Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Excuses, Excuses: A Bag Lady 'Fesses Up



I don't think I'm alone when I say that sometimes I think my compulsive knitting needs are merely a veiled excuse for collecting bags. By applause, how many of you in the audience also indulge in buying (or making) new bags for each new project you're working on?

For me, bag collecting is a bit like collecting those pretty journals in stationery stores. I have a lot of those, too, each with a few pages filled in, all of them scattered around the house where, instead of feeling guilty or wasteful for having bought so many, I feel thrilled and excited to have them all. Maybe there's another connection-- pretty, empty (or partly full) journals and pretty, empty (or partly full) knitting bags represent potential. Your eyes feel so good looking at the outside and your heart feels so good knowing that what will one day be inside (a lovely collection of poems, a cashmere sweater) is something you created yourself.

Or hey, maybe I'm overthinking it. I'm curious what your theories are. What is it about beautiful bags? Form meets function? Or merely the practical notion of keeping projects separate so they don't tangle? And do you, as do I, like to buy logo bags from faraway knit shops so that when you carry them around envious fellow knitters will imagine you traveling far and wide, centering your vacations on knitting?

Boy do I have a LOT of bags. I love them all. The gigantic ones that hold ten or fifteen skeins for a sweater. The itty-bitty zipper pouches that hold my stitch markers and measuring tape. The long needle bag, a mini-bamboo forest from which my circulars spring forth whenever I open it.

Well, we have a ton of bags down at the shop, more than we can show here. But here's a sampling. And the great thing is, as you know, you don't have to use these for knitting-- they make excellent everyday summer bags, too.





No comments: