I have recently become increasingly fascinated by Scandinavian design (and desserts).  My mother puts it down to our Danish heritage… and so does my Aunt who did the whole DNA testing to find out we are essentially 100% Viking.  Secretly she was hoping for something more exciting and exotic.

However, I have been channeling this summer heat to knit in cotton, creating gifts and practical objects using colourwork.

Finally for you fine folk I settled on this practical sized purse pattern with hearts.  It is a relatively easy knit, and a great way to practise colourwork without getting your yarns too tangled up.

You will need:

• Red and White DK cotton yarn (non-cotton is fine also)
• 13cm zip
• 4mm straight needles.
• Sharp darning needle
• Optional- fabric to line.

Cast on 31 stitches in Red.

The whole purse is knitted in 1 piece.  All you need to do is follow the chart on the following page.  As a reminder for working with charts, read right to left on all right facing sides, and left to right on all wrong facing sides.  Start at the bottom of the chart on the right hand corner.

Then cast off.

After casting off, it is time to block.  If you are using cotton, I find the easiest way to block is to use a hot steam iron.  This will not only block your work quickly, but it will also lay it very flat, which is useful for the next step.  Now stitch the zip onto the top and bottom of the purse.  You can then stitch the sides closed.