The big reveal

I can finally show the photos of my latest gift project.  This was made for my mom's birthday this week.  I just gave it to her tonight at  dinner and she was very pleased.  She had been wanting to know how entrelac is knitted, but now she has her own she may not need to try it!

Presenting the VLEB (or very large entrelac bag).  I didn't intend for it to be so big, but that's the way it came out.  It's knit from the bottom up in the round so it creates a nice effect on the bottom.  After making the bottom circle (I just kept increasing till I had 16 times 8 stitches for the 16 entrelac triangles in the next round) I started the initial triangles and then followed the entrelac pattern for the Lady Eleanor Scarf in Scarf Style.  It's still my favorite method. 

When I got to the top I finished it off with an applied i-cord.  Then I added the little knitted tubes at the top edge to hold the i-cord handle.  I knit the i-cord handle about 5 to 6 feet long.  I felted it all at once, strung in the handle and tied a knot.  Voila! 

This is Noro Kureyon color #115.  I initially bought about 4 skeins and knew I would need more.  I knit those up and then added one or two skeins at a time until it was big enough.  I don't remember how many skeins there were altogether, though I'd guess about 8.  The great thing about Kureyon is that I didn't stress about dyelot.  With the color changes I really didn't think it'd make any difference and it doesn't.   Skeins for this were bought wherever I could get some as we went on our big trip.  The majority of the knitting was done during that trip too.