One of my first creations since picking up knitting again this year. My very first creation is a super-belated birthday for a friend, and it is now halfway around the world from me. I've asked her to send a picture of it for this blog.

I took a long time to complete this bag. The more accurate version is, I made the knitted shell about six months ago, in a burst of crafting madness. Then summer came, the mountains and rivers of Colorado beckoned, and I put knitting on the backburner. When the aspens turned golden my literary muse fired up - I probably have enough lyric essays for a short chapbook (in the process of revising and submitting to literary journals now) - and I spent most of the fall writing, writing, and writing. No complaints about that. Then, about two weeks ago, my brain overheated and words did not register in my head as I read them. So I came back to knitting and completing what I started in the spring. Rummaging through yarn, dreaming up projects, buying lining material.

I used size 8 needles to make this one. Cast on 60 stitches. Stockinette stitch. Every ten rows, drop one stitch on both ends. As for length, I prefer something a little deeper, something that I can carry a medium-sized notebook in, in addition to the usual purse glasses cellphone keys. I probably cast off at about 40 stitches. I sewed the lining by hand, mostly because I don't have a machine and didn't want to bother friends with it. I like the effect of handstitch though, the effective but slightly chaotic line, instead of a robotic standard of perfection. The handle, however, is not quite strong. After using it the first time, I realized that I had to reinforce it triply. Now it doesn't seem like it's going to fall apart.

I need to experiment with handles. I've a variation of this one for my next bag. The shell's ready, and I just bought the lining material (and more yarn) today.