new purse

I've been working on this purse for a while now. Like I think I mentioned before, I started the project while I was reading. The purse design requires only knit and purl. There's no colour changing, no increasing or decreasing, so it wasn't too difficult to do without looking at the hands. I just had to prop open the book, and I was off to the races. Until I hit the end of the page and have to stop to turn. Slightly annoying, but well worth it. (I did it while reading Blackbringer in which there is a guy who knits! Ironic? Fitting? Both?) 

It took me longer to make this than I thought it would, and not because of the reading. I actually had to frog about 8" of the strap. And it's not because I did anything wrong in the pattern, but because I ran out of yarn. Being the cheap knitter that I am, I tried to get away with making a few changes so that I could use 3 ball of yarn instead of 4. In the end it worked out, but I had to modify the strap so that it wasn't as wide or as long as was called for in the pattern. I also changed the pattern to make one long strap that went all the way around the bag, rather than 4 smaller straps to be sewn together at the end. I think it worked fine even if the corners of the bag aren't as defined. I think if I were to make it again the one thing I would change is how big it is. It's really wide. I wanted it to be able to hold and 8"x11" piece of paper, and it does, but now I think that's unnecessary. 

But one perfect thing about the purse is I now have a place for my new button. Or, my only button. One of my friends gave it to me recently so that I can proudly tell the world that I'm a 'geek.' (which I am) and I think that this purse strap is the perfect place to show it off! Go purse.

Now, I really need to find my next project. Should it be the cross stitch or a cardigan? I'm still waiting for books from the library (which will reopen soon! I can't wait! I've so missed the MVPL while it's been remodeled for the past month.) so maybe I can't start the cardigan just yet, seeing as I don't have a pattern, but might have one soon if any of the books are good. But if I'm going to do the cross stitch I need to go get materials at Michael's. Perhaps that will happen later today.