Twisted buttonhole bag details

kaity, the bag pattern is based off of the Buttonhole Bag from Mason Dixon knitting blog. This is what the bag usually looks like:

To make the lovely little handle, you cast off just like you would for a buttonhole (hence the name) and then cast back on the next row. Aside from working the bottom, it's done in the round. It's easy, fun, and you end up with an adorable, durable bag.

With my Twisted buttonhole bag I add cabling to the middle of each side, as you can see in the pictures in the last post. When I got to the point where I was supposed to cast off for the handle I put the stitches on holders. First I worked on the strap by continuing the cabling, working until I felt the length was good and did a 3 needle bind off (I kind of messed up and didn't match the cabling exactly, but I'm not that anal about those things so I left it).

When the strap was finished, I started work on the large flap. I made a buttonhole (I think it was 6 stitches) on the first row of the large flap right in the center that the smaller flap on the other side could pass through. Worked the flap incorporating some cabling and 2 buttonholes and ended it with a few rows of garter. On the other side I did the opposite of the large flap and bound off all the stitches except a few in the center (again, I think it was 6 but you can make it as thick as you want as long as you make the buttonhole the same amount of stitches). I worked another small cable, a buttonhole, and again ended in garter. Here is a picture of the top of the bag:
This is the 3rd or 4th incarnation I've made of this pattern. It is so versatile and I love it!

~~Summer Update~~

Summer is good, teachers love summer and now I really understand why. I've gone away for small stretches but there are still a lot of things I want to do= see the waterfall pieces in the east river, by the Brooklyn Bridge and visit my museums among other things.
I went to the Bronx zoo and here are some of the best pictures I took:I've also gotten my bag done (except for the lining):

And a Teddy Bear named BlueBeary:

Pretty productive and fun so far!

Twin bags and my twisted buttonhole bag

Ok, first the twin part:
I fell in love and eventually bought this Michael Kors (MK) bag:


I LOVE this bag like big time.
I started knitting a bag last week and tore it out a bunch of times. The bag design is based off the Buttonhole bag from the Mason-Dixon Knitting Blog with a couple of tweeks. Here is that bag:



The bag is just in need of some tucking and a button. I saw some similarities in the 2 bags, I figured it was because of my obsession with the MK bag. It might just be me, but at least this was an excuse to show off my bag some more ;)

Here is the "Twisted Buttonhole Bag" I'm making for my mom (lupie). Twisted because I added cabling: