Noni Medallion Bag

This is what happens when I work at a knit shop: new yarns and patterns come in and I have to be familiar with them... then I start matching up color possibilities ...then I fall in love with them and can't resist buying them. However, this time I have found a alternative to buying great amounts of yarn: I can knit it as a demo model for the shop. haHA! This way I can match colors, not have to buy the yarn, knit the project, then not have to find something to do with the finished object. It's a great plan.

So when Noni came out with some new patterns, I fell in love with the Medallion bag right away. It is just so awesome! Granted, it's huge, but we suspect that their model in the picture is a midget because the finished bag is only supposed to be 20 inches long. I pined after it for many weeks, not wanting to make a bag that big, and not wanting to fiddle with a pattern that complicated to make it smaller. So I finally came up with my "make it for the shop" idea and I cast on happily. I chose Cascade's new teal color because it's so rich looking. And black because white bags show dirt too easily!

I am about halfway up the sides now. It has been put aside for the moment (baby blankets for the shop are easier to knit in public, this bag takes concentration), but I am determined to finish it because it looks so good! I suppose I should admit that I am not as philanthropic as I seem; part two of the "make it for the shop" plan is selfish. If I like the end product, I buy the yarn and keep it for myself. :( But, if the bag is too big for what I carry around, then the shop gets it as a model, I promise.

Even the bottom is complicated! Well, it's not really that complicated a pattern to knit, but most bottoms are solid colors even when the bag is fancy.