Loom Bag Progress!

Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; 

again begin this and thou wilt have finished.  

~ Decimus Magnus Ausonius

I am half-way done with my loom bag!  More specifically, I have finished the back panel.  AND, I have some pictures for you!  :)

The warp on my loom:  

I had been shooting for 12 inches wide - it came out around 11 inches wide - not too bad...  

I did a few inches with a wide weft to get everything "shaken out" and aligned.  Then I switched to the narrow weft - you can see both sections in this picture - look for the threads sticking out the sides to see where one leaves off and the other starts up:  

I used white yarn left over from the warp, as the weft - look at the cute little white dots I get along the edges:  

Here it is finished (24 inches long) on the loom:  

Here is the bag cut from the loom and laid out next to the loom sticks to judge the size:  

You can see how nicely the loom will fit in the bag (remember, this is just the back panel) - you can see how I plan to form the casing  along the short edge on your left:  

I decided to make braided drawstrings for my bag, using left over yarn:  

There will be two braids, each going through the casings on both sides of the bag and one coming out on the left side and the other coming out on the right side:  

I am pretty happy with it so far!  I wish I could let everyone feel the woven fabric - it is so soft and yet substantial at the same time...  

Now I'm waiting for the rest of the yarn to come in the mail, so that I can make the front panel.  I'm going to use bright yellow embroidery floss to add a pattern to the front panel.  I was hoping to find a simple pattern that maybe had some kittens playing with a ball of yarn under a rainbow - or with fireworks in the background - or maybe twinkling stars and hearts - you know, something suited for beginners...  ;)

But it looks like I'll probably end up with some simple geometric pattern...  Sigh...