You can never own too many bags 😂.👜🎒

This one came with the Scheepjes yarn pack for the blanket crochet along, it's just a tote but big and strong with one inside pocket. Could be used for anything.

This shows the pink Artbin tote alongside the one I bought from eBay which was the exact same design as the ones everyone was buying back then but only around £12.

I think I paid about £15 for the Artbin one, and it was the one I bought first. At them time they were being advertised and raved about and mine came from the USA. It is lightweight and the one I grabbed to go to the A&E (emergency dept) every time I had to take my husband. It has a carry handle on the top, and a shoulder strap that can be attached in two different ways - or it could until one of the plastic D rings broke early on. I should try and find a replacement.

This tote comes in other colours and is widely available in the UK now. It is just one compartment inside, with a pocket on the front. It's lightweight and can hold quite a lot, but yarns do get tangled.

  It also comes with a detachable pencil case sized bag, this can be very annoying when full of hooks as it bangs against you or the bag and rattles as you walk.

It has two slots in the top with rounded ends for yarn to go through without opening it, unfortunately the yarn jumps out through the slots often as you crochet, things can fall out when it's carried sideways, and dogs can take yarn out through the slots as can children (so you could be sat next to kids somewhere and never know they have taken your yarn). It also has no ridgidity so flops when not so full.

This organiser has 6 compartments of clear pvc, divided by clear pvc which is not sealed at the bottom, so things could move possibly. three of the compartments have zipped openings at the front so you could shove more yarn in, or untangle jammed yarn I guess but not for all the compartments. It has a clear pocket either side, a shoulder strap but no carry handles apart from that, and there is a storage compartment behind the yarn compartments. The problem with this design is that if you are working on a project and it is attached to the yarn there is no way of putting it in the storage compartment without cutting the yarn and taking it out of the holes. I knew this was an issue when I bought it, but wanted to organise my Persian Tiles blanket yarn, that blanket is still unfinished by the way.

The lid has 6 holes to feed the yarn through to work. The lid doesn't fix down in any way and is rigid, as you work if you don't rewind your yarn into cakes or have centre pull yarn the yarn will jump out of the organiser, there is nothing to stop it, the lid just pops up. Also the clear pvc can build up static or a sort of stickyness and stop the yarns moving so freely.

A bag and box line up. Despite owning two lovely yarn bowls and these totes I am working out of the pvc storage bag at the very back which was in a pack of two for £2.99 from B&M lol, mainly to keep the dog away from the yarn!

I thought I would take some photos of the new bag with the iPad to make them easy to add to blogger - Nah! iPad photos not an option to add so I had to retake them.

It is by Teamoy and I got it on Amazon, no discounts or freebies for me but I keep hoping! These come in black or grey dots, and I kept adding to the basket, thinking about it then finding they were sold out again. I kept missing them. Then I could have had a black one, which strangely cost more. This one cost £27.99 and I had a voucher to use, the black one was £32 at one point but I waited until this one came back into stock and grabbed it right away!

It has pockets all round, front and back spotty pockets zipped, and each side one clear pocket and one spotty.

The top is clear, and has a clear zipped long pocket one side that can hold knitting needles or Tunisian crochet hooks, or just more crochet hooks.

It has two carry handles and a shoulder strap with attactive matching padded bit.

The front pocket contains more pockets and loops for crochet hooks or tools. The side pockets are large enough to take a magazine.

The yarn compartments are material, and each one is totally seperate, no gaps at the bottom of the dividers. The clear lid on this half zips closed and has 6 grommits to feed the yarn though, it also has little velcro straps on the edge to keep the yarn in place.

One of the best features is the storage compartment next to the yarn, behind the yarn if you like, is large and has it's own seperately opening clear lid, the one with the needles compartment. This is fixed by two poppers. I might add a bit of velcro to the centre which is not fixed at the moment, but it kind of overlaps so might not work, as there is a velcro strip already for the yarn loop holders a small bit with loops would be all that I need to add. This bag is so well designed and addresses all the problems that the other two have, the only issue will be the weight of this. It's fairly heavy with my pure wool blanket CAL in it, and I haven't added all the crochet hooks and tools. It would be great to take on holiday with everything you need in one place.

While I was looking for previous photos of the bags I found the previous photo I blogged of me wearing the cardigan and I though I would show them together so you can see the difference.

  

I was thinking of frogging it back then.

The belt thing not quite working lol.

I can see a difference and it fits better now but I've still got a way to go on my Slimming World journey.

T for Tuesday by the bag lady.

