My Mermaid Purse

Mermaid Purse

My Mermaid purse made it's beach debut yesterday here on vacation in Newport, Oregon. It is finished...well except for a few more finishing touches of sea shell embellishments.

I love this pattern by Louisa Harding. It is from one of her earlier books Beachcomber Bay, The Accessories Collection. The purse is called Mermaid and is not listed on Ravelry yet.

The Beachcomber Bay book was inspired by Louisa's own childhood memories of beach combing. As a California girl, I grew up beach combing,too. My husband and I went beach combing yesterday to find some shells and bits for my purse. I found out...I still love beach combing!

Beach Combing!

My Mermaid purse is knit in Louisa's Flotsam yarn. I lucked out and found color #2 which reminds me of the ocean. I enjoyed knitting with this slubby, lofty yarn. Websters in Ashland told me the yarn is being discontinued.

Louisa used a neat fish buckle for the ties on her purse that weave through the eyelet row. I lucked out and found a large shell at a bead store in Ashland, Oregon for my ties. I plan on putting more shells on my purse. I have even seen some purses lately that embellish the entire bag with sea shells sewn on. I am not sure yet if I will go that far.

Anyway, this was a really fun and easy pattern. I found the natural cane handles at my local Joann's store. I used a 6" diameter and not the 7.5" the pattern specified. Danielle my knitting teacher at Knitique taught me the mattress stitch to sew up the sides. This was my first project requiring seams. I also did twisted cord for the bag's ties. This was my first time doing that, too.

You certainly don't need a beach get-a-way to make this purse. The wonderful pattern lends itself to many custom style variations. That's Louisa Harding for you...wonderful designer patterns with boutique style results! My kind of knitting!

That's all for now...I am off to the beach for more beach combing!