Eco Tote FO

So you remember that skein of Lily Sugar'n Cream that I was gifted recently? Well, this is what happened to it. So if you could just take your eyes away from the stunning wood door and beautiful inlaid brass lock and focus on the bag for a second I'll take you on a little knitting tour. Now I've mentioned this before but the pattern that I used for this is called Elisa's Nest Tote which can be found at the Purl Bee (or via Ravelry if you are a member). I also think I have spouted on about just how pleased I am with this bag so I'll try and keep the gushing to a minimum and just try and persuade you what a great project this is to make by adding in extra pictures.

Okay, so I'm not fooling any of you by saying I'll stay away from the keyboard but I'll keep it to a minimum and only point out three things.
Firstly check out the stripes. I used a combination of Rowan Cotton Glace with the Sugar'n Cream. I love how the variegated yarn has come out to so that the stripes there aren't solid. This yarn was lovely to knit with. It's one of the softest cottons I've used and didn't dry the skin out on my fingers like some other cotton yarns I've used. Plus it has yellow in it which is my favourite colour- I think it makes the bag look even more summery.
Secondly, you need to know that the Cotton Glace that I used is 'recycled'. It's part of a stash that I got on Freecycle last year. I'm sure the previous owner would be just as pleased as I am to see it going into a project like this.
Thirdly, the final part of the beauty of all of this is just how flexible the pattern is. Because the gauge doesn't really matter unless you want a very specific size of bag you can substitute any yarn that you like and change the size really easily. I made my slightly wider than suggested by casting on an extra 10 stitches. The size was otherwise determined by how much yarn I had- I just kept knitting until I ran out of the Sugar'n Cream (I was delighted to find that by the time I had woven in the ends and snipped the excess off I was left with less than 3" of yarn- how's that for efficiency?). The only drag was adding on all the i-cord as I find it utterly boring to knit but the applied i-cord does give the edge of the bag a really nice finish and the handles are, I have to admit, quite comfy. I only used 4 stitches for the i-cord instead of the recommended 6 because of the difference in thickness of yarn from that of the pattern. It made the i-cord much much quicker to knit though which was brilliant. Otherwise I may have gone mad. The thicker yarn also makes for slightly smaller holes so I've found that I can put my keys in the bag with fear of loosing them.
So to say that I'm pleased with this would be a bit of an understatement as I'm sure you have all worked out :)