Monk's travel satchel

I have loved this bag since I first saw it. I'm not very good at purling (seems a bit awkward for my hand) so I despaired at the miles of seed stitch, even though I absolutely adore how seed stitch looks. Earlier this year I learned to purl the German way (where the yarn stays behind the work the whole time--the right needle does some serious swan dives poking around to make the stitch, but it keeps me from having to hold the yarn down in front which hurts my hand). It makes more sense now that in German the two stitches are "rechts" (right) and "links" (left) rather than knit and purl. This purl is supposed to be ultra fast, although I'm incredibly slow at it--far slower than if I just did a usual purl, but because it's less irritating I actually keep working, so in the end it's much better! I'm about halfway done with the eternal strap that starts the pattern off.




This is some super tiny wool/silk blend yarn I'm working with, triple stranded to make a normal gage! I had bought the yarn for weaving but had to sell my loom when I moved to Switzerland. I figured I could do a lot of lace knitting, although that hasn't turned out to be the case. Instead I realized I can use multiple strands and use up my stash!