Drawstring Bags

One of my favorite books when I was a kid was My Side of the Mountain. It's about a little boy who packs up some things one day and heads off into the woods on a mountain. There he makes himself a shelter out of a large, hollowed out tree, lives off the land, and encounters a number of dangerous adventures before his family joins him. I loved this book when I was growing up. I thought it was so cool how the character would eat plants and seeds and bathe in a nearby stream using the soft and soapy moss on rocks as a loofah. He made himself a fireplace inside his tree using clay from the riverbed and even made himself some clothes out of a deer carcass he found. All in a day's work, right?

I so admired this book as a nine year old, that I could totally envision myself "living off the land." This is completely incongruous with who I am, however. I have been camping once in my life, and as much as I like the idea of it, the reality was a little too real for me to handle (I wound up sleeping in the car instead of the tent). I also hate most insects, as I stated before, and I'm sure the little boy's hollowed-out tree was full of them. These romantic notions have not disappeared since I entered adulthood either. I don't daydream about living off the land any more though. Now I seem to dream about living on the beach in Maui, spending my days surfing in the ocean. Again, a completely ridiculous fantasy; I have never been to Hawaii, do not know how to surf, am skin-cancer prone, and am terrified of becoming a shark-attack victim. (Even though I know the odds are extremely slim of being attacked by a shark, I'm pretty convinced that it would happen to me. I also always think that I'm going to win the Lottery whenever I buy a ticket. So I'm not just a negative thinker!)

What do these drawstring bags have to do with any of this? Well, if I was nine years old again, these little drawstring bags would be perfect to wrap up all the supplies I would need to make my trek to a mountain and start my life living off the land. I'd open one up, throw in an extra pair of underwear--feeling very proud of my young self for thinking to pack such a practical item, an apple, maybe a few slices of American cheese, and definitely my favorite Barbie.

I'd cinch up my bag, maybe attach it to a sturdy branch that I'd rest jauntily on my shoulder and off I'd go.

Since I'm not nine, I've been using these drawstring bags to contain my knitting and crochet works in progress. They are so much nicer than the plastic shopping bags I'd been using before. The drawstring bags are fast and easy to make, and they were a great way to use up extra fabric I had.  It's amazing how much more organized I feel. Even my husband remarked, "That's so much better than having it [my knitting] all over the place."  The drawstring pattern is for a "shoe bag" to be used when travelling, but it could be used for a variety of different things in addition to organizing WIPs.

I stuck with three bags, although I really could have easily made three more and probably will in the future. I might not be using my bags to head into the mountains, but if I ever stop knitting/ crocheting maybe I could use these bags to pack shoes in my suitcase as I head to Maui. Shark-infested waters be damned!