Monday, April 9, 2012

The Unending Purse Project

I've been purse knitting again.

It's kind of a long story, and it starts in January of last year. I knit a purse from a pattern I liked, but I didn't like the resulting purse (seen here). I tried again, making this purse. This one was slightly better, but I had some issues with it (it was a bit too large, the strap was too long, and the zipper looked like it was installed by me). I decided to try again.

I knit the thing:


Felted it:


But it wasn't quite right. I even knew this at the time. But it was past time for me to start my Christmas knitting, so I had to wait and ponder. How was I going to do it the next time?  

I finally got started on the new purse in March. Once I got going, it knit up pretty quickly. Then, as I was just about ready to assemble and felt the thing, I found that my strap solution wasn't going to work.  

I didn't fret too long, however. Just as I saw what wasn't going to work, I saw a way to work it differently. At the same time, I figured out how to rework this purse with a different strap. I had just seen a crocheted strap on Knitting Daily, and I started on that right away.  

On Friday, I finished that strap, cut off the old strap, and attached the new: 


The color is a little off, but the purse feels so much better. The old strap was way too bulky. This strap is lighter. I think I like it.  

On Saturday I was able to felt the new purse. I'll post pics when that purse is completely finished. (It takes a couple days to dry, and then I'll need to sew on some hardware. And I might decide to line it.)  

Here's hoping that this one is the one. At last.  

What do you think? Am I too much of a perfectionist? Should I just go out and buy myself a purse?  

4 comments:

  1. I think it's quite beautiful. I don't think you should buy a purse if you have the skill to do something like this. Most people do not have this level of skill. So purchasing a purse is the only option.

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  2. I like seeing your progression with the purse. I would be like that too. If I could knit. The strap on the last one is cool!

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  3. I really like the new strap. It actually looks better than the old one, maybe because it's different from the rest. With how nice it looks, I don't know why you'd go out and buy one :)

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  4. I love the new strap, too. It must be wonderful to create something like that. Thanks for showing us.

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