Another post that has been sitting in draft form for months!  This one goes back to February!  🙂 Now that another exam is done I’m trying to catch up on unposted projects and general stuff.  Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that I’m able to keep up, m’kay?

Years ago, and I do mean YEARS (2005!) I saw a purse at my LYS.  It was fluffy, the colors blended from hot pink to bright orange, and it had a round, translucent pink Lucite handle.  It was really cute, though I didn’t think I could pull off the colors.  (Let’s ignore the fact that in April 2005 I was a 27 year old who thought I could pull off a fluffy purse).  I found a nice silver/black mix in stock and quickly bought the 3 required balls, the handles (in completely clear) and the pattern.  I envisioned it with a bright surprise of a red satin lining, so I went right away to Walmart and bought some red faux satin, put it all together in my project bag and…

…and I got as far as about 4″ in when the thrill of knitting in glorified fun fur wore off.  I mean, I love the colors- I love the mix of silver and black, and how it almost looks like an animal pelt.  But it’s still fun fur in garter stitch, and I got bored.

In 2006 I picked it up again, transfered it from stickier Denise circs to an Aero circ and sped away, determined to finish it once and for all.

I was close- I finished the knitting June 6 2006.  And that’s where it stayed, a complete knitted rectangle, until last summer when I realized there was a little girl I knew who was turning 6, and really, is there any better gift for a 6 year old girl than a fluffy, “grown up” purse?  Plus, it was almost finished! It’s like a gift that made itself.

My sewing machine was now set up so it was little work to make up a lining then sew the ends of the bag down around the handles.  (That is, “little work” if you ignore the first attempt at the lining which didn’t take into account how much the bag stretches, so I had a bag that stretched almost a foot in each direction with a skinny little bag in the center that refused to budge.)

In the end, 4 years and 4 months from the day I cast on, it was finally finished!

Pattern:  Funky Fur Magic Bag, Sirdar pamphlet #2135 (Ravelry link)

Size:  large

Yarn:  Sirdar Funky Fur Magic, 3 balls Quality 092, SH613, Lot 9169 (Black/Silver mix)

Needles: 6 US/4 mm

Notions: faux satin fabric, clear Lucite handles

Dates:  April 12 2005 – July 22 2009

Modifications:  added the lining

As usual you can find my finished (and unfinished!) projects in my “projects” page by clicking the tab up at the top of every page on my blog, and I also have this project in my Ravelry notebook here.