08-15-2011: Learned how to do a crocheted provisional cast on from a Lucy Neatby video. Love it!
Got through the cast on, the first two knitted setup rows, the increase row, so now I’m ready to plunge into the twenty row pattern when I take my breaks and my lunch today!
The pattern calls for 4 repeats on each side, but I swear I saw five in the pic!

Also found a different way to do the braided i-cord that I will probably use:
http://emmybearknitting.blogspot.com/2008/04/braided-i-cord-strap.html

08-17-2011: Got through two repeats of the pattern so far, mostly because I’m pushing myself and staying up a bit later than normal so I can complete a repeat a day. I’m hopeful I can continue that pace the rest of the week and have five pattern repeats done in time for the weekend.
I’m getting not quite two inches out of each repeat, so to get the twelve inch height specified in the pattern, it looks like it will have to be six repeats on each side.
I’m really hoping I can get through both sides of the bag by the end of this upcoming weekend, but my wrists may have other ideas!

08-21-2011: Okay, as of this morning, I have four repeats completed, which is what the pattern calls for. It looks too shallow for me at this point, so I’m going to continue with my original thought of doing six repeats on each side. That will give me close to twelve inches height. I may also make the bag wider than the four inches the pattern says, and go for six inches instead. I’ll see how that looks when I get to that point!

09-14-2011: Finally done! I have it lined with a pretty cotton fabric, and added a magnetic closure and several pockets.
I used up every scrap of the Cascade 220 I had, plus a partial skein of a coordinating color to make the straps.
If I make a similar bag, I’ll go for store purchased handles (to make sure they don’t stretch out of shape). Since I made the bag slightly bigger than the pattern, if I do the i-cord braided handles, I’d make the i-cord six or eight stitches, instead of just four. I feel like the handles on this one are a little small for the bag, but I can easily swap those out if I choose later.
I suspect I will use this bag a lot once I switch my day to day items over to it.

The bag ended up big enough to hold tons of books, magazines and knitting items. If I have to travel for my job again, this will definitely be the bag I take with me. It’s the colors I love, the size I want, lots and lots of pockets, and can get squished around and take a bit of abuse.

I’m extremely pleased with the end result, especially for my first effort at making a fully lined hand bag.