I’ve re-written the pattern to better suit my personal preferences.

I start from the top, casting on 100 stitches, then knitting in garter for about 8 rows. Then I switch to the Knit; K2TOG, YO lace pattern and do that at least once with my smaller needles before I switch to my larger needles.

When I’m done with the stretchy lace portion, I switch back to my smaller needles for decreases. I put markers evenly to make 4 sections (every 25 stitches) and make the following decreases:

Row 1- Knit
Row 2- SM, SSK, Knit across to last 2 stitches before marker, K2TOG, SM
If I want eyelets in the bottom of the bag as the original pattern had, I do this on the decrease rows:

Row 2- SM, K2TOG, YO, K2TOG, knit across to last 4 stitches before marker, K2TOG, YO, K2TOG, SM
I repeat until I get down to 8 stitches, then tie up the bottom.

This allows me to pick up from the top wherever I want my handles and how wide. I usually pick up 12 stitches on the handle, then decrease every other garter row until I have 8 stitches, garter stitch until my handle is long enough, increase every other row until I’m back up to 12 stitches, then join on the other side using Kitchener join for garter. Sometimes I’ll make a really skinny handle, decreasing to 4 or 6 stitches.