East Meets West Satchel--Part One

One of my current WIP (works in progress) is a little somethin' I got for Christmas from Brad and the kids.  It's a purse, or will be, when it's finally finished.  It has 21 different colors in it and uses Fair Isle and intarsia techniques, as well as short rows and duplicate stitch.  I will also be lining it when it's done.

Right now, I'm currently done knitting all of the pieces.  You start with the strap.  It's a big "O" shape, with one part wider--that part will be the bottom of the bag.  The wide part is made by using short rows--which was difficult to do well with colorwork.  I think it'll block out okay, though. The skinny part is the strap that will be how you carry the bag.

 Then move on to the sides of the bag, which is a big circle, which is cut into two pieces by steeking.  Yes, cutting knitting.  It's a little scary, but it's worth it!  It makes the knitting part a lot easier.  Otherwise, you'd be knitting back and forth (purling) with two colors, like in the strap.  It's easier to just keep knitting around and around...  Here it is before cutting (or steeking).

Once the steek was cut. I picked up stitches on one cut side of the bag.  Then I started the intarsia, which is something I had never done before.  I just haven't been that interested, honestly.  It is a technique which will help you to create pictures with large blocks of color, rather than patterns of knit stitches in small amounts of different colors.  I have decided that I'm not really that into intarsia, but by the end of the flap, I felt like I could do it a lot better.  The beginning of it looks a little iffy, the stitches are being pulled tight in some spots and bunched up in others.  But I don't want to do it over!  At one point I think I had close to 15 bobbins of yarn hanging off of the back of that little flap.

After the intarsia was finished, I went back over the pattern and sewed in the small parts of color with duplicate stitch.  Basically, I made stitches over the knit stitches, kind of like cross stitch but in a "V" shape to look like the knitting.  That was pretty enjoyable for me, surprisingly.  (It also got me started on my latest new project, a Christmas present, actually!)  Here's what it looks like right now, before I've blocked it:

Next step is to wash everything and block it out to size and shape.  Then sewing it together, adding the applied I-cord (I'll explain later) and then, finally, lining the darn thing!