too much effort?

A year and a half ago I embarked on a knitting project. A knitting project that gave me sore wrists, black fingers, but promised to be epic. I'd purchased an amazing knitting book by the talented Erika Knight, an author I had spent many an hour flipping the pages of in our local library. Each page shined with projects I myself had had sparks of at some point, such as the cable knit chair cover or the upcycled denim jean bean bag cover, but all pailed in comparison to this project. A shopping bag tote knitted out of plastic bags. My inner greenie has a little squee of excitement at the prospect of using up the last few remaining heavier plastic bags that were contained in our plastic bag bag [made out of an old fabric flour bag with the elastic slowly losing it's elasticity]. And so my quest was clear. Any time I was perched in front of the television or listening to music, I was cutting up the bags into 1.5cm strips and winding them into balls, making sure a nice mix of colours would be included. Once I'd done enough I began the task of weaving them together. I grabbed my op-shop purchased 6.5 mm knitting needles and began.

Quickly I learnt that this was a task that would not only take some time, but that would require a break or two for my hands. The hard plastic, was a lot harder than I expected! Several months into it I got distracted, as usual, and other projects looked more shiny, simpler and faster than the poor tote! But as I pushed on with it every now and then, there was some progress and nearly a year in, I was liking what I saw.
I love the colours and decided the struggle was worth it so far, this was going to be good! I headed straight towards the finish line, after completing the front and back panels I got stuck into the gusset piece which was a lovely meter and a bit long...so that took a little longer than expected. Then I hand stitched the pieces together with strong nylon fishing line and attached leather thonging for the handles.

The finished bag disappointed me and perhaps my expectations were a little high and maybe if I fill it with shopping or knitting things it will suprise me, but to be honest at the moment I feel I need a grandmother to give it to in order to give it some value! Terrible thoughts considering the amount of effort I've put into it. For now it's placed amongst mine and my sister's ever growing handbag collection, and I'm not yet decided as to whether or not it'll get used. If I ever do this project again I know which plastic bags to use and perhaps to make the tote a little smaller. At least I've learnt something and now my wrists can relax a little whilst I head back to using wool for a while!

Have you ever had a project that has not met your expectations? Do you find you learn anything from it or do you just accumulate items for a garage sale that you hope goes home to the right person?!