Meet my new purse. Isn't she pretty? And so springy with her big green pleats.


I've been planning out this project for well over a month and really wanted to have it done before we went on vacation. I spent almost all of last weekend sewing together rectangles, picking out and correcting seams, and contemplating edge finishes and closures. I don't think I've ever made anything as complicated as this bag and I love it. I really wanted it to turn out well - to be the kind of bag I might carry for years and still love - and I found I didn't mind unpicking seams or letting it rest while I figured something out. What makes this bag so complicated (she doesn't show it on the outside) is that I'm also a knitter ...


I nearly always have a bit of knitting with me and it usually lives in a little drawstring pouch I made a couple of years ago (last minute vacation sewing actually). The bottom of the pouch is square so it stands up and it is really handy to knit out of but it is rather annoying to always carry around - especially when we're travelling (which is when I want it most). I've constantly got to dig around it in my bag, or tie it onto something, or carry it in my other hand. I felt there had to be a better way ... and the Knitter's Purse was born. Inside this purse is a built-in Sock Pouch: a 6" x 6" drawstring pouch perfect for storing a small project on the go.


The outside of the purse was inspired by the Pleated Beauty handbag from Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I love that bag but needed to rework the dimensions and the whole inside. The outside fabric is a canvas I got a while back: it feels like it has some linen content but smells like the Timothy hay my sister gets for her rabbits when I press it so it could be something completely different. I like the look of it anyway. The pleat fabric is from Denyse Schmidt's new collection and is the leftovers from binding our new quilt (which is still waiting for its label).

The inside of the bag is two different colours: a fresh bright green for the purse and an ivory for the sock pouch. This was born out of not having enough of either fabric to do everything but I really like the way it turned out. The pleat fabric shows up again inside the bag as a pair of fabric beads on my drawstring and a patch over the space where I removed a zippered pocket (zippered pockets are awesome but it turns out they don't go well with pleats).



There is a patch pocket inside the sock pouch to hold a little pair of scissors and a measuring tape (but not on the airplane) and another in the purse with spots for my camera, ipod and a pen or pencil. The purse is really very big (6" x 8") and can comfortably hold a lot of stuff.


Since this bag is for travelling I wanted something to keep it closed and added a magnetic snap in the top centre. The handle wasn't developed until the rest of the bag was together and I spent some time pinning strips onto it and pulling them (carefully) onto my shoulder to see how they felt and looked. The single, wide strap stays put nicely and makes it easy to get into my bag. I fiddled with the length until I had the perfect balance of long-enough-to-go-over-my-shoulder and short-enough-to-carry. The button is vintage; the last one remaining of a set of three I got in an exchange a few years ago. I like the creaminess of it against the canvas.




The interlining in my bag is muslin (interior) and flannel (exterior) so it is not very stiff, though it does have a nice body to it. I considered using some heavy canvas to line the outside of the bag but didn't think I'd get the soft pleats and decided those were more important to me. The base of the bag is reinforced (just like the Pleated Beauty) with stiff interfacing. The stuff I had, while very stiff, was not completely rigid so I used two pieces for a bit of extra strength.

I'm so proud of this bag.

The sum total of my knitting so far today: a few rows on a garter stitch dishcloth. More exciting is the book behind it. The Opinionated Knitter. I had lent it out and it came back to me today. It's funny how you miss some books so much even when you're not actually using them. There is something about Elizabeth Zimmerman that is inspiring just having her around.

I spent some time reading through bits of pieces of my book when I got it back and now I'm thinking of a new sweater ... maybe with that pink I'm spinning in the yolk. I'm also thinking of what these mittens would be like knit up in the Shetland wool EZ likes so much ... it looks like the right kind of rustic. They'd be perfect mittens for walking Abby; the lining will make them extra warm and what could be more appropriate for walking our dog than mittens with squirrels on the back.

... Except I have these Endpapers sitting on my desk giving me dark looks ... and I'd really like to get my sock needles back so I can work on my snowflake socks ... and I've got that ball of some other stuff .............

You know how it goes.

Well, the mystery knitting from my last post was the second of my Endpaper Mitts, originally started in 2007. I was impressed with how quickly it was going after I took that picture. In only two sittings I was finished the colour-work and on to the top ribbing. Unfortunately that was the first time I decided to check the mitt I was knitting against the one I finished three years ago. Guess what?

My gauge has changed.

That shouldn't really surprise me. Three years is a long time and I could tell that I was a lot more comfortable working the colour-work that I was in 2007. It's still kind of frustrating though. I briefly considered just letting it be and seeing how much I could make the mitts match with some careful blocking but in the end I frogged it back to the ribbing. It was too much for blocking: the new mitt was a full inch longer than the old one and I hadn't even added the top ribbing yet. It was also a lot looser - kind of slouchy instead of snug. I like the snug fit better. I'll try again on smaller needles.

At least I know it goes quickly.

ps. Katy was the only one to submit a guess so she gets the chocolate but since she used email instead of the comments (and she lives in town and I regularly walk past her office) I'm going to save myself the stamp and hand deliver it.