With Apologies to Matt Groening...

Mistakes were made...

I finally finished the Hobo Bag by Stitch Diva It's billed as an "experienced knit", but really, there are only a few notable tricks in the construction...short rows and double sided knitting. Granted, they occur at the same time, but the pattern is very well written and the website contains DETAILED and numerous instructions for EVERYTHING more complex than a cast on. So how do I explain my challenges with the Hobo Bag...

Well, let's go way back to my teens. Like all the other first-year science majors in university I took calculus. Unlike most other students, I took it twice and not because my first attempt so enchanted my professor that he couldn't bear to see me leave.

Now, without appearing immodest, which would be difficult given the mediocrity of my overall under-graduate transcripts, I did attend my first year of university on an entrance scholarship and achieved quite respectable marks in other math-related courses (~98% in algebra and statistics), but that semester of calculus had it in for me.

Eventually, I completed the course with a bare pass and received my credit, but the initial defeat stayed with me. I scrupulously avoided calculus throughout the rest of my academic and professional career. For no particularly good reason, I became convinced that calculus will always triumph over me.

It's the same way with the Hobo Bag. After the initial learning curve (and resulting whoopses) with keeping front and back yarns in place and picking up the rungs on short rows, I discovered that my calculus nemesis had returned in a new incarnation.

For reasons best known to psychology majors, I couldn't pick up this project without having every crushing anhililation of my life revisit me in the form of fuschia and orange mock-suede.

But, just like with calculus, I was determined to complete the course with tenacity if not style. And so, with no further ado, the bag....warts and all




My therapist said that as part of my cleansing ritual, I should humiliate my victim. (Ok, I got a bit silly after seeing so many heavily beaded and embellished bags out in Yorkville a couple weeks ago...)



Sorry Haley...I'll pay you for materials.