Project: Goofy Little Knit Purse

Goofy Little Knit Purse-

Knit from tape/ribbon combination fiber, in two shiny colors. The yarn was a rather heavy worsted weight.

I got some very pretty fiber from Jami--about 15 yards of mauve and 60 yards of light blue. The fiber was in two parts: a soft shoelace-type of tape paired with a very filmy gold ribbon. To me, purses work better in crochet, since knitted fabric tends to be soft and drapey and really needs to be lined (which I'm not eager to do). But there wasn't enough to crochet even a small bag, so I went down to a size 4 needle and chose a dense knit and purl small basketweave pattern. I initially planned to use some mauve for the bottom (in garter stitch) and then use the rest for the button and handle, but there wasn't enough, so I made an I-cord with the rest of the mauve until it ran out, and used it for a little button loop and back decoration.

I crocheted a round ball to use as a button, since the I-cord made a thick button loop--too thick for most buttons.

It's just one long piece with a strip of 16 rows of garter in the middle, folded over to make a bag. I cast on 32 stitches.

On the back, I made little curls out of the ends of the I-cords and let them swing free. The cord is attached to the back of the purse at the top, letting the loop pop up when the purse is opened or unbuttoned. The handle is long enough to go over the body diagonally and hold a small quantity of things on the hip. The bag is six inches high by seven wide.

It's not really very practical, since it's brightly colored and quite small. But cute.