Happy Independence Day and lessons learned from a bulbous-bottomed bag

A bag I began knitting in February, my Lucy Bag, is done. The bag isn't difficult, but I was disappointed in my little experiment and didn't want to face my deformed creation. A Lucy bag is supposed to look like one of these. Instead, I ended up with this:



I knitted a stranded colorwork basket weave in the middle. I had not tried colowork like that before so I didn't know that I would knit it more tightly, apparently, than the rest of my plain stockinette gauge. As a result, the design shrank into a green girdle when I felted the bag. Closer look?



It looks like a gourd, no? Well, I was bummed, though not surprised that my full-speed-ahead approach didn't produce something staggeringly beautiful. I sent it to time out for many a moon, but assured it that I wasn't going to let it languish; I bought lining fabric, something slippery since I promised I would use the bag for projects and I don't want the yarn of future shawls and scarves to stick in the bag's gullet.



So, the lessons learned:

• Use larger needles when switching to colorwork from stockinette, and
• Trim fingernails before working with slippery fabric. Snag snag snag.

By the way, the button? A ceramic find at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Its colors match much better in person than in photography.



I've linked this post to:

• Sew 'n Tell Fridays
• Sunday Showcase Party
• Something I Whipped Up Monday