I just returned from my vacation in Japan, and discovered in my mail box that the latest Creative Knitting magazine, Summer 2016, is out. My purse pattern sent to the magazine last September has finally unveiled.
It features Estonian knitted lace in a silk-wool blend fingering weight yarn by Spud & Chloe, adorned with purple square beads, lined with ivory silk organza, and finished with glittery purple-grey ribbons.
Knitting with beads was the theme requested by the editors. I used a yarn-over beading technique to fill in all yarn-overs with translusent square beads that I got from a beads store in Queen St. West, the fashion district of Toronto. Also, the purl stitches that define each pattern repeat were fill with beads by purling with a bead into each stitch. The purse was knitted flat (in two pieces) top down. The border was knitted separately and grafted to the bottom of the purse. You can definitely knit the purse body in the round. However, I actually preferred knitting the front and back separately, and so there would be a seam on each side to "define" the body.
I especially like the decorative cast-on ridge of the border. It's a knitted cast-on through the back loops with double strands of yarn. The bold, braid like ridge is formed by purling the first two rows (with only single strand of yarn).
If you look closely the image feature in the magazine, it shows the "back" side of the purse, actually. The border shows the purl stitches, and the beads on the border are not quite visible. But my husband's comment was: I like the back side with the purl stitches better. So, maybe there is no back side. It all depends on your taste.