clearly, today was not going to be an average day.
i didn't have any writing in me. it rained here, so i didn't want to go anywhere at all. i had the tv on all day, on CNN, watching us bomb baghdad. and from nine or so in the morning until about four, i made: moroccan preserved lemons, a big pan of chili, and this.
this is a little change purse knitted out of four and a half plastic grocery bags from whole foods. if you cut off the bottom seam and the handles, you can cut, spirally, a single unbroken strand from an entire bag.
no big mystery to this. i cast on 18 stitches and knitted in garter stitch until the thing was, maybe 8 or 9 inches -- more or less a square. to decrease for the envelope flap, i used the following formula over four rows: row one: ssk, knit to end. row two: knit. row three: knit to last two stitches, k2tog. row four: knit. repeat until you have 10 stitches, then, on the row in which 10 are knit even, bind off the center two. on the following row (in which you will be decreasing again), cast on the two bound-off stitches. that's your buttonhole. keep decreasing until you're down to one, then slip your tail through.
i sewed the button on with the plastic as well; the button is one that just fell off of a jacket. (i truly feel a plastic button, particularly an unloved one, keeps with the mood). sew up the sides vertically, again, with the same plastic "yarn".
"year of selfish knitting" or no, i may give this one away at the office.