From Dianne: (Who's already finished the FMB!) I used 4.5mm needles and single strand Cosy Wool. I did the base by the double-pointed needle option, and a huge pain in the butt it was, too. Way fiddly. The next time I'll use the other method where you pick up stitches around the edge of a pre-knitted square. In terms of following the pattern, I did with the base, but I made the body of the bag about 3 inches longer than suggested. Also, with the handles I added an extra 4 rows to each handle(half) before grafting. The pattern was dark purple with a pink/red/pink stripe in the middle, and an alternate pink/red square pattern at the edge, and purple handles. It looks like an Iced Vo Vo!!! It took 1 1/2 cycles on hot in my top loader, and felted down about 1/3 in size. It's perfect!!!!!