I’m not quite as desperate to see the summer end as I was a short time ago. We’ve had a week of mid-20s Celsius and it’s been a sweet relief from the heat of the last couple of months.

The local wildfire is still burning but not growing, as far as I know; there is plenty of helicopter activity around here and every time I hear a fire truck siren I worry that there’s a new fire.

We are only allowed limited watering but the cooler nighttime temperatures have helped the garden green up a bit, though Mr Fixit went out this morning to “mow the weeds” rather than grass!

I have this weekend off so took the opportunity to sew myself a lunch tote. I used a tutorial from a YouTube channel, MamaProject, which is new to me. I haven’t done a recessed zipper before but this one was easy.

Because I planned to use this for my work lunches I used Thermolam fusible fleece on the back of the canvas outer, and Insul-fleece on the lining. The base is vinyl backed with Peltex and the lining also has the Insul-fleece on it.

When it came to the final topstitching I didn’t even try to sew through all the layers at the side seams!

The lining is a basic undyed canvas and I added pockets on both sides and made channels for cutlery.

I would make this bag again but without so much padding. I do like the way the recessed zipper is done.

I also have a new knitting PIP (project in progress).

I pulled out my DK yarn stash and weeded out the colours I didn’t want in a cardigan, like yellow, orange and black. As you can see, my half of the coffee table has no room for anything else.

I’m making the Festival Cardigan (link to my Ravelry project page here) using 12.75mm needles and five strands of DK for each square.

With four squares across the back, that means 20 yarns per row which I have corralled into bags, one for each group of five.

I have to do a little untangling at the end of each row but so far I like it! This will be a good stashbuster.