How to Handle it

The Finishing Touch

I like making bags and I like to design them myself.  Quite often I sit with paper and pencil and work out all the detail and never actually start knitting. This time I just picked up the needles and problem solved as I went along.  

The thing with bags is - handles.  There was much experimentation with wire and strips of plastic.  In the end I crocheted a cord and covered it.

Cable Fabric

The stitch is called cable fabric and comes from my old Arco Guide to Knitting Stitches.  Just for once, it's not a slip stitch. 

I was aiming for a vintage look

It wasn't my original intention to have the lining as a cuff at the top, but it sort of went that way.  I usually line my knitted bags, although I always make a very firm knitted fabric by using a much smaller needle size than would usually be used for the yarn so that lining isn't absolutely necessary.  


When I have run bag-making workshops I've found people like long shoulder straps.  I really much prefer a little handbag and it definitely has a more vintage look.  This one is a prototype.  There are things I would do differently next time, but I now have a pattern written down for further testing.  


I'm still learning to write things down properly.  Had awful difficulty getting the second side to work the same as the first.  And I really have to learn to light  my photographs properly.