Grandmama, thank you again! I ended up making a couple of masks - they are definitely not donate-able, but they're functional, so I have one for shopping and my sister has one for when she has to go meet with people for work. My sewing machine decided to give me probably every problem it could besides breaking a needle. On the positive side, I discovered that a glass measuring cup heated with a little water in it made a pretty good iron for pressing the ties.

So glad you were able to put the shoelaces to good use! Have you made any more masks this week?

On the positive side, I discovered that a glass measuring cup heated with a little water in it made a pretty good iron for pressing the ties.

You are so resourceful! Way to go.

So glad you were able to put the shoelaces to good use! Have you made any more masks this week?

Yes, but just a couple for our family and any friends or neighbors who would like some to go grocery shopping. I tried ordering some colorful shoelaces on Amazon, but the expected delivery isn't until May. I'm thinking that I'm not the only person who discovered they make good ties.
I work part time at a fabric store and the bias tape display is almost entirely empty--people are making a lot of fabric face masks, I think! The elastic display has been empty for a couple of weeks already. The store is now closed--we are just trying to catch up with the backlog of online orders without the benefit of receiving much helpful new merchandise to stock. It's an interesting time, that's for sure.

I've been home in my own house for 10 days now, and in spite of its being on my original plan for the 14 day self-isolation (for arriving home from overseas), I have failed to do any sewing or knitting!

So, this week I must take out the gorgeous red wool that I bought nearly 3 years ago before leaving to live in UK, and choose a pattern to knit it with.

Also I need to look in my sewing box at a couple of items that I partly-sewed about 4 years ago.....

Thank you, Grandmama! Though I feel like now is certainly a time for resourcefulness if any.
I'm glad to hear you're able to make masks for your family and others needing them. I'm a little surprised your store has any bias tape left! If I'd had it with me, I would've used those before making ties as well. I hope catching up on the backlog goes well!

coracle, I hope you have success with choosing a pattern for your wool.

My knitting project last week - and probably for most of this week - is a string/market bag in blue cotton. I'm not sure when I'll be able to use it, though. The holes are about finger-sized, which was one of the attractive features about the pattern - and means it should work for a variety of things besides groceries/produce.

After some time of debating, I have FINALLY started knitting a thing. I just found a very simple washcloth online to knit 

...and I am now halfway through. I will say though, for whatever reason, doing a wrap-around is just not working out for me. They are either way too tight to where I can't do a good stitch on the way back through, or much too loose to try to compensate. I don't think it bodes well that the second stitch I've learned I cannot seem to master.

ANYWAYS, the goal is to finish up said washcloth, and then teach my own kids how to knit a scarf with the basic knit stitch. My daughter immediately got the hang of casting on, and she's the one that is very inclined to this sort of thing. My son is currently interested in learning too, but I doubt he'll stick with it. You never know though, he might really surprise me.

If I can manage to stick with it, this is probably my ultimate goal. I would imagine it would be a project that would literally take me  years to complete as half of a simple washcloth has taken me a week.  

One other thing, the first day I was working on it, I was so into it, I gave myself the most severe eye strain and headache that I've ever had. So I'm only allowing myself a couple rows at a time now while looking up often. Lesson learned! Knitting can be hazardous to your health.  

Yay for learning knitting, fantasia! I will say to give yourself time - I spent a while just doing the knit stitch before I learned the purl and then a while doing those before I learned wraparounds, etc. So, yes, it'll take a while getting the tension right before you feel happy with wraparounds - or other stitches. I hope finishing the washcloth goes well, and that the kids enjoy learning to knit too!

My knitting has definitely slowed down - I finished the market bag, but have yet to take it out for a test run. I am currently knitting a green wool cowl/scarf for myself. I made one for my sister a few years back and, while she likes it, it didn't turn out quite how I'd pictured. I'd written the pattern as I went, so I thought I would try again and see if I could get a second one closer to how I wanted. The bad news was that my pattern-writing was not well done and I couldn't really follow it for a second scarf. The good news is that I'm about halfway done with the new one now and I think I'm pretty happy with it so far - at least I'm writing a better pattern this time!

Soooooo..... after I posted the above, I went back to watch the video to refresh on how to decrease the number of stitches, and that's when I realized that I've been doing the knit stitch in reverse the whole entire time. No WONDER I was having trouble with the wrap around because that was going the correct direction. Anyways, I've continued to do the stitch backward for consistency because I really don't know what else to do. And I've started to do the wrap around stitch backwards because it just works better that way. But at the end of the day, it's looking like a washcloth and I've learned a whole lot just by doing things wrong. Hoping my next project will go better.  

