Cabled Purse

I was shopping for a Christmas present for my very fashion-conscious sister-in-law when I saw a knitted purse in a high-end clothing store. Instead of paying the $150 for the purse, I decided to make it myself!

I took a picture of the purse and made up a pattern for it by combining and altering several cable patterns from Traditional Aran Knitting by Shelagh Hollingworth. I then sewed on leather handles and lined it with fabric so that it could function well as a purse. The purse was a success and saved me over $100, which is very nice considering I am a 19-year-old college student and saving money is important.

It was the first time I had made up a pattern and I learned many new techniques, such as how to knit bobbles. I used a now discontinued yarn, but comparable to Lion Brand's Wool Ease yarn on size 8 needles. I knitted the front and back panels identically, and I knitted a long garter stitch panel for the sides and bottom. I sewed them all together with a machine. For the side tabs, I knitted a single cable and attached by hand with buttons.

I added pictures of the purse that I drew my inspiration from. As you can see, the purse I made is not exactly the same (I learned after making it how I should have done it to make it identical), but I have grown to like my design well :)