The Yogamat bag - 5 months late

The yogamat bag for my girlfriend is finally done!
DH presented it to her at her going away party, since she will be moving to the bay area next week (lucky!), so it seemed like it was a going away present. It was actually a birthday present, 5 months late!　

I tried to knit something round for the bottom, but it was more of a square-like shape. I picked up stitches from all around the sides, and knit with a circular Clover Takumi size 10 needles until it was a little taller than the yogamat.

Then, I made little holes by doing a yarnover, then k2tog, k, all around. Since I am so lazy and mathematically-challenged, I didn't bother figuring out how many holes that would make, even though I recognized the 50/50 chance that I would have one hole too many (or too less, whichever). Lo and behold, when I put the 9 stitch I-cord through the holes, there was one hole left! Oh well. This is why I usually follow a pattern.

If I ever make this again, I will make the I-cord first and attach it to the bottom, or attach some kind of reinforcement so that the I-cord can be attached later. Yogamats are pretty heavy, so I think it needs to be reinforced to carry the weight without falling apart.

I baked banana bread with Tania's recipe from her book, which I made a comment on at amazon. 2 out of 2 people said my review was helpful. I hope I am helping sales a little bit :)

Like her recipe for scones, it uses bread flour. It called for 1 tablespoon of vinegar, but the idea of putting in vinegar for a sweet baked good didn't appeal to me, so I used 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, which she mentions in the book as a substitution. I was expecting a dense texture because of the flour, but it was very light and fluffy. DH liked it a lot, and thought I should use this recipe all the time from now on.