 I'm strangely excited by this new bag described as a knitting organiser. I'm going to post more details in a comparison of the bags I have so far.This is the new bag and my lovely sheep mug full of raw cacao hot chocolate. There seems to be a shortage of ground vanilla at the moment and I've nearly run out. Can't buy it anywhere! It's time for T on Tuesday at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place and I have to apologise once more for not visiting all the lovely people who left me comments last time.

This was supposed to be a comparison shot, might have to redo these.

Sooty just had to be in the picture!

After the heatwave of the last week we had to have thunderstorms and torrential rain. Trapped in the greenhouse Luna decided to sample the bamboo which might have been a bad idea because she's now got an upset tummy!

I bought some cravats for the dogs which donates money to the D.O.G rescue charity in Cyprus and they badly need funds to pay the kennel fees for all the dogs in their care.

We went to another fun dig show and both dogs won a rosette this time. Sooty was so proud of his!

Finally some crochet. I made this cardigan from an Inside Crochet pattern ages ago and now I've lost more weight I like it. It's supposed to be worn with a narrow belt but I think I want a few buttons. I've done this post on my secondhand iPad and I now know it's not easy!

Confessions of a bad blogger again (T for Tuesday too)!

 I haven't blogged on here since January I just realised so this could be a loooong post!

 I don't think anyone ever "gets over" watching a loved one get sick and die however one has to make the most of the rest of one's life, or give up and die too! I have two small grand children to love and who visit from time to time, can't be moping round weeping all the time.
So I tried to get myself back paper crafting, I bought a new desk unit with lots of storage and I got Quirky Crafts Challenge blog up and running again with new team members, thought it would get me crafting again and using my new unit. Then in Jan my dad was diagnosed with terminal malignant melanoma (skin cancer), the same cancer that killed my husband. The worst part for me was taking him to appointments at the same hospital department with the same medical staff and hearing the same words.
Dad was looking after Mum as she had spinal surgery a year ago and is still not as mobile as she would like to be, then he collapsed and a few weeks later he died. So you can see why blogging has not been my top priority. The ordeal continues as we deal with various matters, and I have had to help Mum get to the bank and other places, as well as helping Mother in Law who had a number of falls.

I have continued to crochet when I can, and when I asked my nearly 5 year old grandson if he thought his sister would like this rabbit from an Easter Supplement with Simply Crochet magazine he said "can I have one too?".
I was using up some odd balls of King Cole Cottonsoft for the bunnies, Edward bunny was armless on Easter Sunday, but had arms by the end of the day. Kenny left him here so I could dress him, and I had to improvise as no boy bunny outfit was provided in the patterns. I used the duck's wellies, made the bloomers into shorts with no scalloped edging and used the bodice of the dress then lengthened it and widened it to fit the bunny shape. I just love the little crocheted tails which poke out of the bloomers/shorts!

Girl bunny was renamed Esme, originally Esmeralda which is a mouthful for an 18 month old!

I had started this top before the bunnies, it was a Two Brother's Blanket crochet along and I have done much more but it isn't finished. I stopped to do bunnys and missed the CAL deadline.

To start the top I stopped the Simply Crochet blanket CAL, better get back and finish it as the next mag must have the joining instructions and I am way behind!

This was a freebie notebook with a heart to crochet with Simply Crochet.

This was a Chinese mug and infuser I bought in an auction to help Cyprus doggies, the infuser and lid arrived in one piece. I was offered a replacement but I declined and said let the dogs have the money.

I was really pleased to find this mug on Amazon, I have used very big bone china mugs for a long time - just for me, everyone else uses normal sized ones when they visit! This mug holds 600ml, which is a pint or more, and is nicer quality than the other one I have that I couldn't find anywhere. There are many designs, this dog one is missing Schnauzers in any form, it has dogs inside and all around, info on dogs but that isn't the main reason I bought it. It was the cheapest one at around £15 (the fact I am a dog lover helps). It is full of fruit tea here and so it is perfect for T on Tuesday at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place.

I made a toddler poncho from some patterns I sort of won, but had to pay for. I didn't realise I would have to pay or I might not have entered the draw. I felt I should go ahead once I realised, and I got 200 patterns for £11.99 but they are all babies and toddler patterns so limited use.

Poncho is huge, well the neck is, here modelled by a nearly 5 year old!

Luna has been here over 4 months now, hard to believe and she has come on so much. Sooty is still scared of her when she plays - she is a bit rough, and he is nearly 13 years old - but I am seeing signs of progress. He likes to get in his den under my computer desk when I am in here, and Luna joined him a few times. If I pushed back my chair to look or snap a photo he shot out of there like a rocket! He wouldn't try and push past her and he wasn't staying there with her, but this week she has been in there first and he has been jostling to push by and get in besides her! 

