owl backpack (and the reasons this can't be an etsy shop)

You can buy eli for just $150 here

or you can learn how to make one courtesy of martha

and here is the one I made for around $15

So things I learned from this, if you are going to follow the martha instructions:

1. her directions are for knitting the whole thing and then felting it. I know you folks think a lot of me but even I didn't want to knit the whole thing. So I just bought wool felt at JoAnn (it will be part poly, part wool so just get the highest wool percentage you can find--- I think 40% wool was the best I could get) and then washed it on the hottest setting with some jeans or old towels (that don't give off lint) and let it air dry. If it's not thick enough for you when it comes out of the washer, put it in the dryer and it will felt even more. Um don't be stupid like me.... white cannot go in with any other colors so do it separately. I have not only yellowed white felt now but some seriously yellow, ahem, white underclothings. Oh and you'll need a 3/4 of a yard of the white and brown and about, I don't remember, maybe 1/4 or less of the orange.

2. Now you have your felted pieces and can cut them out of the pattern, but add 1/4 " to the edge of the pieces that will be sewn in (this is your seam allowance since they cut the pieces after they were sewn). And the final product is 12 x 12 so cut one 12x12 piece out of brown and one of white. And don't forget you have to cut out the straps, so don't start cutting right out of the center of your brown. My straps are 1 1/2 x 14 and 1 1/2 by 10 finished.

3. Lay all the pieces on top of the brown square, with the edges of the pieces flush with the edges of the brown square. Does this make any sense? I should have taken pictures. So you are sewing this thing around the edges, inside out, and will flip it when you are done. If you need more help you'll have to email me.

4. The trickiest part was the zipper, which I couldn't put on the proper way and ended up having to sew up one side, unzip it, and then sew up the other. Not to mention I was sewing over 3 layers of felt. But it doesn't look that bad and in the end, I figured Benson won't care and the zipper does work, so who cares?!

I'm sure this didn't help but seriously if you need to make more sense of the martha instructions, just email me and I'll draw some pictures of something. I doubt anyone will ever do it but if you do I wanna see pictures!