Slytherin House Bag

I've been wanting to make these Harry Potter House bags for a while!  I finally got around to making my first one: the Slytherin House Bag.  It took me about a week and a half to complete, but I imagine it would have been done sooner if I hadn't been preoccupied with other things.

Here is how it turned out:

I followed the grid pattern exactly, and then I realized, for some reason, the Slytherin patter actually seems to be backwards!  I wish I had realized that before I started it, but it still looks okay.  I have to admit from what I've seen of the Slytherin logo, it doesn't always form an S.  It is supposed to, though.  Oh well!

I finished it in my own way rather than following the finishing directions provided.  The strap is knit in i-cord.  The problem is that it's very stretchy, even though I reinfoced it, so the bag sags dramatically when there are heavy things in it.  For future bags, I think I will do the strap differently--perhaps I will buy some canvas webbing to sew in or something.

The bag is lined with a stretchy jersey knit cotton that I recycled--it's from an old cami (I have other old camis that I will be recycling to line the other bags as well).  I created a pocket in the liner, as well, because I wanted to separate my cell phone from the other contents of my bag for easy access and to prevent scratching.

I spent most of today pondering some type of closure method for the top of the bag, and I finally decided on buttons and loops.  The loops were knit in i-cord as well, but with fewer strands than that of the strap (3 instead of 5).

The materials I used for the project:
Set of US8 (5.0 mm) DPNs
US8 (5.0 mm) circular needle
Caron Simply Soft - Grey Heather (9907)
Caron Simply Soft - Forest Floor (9950)
tapestry needle
scrap olive green jersey-knit cloth for liner
sewing needle
olive green thread
2 large wooden buttons