{I’ve been meaning to share about this little bag for some time now. The first two pictures I took in the fall of 2014. The pictures of me were taken by my friend Erica the winter before last! The one with Bracken, to show how small those baby overalls look compared to him now, were taken last winter with my old camera. See what I mean? I’ve been wanting to write this post for awhile…} 

There were a little pair of overalls that Bracken wore when he was a baby and when he outgrew them, I stored them away in a drawer somewhere. They were handed down to us from someone, but now I don’t remember where they came from. Years later I came across those wee overalls tucked away, and was flooded with memories. I could hardly believe that Bracken had ever been that small, goodness! I remembered baby Bracken falling asleep in my arms… his baby smiles… and all the memories warmed my heart. All you parents know how quickly these children of ours grow, how fleeting the time can seem, and how sentimental we can sometimes feel looking at those tiny garments that bring back such precious memories. Now Bracken is six years old and those baby overalls of his look absolutely tiny compared to the overalls he wears today.

I love passing along hand-me-downs to friends and family because I know how grateful we’ve been for the gift of hand-me-downs ourselves, but for some reason I couldn’t part with those little beige overalls. I wanted to hang onto those. But… I didn’t want to stick them back away in a drawer either. That’s when an inspiration came to me, something functional I could make with those overalls that I could enjoy regularly. I realized that they could become the perfect knitting bag! The two overall straps hang over the arm, the yarn has a nice nest to hang out in, and the yarn easily feeds out the side as you knit. (You can even feed the yarn in between the two waist buttons if you prefer.) All of those factors make this bag excellent for convenient knitting.

I love that I found a useful way to re-purpose his baby overalls so that I get to enjoy and use them all the time. Knitting already makes me happy, but this bag brings me an extra smile while I knit. I’ve used this knitting bag to knit in the car and have brought it with me when I’ve gone places, knowing my knitting would be easily accessible and convenient. On a hike, you can sit down for a knitting break, and with this bag you’ll be all set to go.

I’m quite fond of my knitting bag (as I’m sure you can tell by now), and wanted to share the project with you here in case any of you had some special baby overalls you’d like to keep, and could use a cute knitting bag to boot! (Oh, and if you don’t happen to have any baby overalls handy, you can always find a pair at the thrift store to re-purpose.) The beauty of this project is in it’s simplicity. This bag is so simple to make and can literally be finished and ready to use in a matter of minutes. Even if you have limited sewing skills like me, you can easily make this. Here are the steps to make your own:

-With some sharp scissors, cut the pant legs off where they split.

-Turn the overalls inside out, pin bottom sides together and sew straight along the bottom edge, right above where the legs split. Turn it right side out again.

-Put some yarn in your new bag and start knitting! Seriously, it’s that easy, you’re bag is already finished. Oh, and it also has some built in pockets on the front and back to holding some knitting extras, how cool is that? Enjoy!! 

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P.S. Look at these pictures I found of Jeff and Bracken! Overall love.