BumpyCrafts TAAT Sock Project Bag Review

BumpyCrafts TAAT (two at a time) Sock Project Bag Review

I recently won this project bag in a giveaway on Instagram and thought I'd write a quick review on it. I'm not 100% sure how I came across this amazing maker but I'm glad I did, her work is impeccable and I love her designs. This bag is the small two at a time bag with divider, it also comes in 2 bigger sizes, medium and large, and you can also choose whether or not you want the divider, and of course she has a large range of fabrics including some rather gorgeous Christmas ones! This review is 100% honest and all opinions are my own.

It's the perfect cross between a tote and a drawstring bag, the drawstring part is sewn to the top of the bag so it's all one unit, so there's no worrying about it falling out or being misplaced. This particular bag was made using a fun fancy dress cat Halloween themed fabric for the outside, red polkadots for the drawstring part and a lovely pumpkin orange for the inside, I am in no way a cat person but this fabric just made me smile when it appeared in my feed and I had to enter, there's just something amusing about seeing a cat dressed up as Dracula and Frankenstein!

Outside Pocket

Side View

If you look at the moon behind the cat dressed as a bat in the photo on the left above then you'll just about see the invisible outside pocket, I've found this very handy for keeping stitch markers, a tape measure and a scrap piece of yarn in for when I take my socks off the needles to try them on. The drawstring closes tightly so there's no worry about pets getting in and stealing anything (trust me I know... my dog has tried and failed much to his displeasure), as you can see from the photos it has a square bottom so it can stand on it's own competently, the straps are strong and a good length just perfect for hanging it over your forearm.

Inside Pocket

Inside View

The bag easily has enough room for 2 separate yarn cakes or balls, one on either side of the divider, I have never knitted socks two at a time so I can't comment on how easy it is to use this bag for those projects, but as you can see I've got both of my yarn cakes ready to use and I like to use the divider pocket to hold the sock I'm working on I also cross over the tips of my circular needles and use the little white ribbon loops to hold the stitches on my needles by hooking them over the top. There is also a decent sized inside pocket with the BumpyCraft label on it which I use to store the ball band of the yarn I'm using for future reference.

All in all I love this bag, it's great quality, fit for purpose and very handy. I have had a browse through her Etsy store and there are so many great fabrics, bag styles, needles cosys etc to choose from! Have a look I'm sure she's got something that will catch your eye and if you can't find your perfect bag then don't fret because she also does custom orders, so there really is something for everyone!! You can find BumpyCraft on Instagram and Etsy 

What I've Been Up To This Week! (Week ending Oct 22nd 2017)

What I've Been Up To This Week!!

It has been one busy crafty week for me! I decided last weekend after seeing a pattern for West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas socks on Instagram that I needed to learn to knit socks, I've been a knitter for as long as I can remember but I have never attempted a pair of socks so I had no idea where to begin which meant a trip to my local yarn store! The owner is fantastic and she helped me choose some KnitPro Symfonie fixed circular needles, some Pony DPN's and I grabbed a ball of Stylecraft Head Over Heels sock yarn in the Etna colour way too. Armed with my new purchases I found my way to The Winwick Mum blog and started following her Sockalong posts, which are fantastic for sock knitting newbies, but I would definitely read them all the way through before trying to follow them because some of the instructions follow on or have extra tips further down the page. ! I got past the heel turn and gusset and was working on the foot section then tried my sock on again and came to the decision that I'm far too fussy with my socks to wear anything that is even slightly baggy on my feet, so I got some smaller needles and started again and the difference .75mm makes is crazy, my sock doesn't just feel better it looks so much better to, as you can see below.

First sock attempt using 3.25mm needles

Second sock attempt using 2.5mm needles

I then made another trip to the yarn store later on in the week because the new West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas sock yarn and pattern was due in, I didn't find out until I got down there that the pattern I saw on Instagram was for last years sock not this years and I was more than a little bit pleased when I saw the new colours because they are SO me, I just love how bright and happy they are and the first thing I think of when I look at them is definitely candy canes! The pattern is designed by Christine from The Winwick Mum blog, and you get it for free when you buy the candy cane yarn. I'm so excited to use this gorgeous yarn but I want to have one completed pair of socks done before I use it, it's all good because I've got time before Christmas comes around, I also grabbed some Kuszty Rose Quartz stitch markers which are so cute and a Stylecraft Special DK Shade Card because you can never go wrong with shade cards or yarn pegs!

WYS Christmas sock yarn!! Left to right Cayenne Pepper, Candy Cane and Chocolate Lime.

