Mess-ups and Fix-its

Perfectionist, me? Nah... Well, wait, yes, a little bit. Ever been overly confident about a project that you knew was going to come out just perfectly? Well, let me tell you a little story.

Title: The Curious Case of the Knitting Needle Roll-Up

Scene 1: The lights on the stage come up slowly as the camera pans around to find Samantha at her ironing board. She gazes at the fabric that she has chosen adoringly. She glances down at the pattern in her new book (Sew What! Bags, by Lexie Barnes) for the Artist's Roll. Samantha is so proud of herself for not only taking on this project, but trying to convert it to a knitting needle case herself. This is going to be a great way to store those needles, and so cute in green and flowers.

Scene 2: The camera focuses on the sweat dripping off of Samantha's face and zooms out to see that she is dreaming of tearing her beautiful green fabric to shreds. Her frustration is shown clearly through her clenched fists and her disheveled hair. The scene ends with Samantha throwing her iron through the window.

Get the idea? If you have ever worked on a project all day just to find that it turns out to be a major disappointment, you know exactly what I'm talking about. First thing, this turned out to be a stitching nightmare the way it was done in the pattern. Basically, this is a flat piece with two rows of pockets. The pockets can be however large you need, but mine are about 1 1/2 inches-2 inches for knitting needles. For stitching, the pattern calls for you to stitch all the way up on each compartment, but if I redo this project, I would stop at the top pocket. It also calls for the use of batting for delicate items, which my needles are. But, I HATED the way it came out with batting. Next time I will use fusible interfacing (I prefer thin Pellon, but this project could call for a little bit thicker interfacing). Then, the top can be folded over and it can roll up and tie together for storage. In general, I like the idea of it, but I will be rewriting a pattern. When I get it done, I'll post the pattern.

Conclusion: I did the best to fix my project (Finished time: 4 hours). But, mainly I just learned for the future. I know exactly what I'll do differently next time, and I jotted down some reminders and tips for myself. My goal for the next roll up is under 2 hours. Wish me luck.