Chickadee blue and brown knitted bagWhiplash topic: Yarn

It started out so well... I decided to try out the Whiplash competition and create something for the topic "yarn" over the weekend. I had the best materials - light blue wool yarn, brown wool, a dark brown fabric with white floral pattern and wool for crewel embroidery. I even realized I could finally use the big round wooden button I had lying around and a bit of the brown grosgrain stitch ribbon. Of course I knew I didn't want to just make something with yarn, but really be inspired by yarn and use it to knit and embroider and felt.

I started by knitting up the two squares making them as big as I could while using all of the 100 grams I had in each colour. I had to unravel halfway through to change the proportions. But that was the easy part. I washed the squares in hot water to felt a tiny bit and then blocked them so they wouldn't curl up so much.
After that I started the embroidery - my inspiration was a chickadee I had seen on a shirt at Goodwill. The shirt was a big baggy ugly sweatshirt so I didn't want it, but I loved the colours in the bird illustration. I tend to "draw" the design with a neutral colour, then fill in the colours using satin stitch and chain stitch for the wing in this case. I love the finished bird embroidery on a berry branch!
The embroidery and the colour scheme were the best part, but things went down hill a bit when it came to assembling everything. I originally tried to make the strap with just the floral fabric but it looked floppy and awkward, plus I wasn't sure how to put in the lining and if that would be enough to keep the knitted sides in place. I undid all this and went to bed. That was Sunday night and the rules say to submit the project by Monday!I revised the construction, by adding interfacing on the lining, then stitching it to the new strap/sides/bottom (which was one big loop). I used cordoruy for the strap with floral lining. The inside also has a pocket and was handstitched to the sides before adding the knitted layers. Please note that I was even reduced to basting!!! Something I am usually never patient enough to do.
Then I handstitched the knitting on and added a ribbon loop for the clasp, with the brown wooden button. This is the finished bag - it's quite large, 10.5" x 16".
Here's a close-up picture of the lining. The fabric is from a thrifted curtain, which I unhemmed, washed and (eek!) ironed.
And of the brown wooden ball button:
In the end I'm a little bit disappointed - it didn't quite turn out the way I imagined it would. I do love the embroidery though. So I'm going to add the link to Whip up now and go to bed!!