The importance of my tweed messenger bag

I got some friendly (?) ribbing at lunch yesterday about this project, and my lack of progress. Which is fair, seeing as I started this messenger bag about 18 months ago. It was one of my first non-scarf projects, although the argument could be made that it's basically the same thing, being three rectangles. This project (which I actually love, contrary to all the evil things I was saying about it yesterday at lunch) was a first in many ways. First off, it was the first time I bought a knitting magazine. I was at Acorn Street Shop, buying yarn to make a scarf for a now ex-boyfriend (that is another story, that scarf. He better still wear it because let me tell you it was an effort. But I digress). I was flipping through the books and magazines, looking for a good scarf pattern, when I stumbled upon this tweed messenger bag in Family Circle Easy Knitting, Holiday 2004
(NOT a back issue - I told you this was awhile ago). In fact, I love a lot of the patterns in this issue, and in retrospect I find that amazing because I don't think I've found a single thing I would knit in any issue since. I'm pretty picky about clothes, and this magazine probably isn't trendy enough for me (I love Rowan but they've gone a bit off the deep end even for me), but there are some great accessories and the like. So, first magazine purchased. I was helped along by the fact that I was wearing a sweater made of almost identical yarn to the bag in the magazine...

This was also the day I bought my first knitting book, Knit Scarves, wherein I found a pattern I was going to make for the now ex-boyfriend. It was a lovely white cable scarf, and I was going to make it in dark grey because I knew he'd want a grey scarf. As soon as I got home with the yarn and the book I realized that one shouldn't really bother making a dark grey cable scarf because the cables blend in, and it's not worth the effort. So I made it ribbed instead, but I digress again. I've still not made anything from this book, although there are some cute things. Right, moving on. This was also the first day I came home from the yarn store with buckets of yarn. Previously I had bought a couple skeins for a scarf or two, or the yarn I needed from my first non-garter stitch non-scarf project, which was an elaborate cable hat (dream big!). On this occasion all hell broke loose. I bought, as I recall, the yarn for the bag (way too much, as it's turning out. I think I could make another one with what I'll have left), lovely dark grey wool/alpaca for the now ex-boyfriend scarf, yarn to make a purple felted tote bag like one my mother had made that summer, yarn for two different colored beaded sachets (for my grandmothers' Christmas gifts), and several skeins of scarf yarn for scarves to sell (which worked out quite well). There may have been more but it's hidden deep in the depths of my memory, for sanity purposes. Anyway, I think we can agree that was a lot of yarn. However, this day still didn't really mark the beginning of the "stash," it was just a blip. But, it was a harbringer of things to come...
Without further ado, I present the pieces of the messenger bag. I have been done with the main pieces for well over a year now, and I just had the handle to make. I knitted about 2 feet of it last night, and I think it might be long enough. The pattern calls for 95" and mine is about 75," but I laid it out around the bottom of the bag and I think it might be okay already, especially since the handle will probably stretch a bit. I blocked the finished pieces last night to give my hands a break from the knitting, and they're dry and ready to go. So, tonight I might pin the thing together, see about the strap length, and knit or sew accordingly.

One of the things that has honestly held me back on this bag is the lack of lining fabric. I have something very specific in mind that I just can't find (yes, I have been looking, for the past year, whenever I went into a fabric store. The bag was out of sight, but not entirely out of mind). I want off-white calico with little flowers in various shades of brown. This fabric does not exist, and although I will finish knitting this bag, and put it together and count it as a finished object, I will hold out for the fabric to fulfill my vision. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well.

Oh, last night Dave and I made some dye stocks, in two shades of green, to experiment with the acid dyes before the dyeing party. Update on that hopefully tomorrow...