She is still wary to scared of some men, she has got used to most traffic and is perfectly house trained. She likes apples but not pears, and sometimes will eat carrot but not often, she would rather have a chunk of banana.

People keep telling me she has grown, I don't know if she has her back is the same length but she has put on nearly 3kg since she got here and the vet assures me she is just right still, so it must have gone somewhere!

She also got a certificate of achievement for staying for two minutes at dog training, they both love going to that each week.

 Walking in the fields, she loves to have a run and boy is she fast! She will come back when she runs off after another dog, but I am always on tenterhooks wondering if she will!

We went to our first ever dog show for both dogs, just a fun one and I had to take them both into the ring. Luna got a rosette for 6th best rescue dog. She was exhausted because we walked there and back again as well.

 I could go on, but this post is over long already!

Almost missed T for Tuesday!

Is it Tuesday???? I thought it was Monday all afternoon, got confused! I am sorry I haven't been round and commented, I really meant to, and the reason I am showing you the photo above is that it is T on Tuesday time at Elizabeth and Bleubeard's place!

This is the view from my bed, I make a flask jug of chamomile and peppermint tea to take up with me, bought the jug for Hubby for when he came home but he never did. The book is one my Mum gave me and I haven't read yet because I am reading 25 novels of John Buchan, which I got for 99p and the first was The 39 Steps, really old and I remember the black and white film vaguely, and not politically correct these days but I am enjoying the stories.

We went to dog training class last Thursday and Luna did quite well for her first time, we are in the intermediate or teenagers group lol. We have homework we are practising each day but Luna seems to be getting bored of it. She sits, stays but gets up before I tell her, that wasn't the homework, it was to walk to heel weaving round a row of chairs - I can put two out in the room I have! Poor Sooty is still not happy getting near her in case she hurts him. He waits upstairs until she is safely down before he comes down, and he doesn't ask to go out in the night 2 or 3 times any longer, he is crossing his legs! He should be able to last the night out now, unlike me!

Luna changed her mad 5 minutes from dashing round the house or garden to dashing at Sooty to try and play but she is so rough. Sooty was seriously threatening her which didn't stop her and I found puncture wounds on her head later. Not sure if Sooty also got bitten, it is hard to see under his hair.

Now when she starts he comes to the door to be let in. If he squeaks in pain as he has a couple of times she stops and looks very concerned about him.

I've googled advice on jealous dogs (she is jealous of Sooty and tries to push in if anyone makes any fuss of him and not her, even snapping at him sometimes), and advice on calming her down when we get visitors, and advice on dealing with her fear of men. I have advice coming out of my ears!

She is getting on really well with my youngest son now, but it took a lot of visits and fuss, and she still can startle and growl if he moves suddenly, gets up or moves his arm.

On Saturday I decided to drive to Stourhead and take the dogs for a walk round the lakes. This is only possible during the day from December to end of Feb, so I better make the most of it. After that it goes to after 4pm only. I'm a National Trust member so I don't have to pay a thing, although it is a long drive to get there it is very worth it.

Luna's third coat arrived, this one is long enough in the back but too wide round the strap so I have sent off for some more velcro to make it fit better, but I like the design of the coat and they wash and tumble dry beautifully.

 Going into the grotto.

Snowdrops/

Over the bridge, I think we walked for nearly two hours, I felt really relaxed afterwards.

 We met lots of people and dogs so the dogs were happy!

I love trees!

On the way back to the car. I took loads more photos too.

I still need eyes in the back of my head with Luna - she's like a hyperactive toddler into everything, this is some of her work. I have had to take a motorbike model in a box from her, my sandal (twice), my jumper yesterday, if she finds clean washing on the stairs she will play with it or chew it, so I have to put everything away and be tidy now! She stole some chicken from the kitchen counter when I stopped to take a phone call. She broke my favourite Shaun the Sheep - I told her no lots of times but when I was out of the room....

I crocheted this Jennika hat to match my scarf last week. It needs some buttons that I don't yet have to match the scarf.

It's made in King Cole Fashion Aran in green with orange flecks.

Funny phone of me with the hat on, I wore it Saturday and it felt like it was going to ping off the whole time, so now I have a hat that is too big and this one possibly too small. The band is fine it is the body of the hat that is tighter.

Luna meeting cows, she looks for them each time we walk by the fields now.

I'm trying to get them to be friends and playmates, Sooty is there under protest. He was happy sitting on the other side of the settee, I made a fuss of him and Luna came to stand on him and push in, so I tried to make a fuss of them both at the same time. Eventually he sneaked away to his bed.crochet