Fantasia, there are two ways you can knit, resulting in two ways to purl.
You can put the needle into the back of the stitch, and then when you do the purl row (if doing stocking stitch), you put the needle into the other side of the stitch (correspondingly).

Conga rats on making a washcloth!!

Now, what I came here to write about:

My sewing materials, patterns, and things for knitting, embroidery etc, have been kept in a big plain wooden box for decades. (built by dad for camping in my childhood, and beautifully made with dovetailed corner joins).
Over the years I have packed material, remnants, decoration bits, zips etc, into plastic bags, to keep them safe and clean inside it, and projects I have not finished are packed separately.  
When I go away for longer than a few weeks, I hope it will all be fine when I return, but on both 2-year absences I have had to deal with chewing insects. Today I carefully emptied the box and found that only one plastic bag had been chewed - it must be a different plastic from the others (wonder if I should inform the 'posh' shop in town, whose bag it was!!).

Now I have laid out all my fabrics/materials, and I'm going to take a photo of each one (so nice to have a phone to do this so easily). Then I can load those onto my laptop as a useful record of what is there. I think I will also photograph all my paper patterns and knitting patterns, and maybe all the tools etc.

Has anyone ever taken a photographic record of their sewing/knitting/etc projects or materials?

fantasia, have you been able to finish your washcloth yet?

coracle, congrats on organizing your material stash! I haven't done a photographic record of my stashes, though I often try to take photos of finished projects.

Has anyone sewn a sunbonnet before? I was trying to figure out if I thought I could make one for my niece; I've found a few tutorials online and it doesn't look that complex.

@coracle, the box your dad made sounds like a lovely place to keep all the sewing bits together!

@valiantarcher, have you started a sunbonnet yet? I've never sewn one myself, but I've read a few tutorials. And I realized I do have a couple of kids sunbonnets in the costume tub that I can examine for reference if that'd be helpful. 

My current small project idea is still just an idea: I'm envisioning a set of dishtowels (to take on camping trips) that have LotR related quotes embroidered in the corner. My first idea was 'from the ashes a fire shall be woken' since 'not all who wander are lost' has started appearing on t-shirts and stuff. A second could be 'what about second breakfasts?' and I'm sure there are other outdoor/fellowship type quotes that I have yet to consider... 

@mel, no, I haven't. The tutorials mostly call for interfacing for the brim and I don't have any; someone recommending quilting several layers of muslin together, but that sounds a bit much for me. I know that the one sunbonnet we had in our dress-up tub had a cardboard brim, but a) it was never incredibly sturdy and b) I think it would be better to have something my sister could just toss in the washing machine without having to remove the brim (and c) we never could figure out exactly which way was the correct one to wear the bonnet because the brim wasn't really big enough ). I assume interfacing can just go through the washer?

Also, the dishtowels sound like a lot of fun! I love the idea - though, why limit their use to camping trips?  

@valiantarcher, correct, most interfacing is designed to be washed. If you don't like the quilting idea (honestly, straight lines is probably good enough, depending on how deep a brim you're making) maybe you'd be interested in cording the brim instead? (or, for even more work, quilt AND cord! )

As for the dishtowels, we already have some unique ones for home use, but I take your point.  

Posted by: @mel

I'm sure there are other outdoor/fellowship type quotes that I have yet to consider... 

"What do they eat when they can't get hobbit?"  

Thanks for the advice, @mel! Both quilting and cording the brim sound like too much work, but we'll see. I am testing out some fusible interface we found at the bottom of one of my mom's sewing boxes as we speak.  

Oooh, excellent idea, @fantasia.  

Since I came home nearly 10 months ago, I have tried not to buy any new clothes, as I have lots already (bought a few in UK over previous couple of years), and have also been making do with the towels and sheets I have.  [I did buy a couple of comfy hoodies while in US in Feb-March]
One or two things have little problems, so I have a growing pile of good old fashioned mending to do! My most urgent is a pair of home made needlecord trousers with a zip (zipper) on the side instead of the front. It was one of a pack of cheap zips, and will no longer stay up! It will be much easier than trying to replace a front zip.
I'm nearly finished the main knitting of my red cardigan, for which my goal is to have it ready next weekend.