the Plan

In what is surely one of the smartest moves I've ever made, I'm knitting up a miniature -in acrylic- of the tote I intend to felt. This way I can see how I want it to fit together, and make any necessary adjusments before I begin knitting up the wool.

So far I've decided I'll be doing this in garter, with three rows of stockinette where the front & back join the bottom, which seems to help turn the corner.

I want a large bag, about twice as long as it is tall, and about three-quarters as wide as it is tall. It will have a flap that extends across the open top and halfway down the front, and a long enough shoulder strap for me, which is longer than most, since I'm pretty tall.

I intend to split the top flap, for ease of access to the knitting - part of the project can be hanging out without the whole flap being open. Maybe eyelets along the split would be a good thing, in case I decide down the road that this is all too open.

I'm going to have horizontal loops inside along the back "wall," where idle needles can stay put. Other than that I don't intend to compartmentalize the interior at all.

The sides and strap will be knit in one piece, as is the front-bottom-back-flap. Both sides will have large pockets, maybe inside _and_ out. The front side will taper in slightly, so the width at the opening is smaller than that of the bottom of the bag, and to encourage the bag to lean back toward the flap, instead of toward the front where everything can spill out.

(note 1: come nearly halfway up before beginning the ssk decreases, spaced to make the bag more than half but less than 2/3? as wide at top as bottom)

(note 2: may be easier to pick up stitches for the sides and knit up from there, than making a separate piece then seaming together... taking into account the difference in shrinkage between stitch-per-inch and row-per-inch)

I wonder if I should do something to make the flap more flexible than the rest? Use different size needles? I already have one swatch done on 13's; I intend to knit the thing on 10's (and still have to swatch that).

I have a feeling once I have a great project bag I may have less problem following through on actual projects. I just hope the bag itself doesn't turn into one of my dozens of UFOs.