Today I was reading the Knitting Daily blog where Kathleen is talking about knitted handbags. Knitting Daily Blog–HandbagsAfter my felting craze where I made over a dozen felted bags and gave most of them away, I knit a couple of bags that didn’t require felting. My favorite is Irish Cables from Vicki Square’s Folk Bag book. I am such a Donegal tweed girl! I started this bag several times and each time would get interrupted long enough that I wouldn’t feel super confident that I knew exactly where I left off. At that time, the boys were still home, pets all over and the usual family activities. I did change the cables in the front to an all over honeycomb.
When I did finish it, I felt very good about it and started to use it only the handle really stretched out–way out, so I lined it with some cotton paisley fabric. It was super easy to line the bag. I turned it inside out and measured height and width and added two inches for the bottom. Because I felt lazy and didn’t want to get the sewing machine out, I hand stitched the sides together then folded the top edges over and pressed them flat. I slipped the lining into the bag and slip stitched along the pressed top edge of fabric until I had sewn all the way around. For the added touch, I went to the local saddle shop and found two wonderful engraved silver conchas (horse saddle trim) with a bit of turquoise to use as closures.
The other bag I knit was from a pattern called the Lucy Bag. I started at the bottom and increased evenly until the bag was the right circumference. I used Lopi Lite Lopi Lite and made the striping sequence as I worked my way up the bag. I used smaller needles than typical for that yarn so the fabric is very tight, but I still did one round in the washer. It’s a tough little bag. I would make the handle slightly longer so it would stay on my shoulder or I could wear it across my body like a messenger bag.