Fanciful Flower Hot Pad and a great Bag

I finally finished crocheting this flower hot pad last night.  I had so many different projects going on at once that it took me about 2 weeks to make this, even though it can be made in a single day.   This is the 12th fanciful flower hot pad that I have made, but it feels like I've made a lot more.  It is a free pattern by my friend Claudia.  She has a lot of great patterns available.   If you would like to see several different versions of this pattern, checkout the crochet-along (CAL) that she hosted in 2011.  I made 6 of these during that CAL.

I used a G hook and 3 colors of Plymouth Yarn Jeannee worsted weight cotton yarn (Colors 101 - pastels, 15 - pink, and 52 - blue).  

Last night I finished knitting this great little bag.  It isn't very big, but it sure does stretch to fit things.  It also can fit over my shoulder, which is nice.  I used a little over 1 skein of Cascade Pacific Color Wave yarn in color #326.  This yarn was a pleasure to work with and feels really nice.  Cascade is quickly becoming one of my favorite yarn companies.  I also used size 8 dpns and 16" circulars.  Two stitch holders were also needed when making the handles.  I ran out of yarn while knitting the 2nd half of the handle, but you can barely tell where I added the new color at (it is obvious where I joined the 2 halves of the handle at though).  I really enjoyed this free pattern, so I am making another one of these bags.  Oh, I also enlarged the bottom so that there were 30 stitches on each needle.  I think the pattern say to have 18 sts on each needle before knitting the sides.