Knitting is a great winter pastime. Perfect for huddling indoors next to the heater. Lovely and soothing with the feeling of wool beneath the fingers and the repetitive motions of winding wool around the needles.

I am going to show you how to create a lovely little knitted handbag.  This is a great project for beginner knitters and those with basic knitting skills. It's great for kids who have progressed beyond simple scarves and introduces them to sewing their project together.

You can do this project doing plain stitch or mix it up a little by adding purl. I like using fairly chunky yarns and big needles as they knit up fast.

Knitted Handbag
Ball of wool of your choice
Knitting needles
Wool needle
Scissors
Matching cotton and needle

Make a slip knot, leaving a fairly long tail. 

Cast on 20-30 stitches.

Knit lots of rows (for this handbag I knitted 42 rows). 

Measure your handbag by folding your knitting in half.

Keep knitting until you are happy with the handbag's length.

Cast off, leaving a long tail.

Using the tails, sew each side of the handbag together.

Using the rest of your wool, finger knit a cord.

Sew it on to the sides of the handbag with the matching cotton.

There are lots of variations for this simple pattern. You can fold your knitting into thirds so you have a handbag with a flap, as I have done for this project.  You can also do pearl stitches for the body with plain stitches for a lovely border on the top. It makes a lovely contrast as you can see in the above photo.

Have fun!

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