My first knitted bag and getting in danger for not knowing which buttons to buy...

(C) Melanie Eichenauer, 2010. Straight out of camera :)

I proudly present... my first knitted bag.
This took me quite a time, but I am so happy with the result. There are 2 different structures. I first started this piece just to try out knitting again... I knitted before but that was years back in school. But then I thought... when I'm trying this out I could try out doing something beautiful.

(C) Melanie Eichenauer, 2010. Photographing this bag on a very windy day isn't easy...

(C) Melanie Eichenauer, 2010. Little Details.

The final touches have just been added today. I bought the buttons in a tiny old crafting shop. This shop is owned by two old (yes, I really mean old) sisters and I would say, this shop is cult. It's very small but full of wool, buttons, fabrics, and so on. And the ladies there... oh my they are strange. As I entered the shop, the old lady was talking to another customer. The customer said "Please serve this woman, I need more time." The lady gringed and turned to me, "What can I do for you?"
"Well, first I need a few buttons."
"Which colour?"
"I don't know, I just want to look at what you've got" (that was kinda lie, I knew I wanted pink ones, but I wanted to have a look at all the others too.)
So, I tried to have a look at the button wall. Yes, a wall. Full of buttons. I guess I've never seen that much stuff. But the lady wasn't happy with what I said.
"You have to know which colour."
"I need a few ones and I just want to have a look, there are so many."
"Don't touch this!" My heart stopped - thankfully she wasn't talking to me. She yelled at the other customer.
I was quite shocked and thought about leaving without buying anything. She was so unfriendly to the other woman.
But I did not leave. I then realized that I am not used to a shop like this. Normally I buy my stuff online or at big stores, but this was a very old tiny little shop. And as another customer got in and the old lady got even unfriendlier... I could not help myself, I started to laugh. It was so unreal, so strange. I felt like set back in time. Like in the 50s or something. Of course the old lady wasn't happy with us taking so much time to have a look at things and not knowing what exactly to buy.... when she was younger, people didn't have much money so they only got into a shop when they really needed something... they knew exactly what to buy, 'cause every Schilling (years before we had Euros) had to be turned twice.
As she left the shop shortly to look for needles I needed (strange word combination... haha)... the first customer whispered to me "She's not in a good mood today." She seemed to be used to this, so I think she is there often.

(C) Melanie Eichenauer, 2010. Structure I.

(C) Melanie Eichenauer, 2010. Structure II.

I hope my english was good enough to retell that story. Feel free to tell me what you think about my bag....

(C) Melanie Eichenauer, 2010. On the wall ... :)

Love,

Melanie