Purse Problems

I've never considered myself a purse person. I had to lug around my Mom's purse as a kid and always told myself I would not have a big purse. That lasted 20 some odd years, till my lovely new sister in law sent me a purse as a thank you for helping out with her wedding.

I hate to admit this but I thought I would not really use it because of the before mentioned vow of non-bulkiness. I liked it I carried it around with my couple of items in it, and thought a purse will be handy when we travel because it is another carry on allowed by the airlines.

Then I started knitting. Now I usually have at least one project in the bag and possibly a knitting book or two. I would never have picked out my bag but now that I have it I love it! And sadly it shows on the bag.

It's a cloth bag and my handles are falling apart. I can not tell you how much this bums me out. I have thought of replacing the handles but that always looks wonky when you attach something new to something old.

Today I went purse shopping, and discovered another level of my own personal Hell. So if I'm not a purse person and I would not have picked out the bag that I love so much now, what qualifies me to pick out a new bag? What?

Add to this that I am very cheap about certain things and bags are one of those items. I want quality but low cost. I want big enough to carry knitting and a book but not the current fashion of suitcase big. I want something classic yet fun.

I know what I want but am not sure if I will like it when I see it. I want to my current bag to look new again, so I don't have to find a new one. But I want a different one now too. Do you think they would mind if I put all my stuff in a bag and carried it around the store to try it out? Maybe I just need a new knitting bag.

The search continues....