Mama's Got a Brand New Bag

     I'm getting a bit slack with my posting here, but I have been otherwise occupied by visiting relatives. The highest ranking member of the family as well as the second heir to the throne, after myself,  were here for a couple of days so we did some catching up and ate a lot. The one from Montreal brought me the squeaky cheese curds I wanted, as well as an amazing surprise assortment of soft, ripened Quebec cheeses. Oh my heavens they're good!  I had given myself a wee break from my cholesterol medication, but due to this extravagant gift, I'm back on it again, just to be on the safe side. The grand matriarch from quaint Sherbrooke Village brought a couple of her award winning, totally to die for, rhubarb pies and some deliciously healthy bran muffins to counteract the effects of all that cheese. 

     So, while the relatives have now toddled off to the  South Shore, to spend a couple of luxurious nights at White Point Beach's Lodge, I was able to complete this bag. I had laid it out and wet it down before they arrived, meaning to find some time to work on it while they were here, but since I wasn't feeling my best, it required all my energy just to keep up with the meals. I rescued it just in time as the mess had developed and faint but offensive oder and I had to wash it out before continuing before I drove the smell into the wool, which seemed fine at this point. This bag required a lot more hand rubbing than I've been used to up until now, due to the complexity of the pattern. The diamonds are made of prefelt and each had yarn around it. In order to keep them in place I had to work this through the mesh for a long time. The results were well worth the patience it required. This is also my largest project so far. I think this will be the limit for awhile as finding space for anything bigger is going to require moving some tables together, all of which have other uses. 

     So here are three shots of the bag so far. I still need to make some simple ropes to serve as handles. I'm not sure if I'm going to add any beading to this. The more I look at it, the more I think the pattern is busy enough and beading would take away from the effort that went into putting it on. All the prefelt has Angelina fiber in it anyway, so I doubt there will be beads added. Once the ropes are on, there will be knots and tails too, so it's quite well embellished. 


     Well, it's long past lunch time and I'm starving, so see yas all next blog.