Excitement!

Ding ... eyes open!

Time: 4.15am.

Reason: Elivs (one of our cats) wanted cuddles.

Brain then goes into overdrive because some of my handbag supplies came through the post yesterday - the handbag clip clasp and some base strengthening plastic. Very exciting ... but slightly disappointing too because it wasn't the £36 worth of beads I've ordered!

Still, it means I can now get on and finish my razor bag ... whoohooo!!

Let me just take some photos so you can see what I'm talking about ... (grabs coffee cup and camera)

... back again.

Here's some pictures of the bits I've received and what I've done with them so far.

The first image is the plastic strengthener. You're supposed to just use it for the base of handbags. It helps them to keep their shape at the bottom and it doesn't matter if it gets wet in the rain - unlike cardboard which will just go soggy. The second picture is the clip clasp - a 7" one. The third picture shows how I've cut out the strengthener which I'll use to support the sides as well as the base of my bag. Because it's going to be knitted and have blades and beads attached, if I don't strengthen it, the whole thing will sag under the weight of the blades and beads.

I've done some small knitted samples and found that the best knit comes from using size 2 1/4 needles - it's tighter and therefore firmer. Fortunately, by some miracle, knitting on this size needle means that each stitch on the needle matches exactly to one of the squares on the strengthener. Therefore, my strengthener is 45 holes across the front - so I'll need 45 stitches on my needle - plus probably 2 each side for a seam allowance. This is going to make the whole knitting thing a lot easier - I can count the rows on the strengthener to see how many rows I need to knit ... rather than just leaving it to guestimates. Phew!

All I need to do now is thread all the beads and blades on in the right order. I want to have a bead, then a blade, then a bead ... but when threading them onto the wool I've got to take into account the turn around at the end of each row. I figured the best way of doing this is to lay all the beads and blades out on a table in the shape of the bag and then thread them on that way.

I've also got to knit the front and back separately, the base and the two sides separately. I'll therefore have 5 pieces which I can then sew together. It would be impossible to just knit the front, base and back in one piece because of the way the razors will hang down. To explain: if I were to cast on at the top and knit a couple of rows, then knit in some blades and beads, for the next few rows I will be fighting the blades and beads out of the way all the time as I knit downwards. Therefore, I have to knit from the base up so that the blades and beads don't get in the way.

And I was wondering ... when I come to knit the base, whether I should knit in some blades across the base which will add protection to the knitting. I'll think about that one some more while I'm making up the rest of the bag.

Anyway, good times ahead - a weekend of knitting ... and I can start tonight at Knitting Club! (A group of us get together every Friday night and spend the evening knitting, chatting and drinking tea! Perfect for a tea-totaller!)

I'm off to sort out beads and blades!

See ya!