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Update: here’s the pattern! HP House Fair Isle Pouch Bags

Last night I crocheted the edging and handle, and sewed in the lining. All done! Henry loves it:

Because I am completely unable to work any written pattern without changing it (though I really tried not to for this one!) I changed the edging slightly. I used single crochet to close the bottom and work up one side. (Single crochet encloses the edge, unlike the slip-stitch called for in the pattern.) Then I chained the strap, turned, worked back along the strap in half-double crochet, turned again, and worked back in half-double crochet along the other side of the chain.. Attached loose end of strap firmly to the other side, then worked down in single crochet and finished off at the last corner.

And to clarify what I learned about colorwork:

Be careful about your tension when carrying floats across the back! You want just enough slack to allow the stitches to achieve their proper position, but no more and no less. Too much tension, as we all know, will cause your finished knitting to draw up and pucker. What I learned here is that too little tension (too much slack) is just as bad, and causes loose, unformed stitches at color changes. I showed my loose-looking shield and bird edges to the yarn store lady and she suggested twisting the yarns around one another at the color changes, creating a sort of knot. This was bad advice. The knot does keep the stitches in shape, but the knot also forces a gap to appear at the color change. I gave up on this technique about half-way up the wing of the bird, and watched my tension very carefully, with much better results.

I’m not talking about catching long floats behind the knitting. That’s not necessary in this pattern because it’s lined. Also that has nothing to do with good-looking edges at color changes.

It’s lined with green linen, left over from Henry’s cloak. Thanks for the awesome pattern, Rosemary, and thanks for letting me be a test-knitter!