Thursday, October 05, 2006

Autumn is Coming


Even though it is 80 degrees out there, I KNOW autumn is coming and I am ready to wear fall colors. My "cool summer bag" looks so out of place right now, so I cast on another version for fall. I love this version. Again, it is leftover yarns, although the dark green is some Elann.com yarn that was supposed to be placemats.

I really like zippered closures on my purses, so decided to take the plunge with this one. I put the zipper into the lining and then stitched the lining to the purse, stitching through the zipper at the same time. I made a beaded zipper pull, since the tiny metal one was very hard to grab. I decided to make the purse hobo style, so I made one handle and attached it at each end.

General instructions:
Knit a garter stitch rectangle the size you want the bottom of your purse to be. Do not cast off, when you knit your final row, pick up stitches all around the bottom and join to make a tube. This is going to be very awkward and you need a circular needle. It will get easier as the purse grows. Knit every row, changing yarns whenever the mood strikes and knit until it is the size you want.

Make a lining and put a zipper into the top of the lining. Then put the lining into the purse and attach the lining to the purse near the top. You really have to be able to sew to make this zippered lining and have a good sewing machine.

For the handle, I used a crochet hook and picked up some stitches on the purse where I wanted the handle to start and did a few rows of crochet, then did fat icord. I held two strands of yarn together and used size 11 dpns. Changed back to crochet and the other end.

The purse was ALMOST done. I wanted a flower! I crocheted a layered flower , making each layer of petals a yarn I had used in the purse. I do not have the web site on this one, but you can Google crochet flowers and find one you like. I strung beads onto some yarn, using one of those dental floss thingies that come in a little plastic box in the drugstore, and sewed it to the center of the flower and then sewed the flower to the handle.

6 comments:

Patty said...

Your purse is absolutely Gorgeous!

I love the flower...I love everything about it!

One of these days in the future I will knit a purse.

turtlegirl76 said...

Phooey. You had me up until "sewing machine". My bad will have to be linerless.

Anonymous said...

Great blend of fall colors!

Melisa
http://virtuallydesigned.com/gottamake/

Stephanie said...

I love this purse! The colors you chose are beautiful together.

Becka said...

Love the purse!!!

KnitnFool said...

Nan, you did a great job with the purse. I love the choice of colors and yarn. What an inspiration! I may try to line, but there will definitely be no zipper. I don't even know where my sewing machine is!