Messing About, as Usual
I finished the knitting on the Shell Bag a couple of weeks ago, and I've been waiting for the Homestead Heirlooms handles to arrrive. I got back from Soar convinced that they would be here. No sign of them. Days passed. Nothing.
Now granted, we are wrapped like a Christo installation because the chimney is being rebuilt. There are men on my roof with wheel barrows and scaffolding, and I can hear everything they say. It comes down the chimney like a telephone. They don't talk about anything that's very interesting. Mostly it's sports, which I understand is the lingua franca of the American male. I only wish they cared about social policy or America's role in the world as much as they seem to care about rookie RBI's in the post-season.
All the scaffolding? It puts the mailman off a bit. He can't seem to decide where to leave our mail, so he tries something new everyday. The front stoop made a lot of sense, which is why, of course, he only tried that once. He's left it on the table on the back patio, under the scaffolding by the side door (nostalgia on his part I think for the time weeks and weeks ago when that was the door we used to let the world in), on my car hood, and next to the garbage cans which was also (in his defense) under a bush. He may be having me on, really. But since the handles hadn't shown up, I went looking for them yesterday.
And the Mister, who thinks of himself as a natural bloodhound who can find anything I misplace (rememeber the keys incident?) calls out the back door at me. "Whatcha' lookin' for?" he says.
"My purse handles."
"Those came while you were away."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I figured you'd seen them."
He, like the mailman, likes to leave my mail in (shall we call it?) interesting places. On the table in the parlor in plain sight, of course. Exactly where I would never look for it. I had been waiting for the handles to finish the bag. So finally, they are here, and I can get on with it.
I have chosen the fabric from the stash (Kaffe, of course).
I wet blocked the knitting.
The bottom is my favorite part. But here's the thing: it's big.
Really, really
big. 18 inches across big. This is the biggest wastebasket in the house, big enough to leave unemptied for months at a time. I had to empty it today (you know, for the blocking?) and I found Christmas wrapping at the bottom. That's how big this bag is. As fond as I am of the stitches, I may have to felt it after all.
But I love the handles. Terry was so right.
Christos, that's pretty.
Posted by: Juno | October 29, 2007 at 10:06 PM
So beautiful! I used a very similar fabric for my bobble bag -- it makes me happy every time I look at it!
Posted by: Pam | October 29, 2007 at 10:40 PM
Oh, lovely...
One of my earliest memories is of my Dad putting up the chimney in our house. (There had been one that was removed, so they bought a salvage chimney that consisted of a numbered pile of rocks and a snapshot of the rocks assembled into a chimney...) I wasn't to go near it for the longest time, after it got up to the second floor, and I came home from visiting my grandparents one weekend to find Dad on the roof with the chimney built through.
Posted by: Anne | October 30, 2007 at 12:18 AM
your colors are FABULOUS!!! you aren't going to felt the bag? :) I love the fabric you chose! :) i can't wait to see the handles on it!
Posted by: Jen da Purse Ho | October 30, 2007 at 01:57 AM
The bag is gorgeous!!!!! Wow it is big.
Posted by: Tonia | October 30, 2007 at 02:21 AM
That turned out to be a lovely shade of the Noro, the colours are harmonious rather than astounding. After felting I blocked mine on a bucket, it came out just right for a knitting bag.
Posted by: Caroline M | October 30, 2007 at 03:15 AM
It looks fab already. I can't wait to see it with handles on!
Posted by: Julie | October 30, 2007 at 05:26 AM
The picture of your wrapped house is complete. I vote (I know you didn't ask) for the felting.
Posted by: Laurie | October 30, 2007 at 06:33 AM
It's looking good -- and that fabric is PERFECT!
Posted by: Kathy | October 30, 2007 at 06:45 AM
It's gorgeous!!
Posted by: Erin | October 30, 2007 at 08:02 AM
It is fantastic. Felt it! Felt It! It is that or use it for a wastebasket cover. And the lining, I love it!
Posted by: Judy | October 30, 2007 at 08:16 AM
I'd be hard pressed to felt it, as it looks so lovely right now. But if its bigness means it won't get use then you must felt!
Posted by: PumpkinMama | October 30, 2007 at 08:46 AM
Wow, that bag is extraordinarily beautiful - and big. I love how the colors separated themselves. What handles did you choose? I suppose we'll see in a bit. I also have lost my faith in the infallibility of the mailman; ours leaves our mail with the neighbors and gives us theirs. We have to walk around the neighborhood getting things straightened out. An out-of-print children's book from Amazon came with a mail truck tire print across it. And he gets cross if we complain.
Posted by: Mary K. IN Rockport | October 30, 2007 at 09:11 AM
Ooo! Bring it to knitting, would you? I'd love to see it! You could always felt it just a little bit...couldn't you? It's so purty....
Posted by: Linda D | October 30, 2007 at 09:14 AM
Good gravy, that's big. Reminds me of the before picture of my trellis bag from Vogue a few years ago. Pre-felted, it was old enough to house a three-year-old.
Posted by: liz | October 30, 2007 at 09:21 AM
What beautiful colors........LOVE that bag!
Posted by: Kim | October 30, 2007 at 09:43 AM
It's lovely! I can see how a bag like that would become an instant favorite.
Posted by: colleen | October 30, 2007 at 10:12 AM
You can leave trash unemptied for months? In my house, if we tried that, the manchild would put... something foul... in there. And then we'd be mystified as to where the foulness had been hidden, and so that would result in the emptying of many things, wastebasket and otherwise.
I really, really like that bag. Even if it is big.
Posted by: Abby Franquemont | October 30, 2007 at 10:48 AM
That's gorgeous! Just think of how much yarn you could hide in a bag that size. :P
Posted by: ilana | October 30, 2007 at 11:21 AM
It is a huge bag, but ever so lovely. I love how it turned out and the fabric, just gorgeous!
Posted by: Wanda | October 30, 2007 at 11:48 AM
I love that fabric. I used it to make a notebook -- it makes meetings at work that much less painful.
Posted by: Danielle | October 30, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Hot damn! That's some bag! :-) It would come in very handy at a fiber festival... you could probably fit a fleece in there. (Okay, a lamb fleece. And a spindle. And maybe a niddy-noddy.)
Posted by: Beth S. | October 30, 2007 at 12:58 PM
Oh my! That's one gorgeous bag!! And awfully big... but think of how much you can admire a thing that size. You'll have people stopping you on the street! Very nice. :)
Posted by: Sarahfish | October 30, 2007 at 02:00 PM
I second Sarah's comment and cracking up. :-) Seriously I love it.
Posted by: Manise | October 30, 2007 at 03:46 PM
wow that bag is beautiful! the color, the pattern. and yeah, that's some serious size!
Posted by: jody | October 30, 2007 at 07:00 PM