UFO: Market Bag

Confession time….  I have some UFOs (unfinished objects) that have been languishing in knitting purgatory for some time now.  And by time, I means years….and years.  Yes, some of these projects are a bit embarrassing to admit to.  But one of my  undocumented goals for the year is to actually finish one of them.  That one may be my market bag.

Of all the UFOs I have, there are two that I may actually try to finish.  I’m going to tell you about them in the coming weeks.  First up – the String Bag by Erin Vaughan.

How It Started

I began this bag, I think, as a class at a LYS….in 2008.  Yes, 2008.  I was still new to knitting and trying to expand my skill base.   A good way to do this seemed to be by making a bag.  This was when market bags were all the rage.  

The yarn, Ty-Dy Cotton from Knit One, Crochet Too, is lovely to work with…soft and pliable.  In fact, I wish I had more of it and more bags knit with it!

Problems

I had a lot of problems with this pattern. It was a bit complex for me at the time.  The main body of the bag is made with a Turkish Stitch, which is not difficult (k2tog, YO constantly)….but when you’re a newbie knitter and you make a mistake with these stitches, it’s hard to fix.  

However, I got through most of the body of the bag, with mistakes, and was completely overwhelmed by the instructions for the strap.  Remember: newbie knitter.  The skills in my handbag at the time numbered very few.

Going Forward

Given all my knitting experience since 2008 – ahem, 12 years ago – I think I can finish this project.  I have no desire to rip it out and begin anew.  The mistakes I made are reminders of what it was like to not know how to fix mistakes.   It was a learning process, after all!  

This would be a lovely little bag to have for groceries or shopping…or fiber fests, if we can ever venture out in public again.  So I’m definitely not going to frog it.  I’ll finish it – and you have to hold me to that statement!