My Little Dumpling (Bag)

How cute is this bag?!  Like many other knitters (okay, maybe I should qualify that:  like many other knitters also challenged by project monagamy), I immediately CO for a dumpling bag of my own when I spotted the pattern in IK (way back in fall 2008).  Dumpling is a super-fast knit, great stash buster, and leaves lots of room to improvise.  (If you don't believe me, check out the 1000+ project photos on Ravelry.) As knits go, this one is instant gratification to the max.

Except I couldn't find any lucite rings I liked for the handles.   So while I searched, this little Dumpling lived in my WIP pile.  I don't know why I had so much trouble finding the rings (again, there are OVER A THOUSAND Dumplings on Ravelry, so this was obviously not an issue for other knitters), but I did--until last week when I found what looked like perfect ones online at The Beadin' Path.  They arrived yesterday, and they WERE perfect.  So this morning I sewed up the handles, weaved in all my yarn ends (not a quick chore BTW with all the ends left over from the embroidery), and tossed my Dumpling into the washer to felt.  The pattern says 15+ minutes, but I got the right fabric after just 10 minutes (with two pairs of jeans in there).  I was worried the French knots might unravel during the felting process, but they came out just fine.

I'm thinking I'll keep this Dumpling as a project bag (it seems like the perfect size for a sock project).  But I may make more of these for gifts.  Except not for GK, who has requested mittens anyway and who is probably "still wondering what the point is."

Once my Dumpling is dry and I add the inside snap, I'll post an FO pic on my Ravelry page.