Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Week of Handmade: II

I worked on this purse for quite some time...due to the way I knit, I had a hard time casting back on for the handle (after binding off to make the actual hole in the handle); Susan, the wonderful woman at the Grove (she taught the initial class so that we could learn the herringbone stitch), kindly did it for me--twice, since there are two handles. (I knit continental style, and I knit tightly, so the combo of those two things was a problem).

It's supposed to look like a straw purse...You embroider flowers on afterwards...the pattern calls for a lot more flowers than I did, but I wanted to keep it simple; there is one flower on the back as well.

It's lined with fabric from a vintage pillowcase... And the pattern is from this book, Knitting Little Luxuries by Louisa Harding. She is an amazing knitwear designer, and the yarn is hers as well. (See how the purse on the cover has a lot more flowers?). It was really fun to make, despite how long it took (and the rows ripped out when the pattern went awry). One of my goals has been to expand my knitting out of my comfort zone, which has basically been garter/stockinette stitch rectangles, AKA "scarves," and this project qualified as a step out of the box...

2 comments:

vivi said...

It is quite beautiful!! Sheila will be proud of you---as are we! Hugs & kisses.

Various and Sunday said...

so pretty! your picture holding the bag looks like the cover of the book. :o) it really does look like a straw purse. darling!