After about two months of work, I finally finished making my spinning wheel bag. :) When I say this out loud, I generally get one of two reactions. Either "You can get bags for spinning wheels???" or "That's great, but you know they make one for your wheel, right?". And they're right. Ashford do make a bag specifically for my wheel, but I didn't buy it. For two reasons. Firstly because it didn't suit my needs and secondly because I refuse to spend £70 on what is a very simple (though well-made and practical), mass-produced case. Let me expand on that a little. The whole reason for having a bag in the first place is primarily so that I can take it to my favourite yarn shop (Purl City Yarns) to spin every Sunday. This means a 20 minute walk across Manchester (widely regarded as the rainiest city on earth*), which means there are several reasons why the Ashford bag wasn't the right option for me.

1. Using a bag with a single shoulder strap would wreck my back.
2. Open pockets on the front of the bag would just collect rain water.
3. £70 is a lot of fluff.

So I reckoned I could make my own, to my personal specifications, and cheaper to boot. I knew it was going to take a while because I am both a very novice sewist and a notorious perfectionist, but that was fine if I got what I needed. So I set out with a pretty simple set of requirements - a bag with backpack straps, the option for a shoulder strap if required, some kind of future-proof accessory attachment system and some personality.

I borrowed a friend's Ashford bag to look at the construction, spent a week trying to find all the necessary supplies, then began work. I'm not going to lie. I procrastinated. A lot. About the fabric, the location and closure of the pockets and about the construction. Two months later, The Bag eventually emerged.












Inside there are three removable pouches which will each hold 100g of fibre. Strap-wise, there are backpack straps, a grab handle and D-Rings to attach a shoulder strap. The cream straps on the front will allow for other accessories to be attached in pouches as and when I need them.

I'm really happy with it and having posted it on Ravelry, a lot of people have asked for a tutorial, so I'm working on that - stay tuned.

* Not actually true, it just feels like it sometimes.