Dixie's Dragon: Almost December

Back from a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Carrigan clan in Indiana. We ate, knitted, sewed, ate, ate, decorated my mother in-law's beautiful Victorian home for Christmas, ate, knitted and watched all the little cousins play happily together.

Big Merrill (my father in-law after whom my daughter Meryl Delaney is named) dug up some leather tools for me. I have been interested in trying leather handles on my felted bags, and, not only did Big Merrill find the tools, he took me and Shaun to an Amish leather shop a few farms away. Shaun and Merrill test drove the riveting tool and I rummaged through some leather remnants for straps. We got to watch, Mervin, the son of the shop owner trim up the straps for us in his little Amish boy outfit (why do Amish boys always wear watch caps?).

I have decided to show the step by step process on this bag to keep me from lolly-gagging in completing it. It is going to be a really family affair of a bag since: (a) I plan to use the leather straps with my father in-law's tools, (b) Shaun will work the tools, and (c) my mother in-law, Pat gave me the orange yarn (she said it is at least 20 years old). Here is the bag after two washings. Obviously, it has not been blocked. I am admiring the muted stockinette pattern that shows after 2 washes and am debating whether to wash it again and completely remove any evidence of knitting.

Delaney constantly reminds me to look at things from a different perspective. She was pottering around in my office playing with some yarn and suddenly exclaimed, look, a dragonfly!