Fandango Brick Wall Bag – Work in Progress

I have wanted to knit this bag for years.  I bought the yarn about 5 years ago – with this project in mind.  By that time  Colinette had discontinued Fandango yarn but they had a few odd skeins left which I managed to buy.  I do love this yarn.  It makes a terrible mess.  It is cotton chenille and sheds lots of bits – but it is stable once it is knitted – and at the moment it does not matter about the mess because I am not going to have any visitors.

Here is the first piece on the beach bag which I will use for the lining/framework.

Sometimes I knit one side of a bag and then knit the other side, but this time I have been knitting both sides at the same time.  This is the pink side.

The lining bag slopes  as it goes up - so I have had to knit the bottom 2 rows of shapes slightly larger than the top 2 rows.  I did consider doing a 5^th row but it is easier to get the right fit if you pick up and knit some rows at the top and the bottom.  I confess I may have to darn a few holes too - but the yarn is such that they are very hard to see and no one will notice the darning.

The photo below - shows the blue side of the bag.

I will also need to knit some rows on the sides as well.  I have been trying to find the pattern that I have written before about how many stitches and rows to do for the handles and the top edge.  Unfortunately I can’t locate it at the moment.  It is not where I had hoped I had put it.  I can work it out again if I have to but it would be better if I could find the pattern.   I am going to have another look for it.  The problem is that I have tidied up!  I suppose it may be in the box file labelled “Accessories” – or maybe not!