Hi, all. I realize this thread has been going on for years (and years and years), but I gave my good faith effort to find this pattern on my own. I searched every variation of "shoulder sling" and/or "Annie's" I could think of, and though I found quite a few nice patterns, none of them come close to this one. If any of you are still following this thread and have the pattern, I'd love a copy ( maplewood81 [at] yahoo ). Or, if you could direct me to where I can buy it, I'd appreciate it as well. Thanks in advance!

Ah, well - it's only ridiculous because you can make it yourself - possibly even out of the stash you have at home. If the shop is selling them for $160-$200, let's work out where the $$ are going... Usual markup for retail is 2.5 times, so the store bought it from the knitter for around $64-$80. Artists' rule of thumb is to mark up materials by 3, so materials could have cost around $21-27. If the ribbon was actual silk, and the beads swarovski, then that could be about right. Depends on whether they got wholesale or not. Or used Michael's coupons or whatever. Plus you'd want to count something for shopping time. And either gas or shipping to get materials. That leaves $43-$53 for the actual labor. If it takes an afternoon to do one, say 4 hours, then the artist gets $10.75 - $13.25 per hour for their work. (And delivery to the shop is free, with no allowance to pay for parking, gas or time required to get there.) Of course, that $10.75 - $13.25 per hour is gross, so take out 25% for taxes and the artist's take home is $8.06-$9.94 per hour. Where I live that ain't raising-a-family-with-a-mortgage money. As consumers, we just get used to seeing Asian labor prices on everything. Unique handmade designs are expensive. We knitters are lucky that we can DIY.

I love these bags too and they are so lightweight and easy on my shoulder! I can't carry a heavy bag anymore, it really bothers my neck and shoulders after awhile. I can throw exactly what I need in these and it's still very comfortable to carry. I am going to get some cheap fabric this week end to try and make my own pattern. I'm not good at improvising....really would feel more comfortable with precise pieces! I can vision so many colors and prints in these. The Ebay sotre I get them from are very reasonable and even the shipping is fair as they are coming from Thailand, but I would love to choose my own colors etc and make them. I have bought 3 so far.....I must confess too that I am a shoe and bag junkie LOL! Dh said these are much easier to own...they can be folded up to store! I have purses hanging in the closet taking up space he could use! I am going to go through them this week, the Purple Heart people are coming around for clothing, etc. I have so many that I haven't used in years. Thanks for your responses ladies!

I came across this old post about this pretty bag today and would like to have the pattern. Can anyone help me? I did look through all of the comments to the old post. Some people posted similar purses and patterns, but I didn't see anything quite like the original.