The Bag That Never Ends

I've been working on this bag for about a month now. It was inspired from this bag which I have been coveting since I first saw it. I'm doing it for a swap, and I'm fairly sure that it will suit my intended recipient to a T. This bag was one of the many projects that was supposed to be finished before I gave birth - in reality, it wasn't started until after I gave birth. I feel rather sorry for it, as a project, as I just haven't given it the time it deserves. I'd knit a bit on it, but then be needed by the baby. Or the husband. Or the toddler. Or I'd start knitting on it after everyone was in bed, but then I'd grow bored of the constant knit stitch. And being that I did the bottom bit in garter stitch, and the body in the round.... it was ALL knit stitch. Plus it's neither my favorite yarn or my favorite colourway - which is okay, as it's being made for a friend - but that didn't help the motivation any. And the fact that it was just SO LARGE - which was necessary, as I was going to felt it - also didn't help, as I'd knit several rounds and still feel like I wasn't making any progress.

But anyway. The knitting part of this is done. Finally.

And I was so eager to be 'finished' with it that I tossed it in the machine with relatively little thought about things, and felted it. In truth I quite like the way it felted up, and felting definitely suits the yarn I used (from The Tin Shed). But only after the fact did I realise that I'm not sure where to go from here.



I don't know how to block a felted project. But I have a sneaking suspicion that it should have been done before I let it dry.

I also meant to add embroidery to it. Which I also, in hindsight, think should probably have been done before I felted it.

I need to line it as well - thankfully it's not too late for that. However, I have no idea what I'm going to line it with. Very few of the fabrics I currently have match. One which does match, I'm not sure I have enough of. The only other one that matches is earmarked for something else, but alas I haven't started that project yet, so maybe it's "a sign". And I have no idea if the intended recipient will like any of the fabrics in question.

I do like the bag. It's the first felted bag I've done, and I'm rather pleased with how it's come out, so far. But I really don't know where to go from here!