My amazing sister was talking to me one night and I told her about the Tunisian Crochet that I had been trying as part of the Super Simple Tunisian Crochet Along that Claudia from the Crochet Luna vlogcast and Hannah from The Cozy Cottage Crochet podcast are hosting. I told her about a particular bomber jacker pattern that I really wanted to do as a result of the CAL and that I'd need to buy slightly different hooks than what I had because of the stitch count and she bought me a set of KnitPro Symfonie Interchangeable Tunisian Hooks that I had been eyeing up for Christmas, AND gave them to me early just in case I managed to start my jacket before Christmas. I REALLY love the chevron detailing and the colours on the KnitPro Symfonie range but these are something else, the neon colour coded cables are awesome and I can't wait to use my new hooks there is just something so satisfying when you're tools are just as pretty as the items you are making.

KnitPro Symfonie Interchangeable Tunisian Crochet Hooks

Look at those colours!!

If you follow me on Instagram then you will have seen the yarn for this WIP I have also been working on, it's an infinity scarf/cowl that I found on Ravelry called Kaitlyn by Cheryl Chow. It's going to be a Christmas present for a friend of mine, I'm using the Hufflepuff hand dyed 4ply yarn from Vicki Brown Designs because she is a total Potterhead and Pottermore sorted her into Hufflepuff so it had to happen. I'm about halfway through now and I am really loving the stitch pattern and the way the colours play out from the yarn. The friend who it's for chose the pattern and yarn but the final product will be a surprise so I'm not posting any pictures until she's actually got it so you'll be waiting a few months to see that, sorry, alternatively you could also pop over to my Ravelry and have a look at the project page for it :).

Hufflepuff Yarn from Vicki Brown Designs

I have been trying to work on my Scheepjes Garden Room Tablecloth kit but that isn't quite going to plan at the moment because my hands get quite dry in the winter and are prone to splitting open due to eczema, the Maxi Sweet Treat/Maxi Bonbon/Maxi Sugar Rush are lace weight yarns which can slice my skin open in this weather. So that WIP has gone away until the weather and my skin gets a bit better.

I don't like having too many WIPs on the go so that's all I've really got to talk about this week, I have been planning some other Christmas gifts that I'm hoping to start real soon!

My Lost in Time Shawl

Pattern: Lost in Time by Mijocrochet

Yarn: Scheepjes Whirl in Lemon Cassis Cream

and Scheepjes Catona in Old Lace

Hook: 4mm Clover Amour 

So, much like everyone else I have become OBSESSED with gradient yarns... for me the Scheepjes Whirl was a total must have, every time they post about their new colours I immediately have a new favourite, I always knew that when I got one that I'd make a triangle shawl with it and after hours of scrolling through Ravelry I had my pattern, the Lost in Time Shawl by Mijocrochet.

Pattern

I wasn't a very experienced crocheter when I attempted this project, in fact I think it was only my second proper project, the pattern was well written and has photos to explain certain rows, but I would suggest reading the pattern to the end of the row to make sure you know exactly what to do before you start as there is a slight difference in how the pattern is written as the designer is from Sweden, the charts were handy to have as well because of this, on the whole though I didn't find the pattern too hard to follow and the trick is to keep an eye on your stitch count. At the beginning it's not really a problem as the rows are smaller, I was able to tell by eye if there was something not quite right but when you get into the repeats it can get hard and the last thing you want is to have to frog any of the longer rows! So my advice is don't be afraid to use stitch markers to keep track of the repeats within the rows and take breaks, it refreshes your eyes and your focus and will make the whole thing so much more enjoyable.

Yarn

The Scheepjes Whirl is incredible to work with, the colour changes are so subtle as they happen one strand at a time that I didn't realise that some of them were even happening, you can't see the joins either, as you are working it up you'll see a kind of fluffy bit but when it's worked in you can't see it at all which is amazing! I'm quite a tight crocheter so I used a 4mm hook and managed to do 6 swag sections in total + the border and 2 tassels with one Whirl, I used Catona for the very last row of the border because I tried to continue using the Whirl and decided that it didn't really look finished, so I tried the Catona that I had left over from my Hygge Shawl kit and was pleasantly surprised with the effect and decided to finish it off with it.

All in all I was really pleased with this project, I think the yarn and pattern are perfect together and I love how the colours of the Whirl make the different stitches pop. I will definitely use the Scheepjes Whirl again, in fact I have a few projects in mind already, and I wouldn't hesitate to do another pattern from Mijocrochet either.