Sweater Mittens

A while back (okay honestly in December I think), I went to a craft fair where they had some adorable sweater mittens, but I didn't have $30 to spend on a pair of them.  Sad day.  Instead I started scouring the web for a free pattern, but wasn't that surprised that I couldn't find one that worked well.  I did find a few, but they weren't very accurate and didn't make sense proportionally.  Five attempts later, I finally figured one out myself.

What do you think?  What should I do to make them better (or do you miraculously like them this way already)?  I'd love to hear your feedback!

The cuffs on the white pair turned out a lot better than than teal pair.  I'm still trying to figure out why and how to fix that so the wrist cuff lays flatter.  (I think they look a lot better on, but since I already mailed off this pair to my sister-in-law, I can't take any more pictures of them on to prove it to you.)

Some constructive criticism would really be great!  How would you want them changed if I were to send a pair to you?

Essentials Bag

For Christmas, my husband's family always does stockings.  I didn't grow up with them, so the concept is still a new one that I struggle each year to figure out what in the world I'm going to do for.  This year, I made all of the girls a little thing I like to refer to as The Essentials Bag.  If you have a giant purse like I do, you know that it's easy to lose stuff in the bottom of it that you need but maybe don't use all the time: chap stick, lotion, lipgloss, etc.  You know, essentials.  (My list is a lot longer, but I don't want to scare you.)  A smaller zippered bag that can fit inside of my purse sounded like the perfect solution!

I wish I knew which website I got this idea from, but my inspiration was pre-Pinterest, and I foolishly didn't bookmark it.  So to whoever it was who geniusly came up with the design for this bag, I'm really sorry that I'm not giving you the credit.  I got the tutorial for how to make a basic zippered bag from MADE and embellished it from there. You can find the basic tutorial for how to make a zippered bag here.

This Essentials Bag is for my niece, who just turned 10.  Happy birthday, Liz!  While she probably doesn't have a gigantic bag that needs some organizing, I'm hoping she can get some good use out of it anyway.  A girl can never have too many purses and bags, right?

UPDATE:  I found the original designer, Anna Graham over at Noodlehead.  She even has a tutorial for how to make the bag.  (She calls it the Gathered Clutch.)  Hop on over to Noodlehead and check it out!