Clutch under construction

Well I got further than I thought I would. As it’s small and the dimensions don’t matter too much, I’ve used the piece as my tension square, after first knitting a little piece to see whether lace was visible with boucle yarn.

So here’s the back of the bag, with the flap open and the lining just temporarily stuck inside, to hopefully show up the lace, which is in a pattern of squares, if you can’t tell.


The bag has been sewn up, and the lining almost finished. I need to shorten the lining a bit, and then hand sew the final seam and secure the lining into the bag. When I bought the lining fabric (satin) from Spotlight, I looked for some small magnetic clips to close the bag. I think they’ll be easier to open than studs. With the help of a very friendly staff member, I found where they were meant to be, saw their spot empty, and ordered a couple. All things being equal, I’m supposed to get a phone call when they come in (within two weeks).

Look out for the finished product next time.

I’m mildly interested in cryptic crosswords, so each week I’ll include a clue from our most recent “The Age” cryptic crossword.
If I can work it out, I’ll give what I think the answer is.
If not, I can laugh at the weirdness of the clue.
We never get the paper with the answers, so I’ll never know if I’m right. This may seem like a pointless exercise.
This week’s clue, from “The Age” Thursday, June 18, 2009
Holy man grows older in steps (6)
The answer must be “stages”. I already had the g and the last s from other words. I knew the answer must be stages. I thought it was something to do with a sage being a holy man. But as I was sitting down to type this, it came to me.

Holy man = saint = st
Grows older = ages
Therefore – stages!
Sometimes I know what the answer is, but can’t work out how to get it from the whole clue.