C is for...

Crochet

This is what got me back into the whole world of crafting - good old crochet. About 2.5/3 years ago, I saw a woman on the bus crocheting a small circular motif. Having handed in my thesis, and thus having a bit of time on my hands, I thought "Hmmm... I could probably do that!" bought some yarn and a couple of books, had a bit of a look on the internet and started my first attempt - a chunky piece in blue acrylic which mysteriously turned into a triangle.

First lesson - that is what turning chains are for! I got my hands on the book '200 crochet squares' and decided that my first project would be an afghan made of a mixture of squares, in browns and naturals - to match the colour ideas I had for when I finally got a place of my own and was able to decorate it (yes, I plan that far ahead, and yes, my lounge is now brown/soft coffee/dark red!). So far I have about 8 squares - that book is great to look at, but I think it has a few errors, and all of the squares turned out completely different sizes!

Since then I have taught myself to hold the hook and yarn properly (at first I held it like I was knitting, not surprising as that was what I learnt first over 20 years ago) and not made much progress on the afghan. One day though...

Blue crochet bag

Having finished my beautiful Kiri, and found a lovely dress to wear to my friend's wedding a couple of weekends ago, I was almost sorted. Problem was, I didn't have a bag to complete the outfit. I'm the kind of person who likes everything to match, so that was a distinct issue for me... I trawled Oxford Street in search of a suitable bag, but to no avial, at which point I decided I'd have to make my own. Easy, right?



I popped into Liberty and picked up a few balls of Rowan Handknit Cotton and half a metre of fabric for linin (I think it is a Kaffe Fassett/Rowan print), with a vague picture in mind of a shell crochet bag with stripes of colour. After a couple of redesigns and a quick bit of work on the sewing machine, I came up with this:



































(Please excuse the bad quality pictures, I'll take some decent ones with my camera soon, these are from my phone!)


The bag design is my own, and the flowers from Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet

and The Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques. The lining contains a couple of pockets for my oyster card and mobile phone, and plenty of room for a purse and other assorted junk (aka things that might come in handy...)

All in all, it took about 2 weeks to complete (I was a bit too relaxed about it to begin with, and could have worked much faster, so in the end I was sewing the lining in on the morning of the wedding!) and less than half of the 4 balls of yarn I bought, so there's plenty left over for another project. Plus plenty of fabric, but I have plans for that...