Noro Bag

I've been thinking about making a bag for quite some time, but lacked inspiration. Then, a few weeks ago inspiration finally struck when I found some Noro Taiyo sock yarn for sale, though I almost felt the blood drain from my body when I saw the price tag. Nevertheless, I decided to treat myself and splurged on two balls. Inspired by a bag made by a friend here and one I had seen online here I set to work making 24 simple granny squares.

My iphone photos I'm afraid do not do this yarn justice, the silk content ensures a beautiful stitch definition and rich luscious colours that subtly change from one delicious shade to another. Each square looked like a little piece of art.
Once all the squares were complete I began with my layout, there was lots of adjusting, re-adjusting, trying to decide if I should add a button or not. Finally I decided on a plan.

I chose a lace weight aubergine coloured Merino yarn to join the squares and a deep cranberry coloured needlecord fabric for the lining. I decided to not rush or skimp on the lining and ended up constructing quite a time consuming method, but I'm glad I did as I feel this gave me the quality of finish on the inside to live up to the beauty of the yarn on the outside.

I added an internal pocket which I trimmed with a printed cotton twill ribbon, I also used a piece of the cotton twill to attach an integrated key ring.

 I decided against a button, whatever I tried it always seemed to distract from the beauty of the  yarns. I may change my mind and add a button later if I find I miss one when using it.

I looked long and hard for the right handles. I wanted something just the right length so the bag would fit comfortably over my shoulder with lots of room for a winter coat etc. I finally found the right handles for sale on Etsy, and miraculously they arrived all the way from China in 1 week!

I'm thrilled with this bag. It's a perfect size for a day bag; roomy but not oversized. Its nice and deep and when sitting on my shoulder drops down to about mid thigh length. Because the yarn was so expensive, I could probably have bought a bag for less, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been so pretty and I wouldn't have loved it half as much.