Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know — I’ve been absent from this blog for far too long. More on that later, I promise.

But, for now, I want to do a shameless promotion for Jennifer, a good friend and former college roommate of mine who does amazing things with fabric, needles, and thread. Seriously. She’s got more sewing talent in her little toe than I do in my entire body.

Anyway, Jennifer recently started her own business designing and making handbags and other accessories. And now we can all buy her beautiful products online through her Etsy shop! Go ahead — check it out. You know you want to!

Some of us from the South Bend Knitwork group are planning on doing a baby toy knitalong in June. My project of choice? Elefante! (Ravelry link, but also available here.)

My plan is to knit Elefante in a single color. Although it’s cute as a striped stuffed animal, I think I might prefer it in a solid hue. So, this past weekend I headed over to Ewe-Nique Knits to look for some yarn. I ended up leaving with this:

Two skeins of Classic Elite Premiere yarn — a pima cotton and tencel blend. It’s soft and squishy, yet durable. I think it will work well for a stuffed toy, don’t you?

Believe it or not, I’ve been able to find a little knitting time here and there over the past couple of months. Enough to have made some progress on the felted doctor’s bag!

I’ve finished knitting the main body, and now have to knit up the side panels.

I’m hoping that as my schedule begins to calm down, I’ll have more time — and energy — to devote to the things I enjoy doing, like knitting. We’ll see.

A little over a week ago, my parents came for a weekend visit. In an attempt to find something to do that would appeal to both of them, I took them to the Old Bag Factory for some fun shopping, unique artwork, and interesting local history.

Now, I’ve shopped at the Old Bag Factory… well, I can’t tell you how many times. It’s one of my favorite local places. But I’ve never taken the time to look at all of the place’s historical “relics.” So it was kind of fun to learn even more about the place’s history than I already knew. And I couldn’t help but snap these pictures to share with you:

This ginormous mixer was used in the factory’s cafeteria’s kitchen. I should have stood next to it for scale. I’m telling you — this was the tallest mixer I have seen.

This knitting machine was used to make — what else — bags. Feed bags, potato sacks, cabbage bags, onion bags… You name it, they probably made it at the Old Bag Factory. And this knitting machine was taller than me!

Several weeks ago, Natalie and I exchanged our spring Pleasingly Perfecto Personal Presents. But, it’s taken us forever to post about it on our blogs. We know. We’re bad bloggers.

But, better late than never, right?

Natalie sent me two of the world’s cutest garden bunny statues!

They’re currently sitting in the flower bed along our front walkway, ready to greet our guests.

Visit Natalie’s blog to see what I sent her!