"Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness" So said novelist Richard Bach.
Well, my friends must wish for me to be very happy as, over the years, I've received some lovely craft-related gifts! This is just a tiny selection of them.
My sister-in-law, Frances, gave me this pattern book and cotton DK yarn as a birthday gift a few years ago and our mutual friend, Carol, gave me this very cute tea-towel from knit/graphic design brand, Tillyflop, because she's a lovely person. It's too nice to actually use though.
All items were appreciated at the time, and I hope I was effusive in my thanks, but all were carefully stowed in my craft room awaiting the perfect project.
Little did I suspect they'd come together in the same project!
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Back in July, I saw this photo on Instagram by crochet designer Sarah-Jayne Fragola.
The Instagram post related to a blog article by Sarah-Jayne who, dismayed by the low cost of crochet items on our High Streets, set the record straight about the true cost of such hand crafted items - and urged us to make our own. Not only were there clear instructions and video tutorials to create this bag, 50% of sales proceeds were donated to the charity Labour Behind the Label, which campaigns for garment worker's rights worldwide.
Read the whole thought provoking article here.
So I bought the pattern. Maybe those multicoloured balls of cotton had finally found their purpose.
But I did have some reservations before starting to crochet. I get peeved when modular crochet projects teach you how to make one motif, then the pattern glibly tells you to make a gazillion more. I'd lose interest well before the end is in sight. Who needs another guilt-inducing, unfinished work-in-progress? So, one of the key attractions of this pattern is that you only need to make 13 granny squares.
Here are mine, all neatly stacked.
The creamy cotton came into its own joining all the squares together and it soon began to look like a bag.
So what about that lovely tea towel, I hear you ask? Well, that's where a bag lining comes in. Knit or crochet bags are notoriously holey and a fabric lining adds structure, as well as ensuring small items from your bag don't land on the floor!
My next challenge was to actually sew the lining. I say challenge as sewing is not my superpower! Unstitching the edge of the too-lovely-to use tea towel made a fabric I could cut to size and machine into a simple pouch to insert into the crocheted bag. Even I could manage that, surely?
Please be impressed by the pocket I added, just the right size to hold my mobile phone!
Some soothing hand stitching later and the no-longer-a-tea-towel lining was firmly attached inside the bag.
Fabric handles are notoriously tricky as they're apt to stretch so I reinforced mine by enclosing cord inside the crocheted strap, making my bag a little different from the original. I happened to have some cord leftover from a bag I'd made my daughter a while back - a clear case of 'you never know when it'll come in handy'!
With the handles securely attached, my bag was finally finished and ready to use.
Big enough for all the usual nonsense I carry around - but stylish too.
I couldn't be happier - and I used all these gifts from my kind friends.
Just as they wished (according to Richard Bach, apparently).
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Find Bella Coco Crochet here
Get your copy of the bag pattern here
Find Tillyflop designs here
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