Dr. Frankenstein's Lucy-esque bag

Sooo....I decided to try and um, alter the bag. I bought another skein of the Malabrigo, cast on 88 stitches and knit around until I was almost out, then decreased every other row. 'Til I had what looked like a ginormous hat. (LOL)



Did I mention before that I knit this bag from the top down?? I actually knit the straps first, using a provisional cast on, and incoporated them into the casting on of the top of the bag. If that makes any sense. Then I just kept knitting until I had what appeared to be enough yarn left for the decreases. (All that to avoid starting out on DPNs.) I really liked doing it that way and I'd do it again.

Soooo....I felted my monster hat, then lopped off the bottom of the wee bag and sewed the new, longer bag body to the bottom of it. Then I felted the whole thing one more time. The stitches where I joined the two are still somewhat visible, so I think I'm going to try to clean it up with a little needle felting. If that doesn't do the trick, I'll embellish it with a little bit of trim or some felted leafy-viney-Nicky-Epstein inspired decorative mumbo-jumbo..



In any case, I'm glad I did it, wonky as it is. My husband said, "that's an expensive little bag." Which it was, especially considering that I haven't carried a purse since I was in high school. But my recent gadget acquisitions are makig me rethink my position...that, and the fact that it's nice to have a sock-in-progress with me at all times. ;)