WILL THIS PROJECT EVER END???

Just when you think you've got a project all done, something happens.  Case in point:  One of my long standing UFO's has been the Felted Shoulder Sling Bag by Two Old Bags.  I started it eons ago, and since I didn't want to knit yet another solid color bag, I added some bands of design as I knit.  So far, so good.  After felting the bag, I still felt like it needed SOMETHING but since I couldn't think of what, it went back in the UFO pile to "marinate" for a while longer.  Then - EUREKA!  Since I like designs from nature, I'll knit some flowers, vines and leaves and add them to the outside!  Knit, knit, knit... felt, felt, felt...  Nah - I didn't like that either.  Back in the marinade.

Then - EUREKA #2!  I'll embroider some designs!  Got as far as adding some French Knots around the top of the bag and then nothing.  The bag went back in the marinade.  Finally the brainstorm hit - why not needle felt some designs?  YES!  Poke, poke, poke, ouch - stuck my finger, poke, poke, poke... and VIOLA!  While at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair in Crystal Lake, IL this summer, I found the perfect button at the Briar Rose Fiber booth (sorry the image is a little blurry) for the flap closure and thought I was all done.  WRONG - forgot that there are I-cords used for drawstring closure under the flap, so knit, knit, knit... felt, felt, felt... DONE! Or so I thought.

I wanted to line the bag as I like a couple of pockets on the inside to put small things that like to disappear in my purses - namely keys, Chapstick, nail clippers and my cell phone, so I began planning how I was going to do this.  Had fabric in my stash to make it with - Yeah! - but when I was holding up the bag to look at it from different angles, I noticed it - the problem - the very big problem.  Apparently, when the bag was felting it skewed somewhat and now the tab that was knitted to the bottom of the bag no longer matched up with the shoulder straps coming down from the top.  It was off by a good 2-3 inches - SHRIEK!!!!  OK, OK, you can figure it out.... take a deep breath....

OK - I'm just going to snip the tab off and move it over, stitch it back down and the problem will be solved!  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....  When I carefully snipped the tab off, it left a hole - yes, you read that right - a hole.  About a quarter width in size.  See it there just above the black line???

Now, what?  Think, think, think...  OK - I know I've got to move the tab over, which I did, and stitch it back down - that's done, but I used up all the purplish yarn knitting the bag and have no more left to repair the hole!  AUGH!  Think, think, think... well - it looks like I'm going to have to use some other color to close the hole (done) and maybe use some of those earlier felted leaves I fortunetly did not throw away (thank you!) to cover it up.

What do you think?  Will it work?  Stay tuned fellow knitters for the next installment of:
MISADVENTURES IN KNITTING!!!