Garter stitch bag

I found a stone in an Oxfordshire field that veins and patches of reddish brown, black, grey and silver.  Sadly, I didn't bring the stone home and the photo I took was fuzzy.

However, thinking about the colours and about garter stitch and all the things you can make with a straight strip of garter stitch, I made a 'dolly bag'. 

Using DK yarns I cast on 45 stitches with a silver yarn, knitted two rows and then used a cream slub (lumpy yarn), reddish brown and grey in single row stripes, carrying the yarns not in use up the side of the work. 

This is easy.  When you are doing stripes you don't want to have to cut and rejoin yarns any more than is absolutely necessary.  So, at the side of your knitting when you start a new row, tuck the colours you are not using over the colour you are using, so that they are carried up the side of the knitting until they are needed again.

If you are going to do single row stripes, always use an odd number of colours and then when you knit each row, you are back in the right place to pick up the next colour you need.

When I felt the strip was long enough to make a bag, I knitted two rows in silver and cast off.

To make a fastening I plaited  a little of the brown and cream, but included a little black this time and sewed the middle of the plait down near the top of the bag.  I covered a button in a small square of knitting in brown and black to add a little interest and fixed this over the spot where the plait is sewn down.

At least two of the yarns I used had a high cotton content and a tendency to stretch.  Since garter stitch is stretchy anyway, I will need to line it so that it holds its shape.