Still Not the Bacardi...but

a finished object nonetheless...

Knitty's Everlasting Bagstopper

So, I'm trying to decide which I prefer...the Everlasting Bagstopper, or Jodi's Saturday Market Bag

remember this?




Background...I'm thinking ahead (well, not that far ahead) to the holidays and a reusable shopping bag might make a nice little gift for teachers and EAs, particularly if the girls and I fill them with a sample of our Christmas cookies.

I think that a hybrid of the two bags might work:

- I prefer the Super 10 Cotton to the Allhemp6. Don't get me wrong, the hemp has a very interesting texture and promises to soften up with washing, but it's tough slogging to knit with off the skein. Both fibres are very strong and resist stretching, but cost-wise the hemp is more expensive than the mercerized cotton, particularly because I have so much of the cotton in my stash.

- I like the pocket feature of the Market Bag more than the drawstring cinch of the Everlasting bag. I think that if I used the dimensions of the bottom of the EB, but added a turning row and flap, I could make a pocket bottom and still keep the lip feature along the bottom of the EB.

- I could go either way with the straps. Knitting the garter straps is tedious, but so is perusing fabric stores for moderately priced, sturdy ribbons to co-ordinate with yarn.

- The yarnover pattern of the EB is easier than the SMB. There is no logical reason for this, they are very similar, but for some reason I had much less difficulty sorting out where I was when I picked up my knitting with EB's lace.

So, those are the basic specs of the bags that I'll be knitting up for the holidays...

Diversion over, let's get back to the Bacardi...