern suggestions?