Hello needlework lovers
A super star once said that the best gifts are handmade and frankly I agree with him. Handmade gifts have a personalised feel to it because one knows the person they are making the gift for and they probably also know the things this person likes.
I saw the #needleworkyourvalentine contest and I already knew the person I was going to be gifting a crochet item. I have a list of many people I would totally love to gift crochet items but on the top of that list is my sister and number two fan–after myself of course🤭.
Ever since I started my crocheting journey, the young lady has been so proud of me and my creations. She's one person I could go to with a terrible crochet piece and she would still manage to see the beauty in the mess. Ever since I saw the exhilaration on her face when I gave her the crochet heart motif top I made exclusively for her, I've had it in mind to do something else for her. Courtesy of the needlework contest for this month, I did.
The month of February is tagged "the month of love". During this period, people get to show love to their loved ones in grand style but I'm of the believe that showing love to the people we cherish should not be bound to a month. Love is something we can show every single day of our lives.
Choosing a gift to make for my sister wasn't really taskful because first, she is my sister and second, she recently grew a liking for bags and so I took the cue and decided to make a crochet bag for her. I'm sure you're probably thinking that she would toss the crochet bag in-between the rest of her bags. The chances of her doing that are quite slim because, to the best of my knowledge, this would be her first official crochet bag from me.
One minor reason why I haven't been making so much crochet items is due to the fact that I have to go to the market to shop for yarns. I don't know about you but the market is one of my least favorite places to go. Nonetheless, I summoned up courage and took a trip down to the market this week and I found a shop with a lady who had diverse yarns and crochet accessories. There and then, I told myself that visiting the market exclusively for yarns wasn't such a bad idea after all.
At the crochet store, I saw a variety of appealing yarns and I wish I could just get myself all of them but I almost ran myself dry after purchasing the few yarns I got that day. Still, I was really excited about the yarns and the colours too! I bought different shades of brown and headed home to begin the project.
For a while, I wondered when I was going to make a crochet project that would need me to use different hook sizes, well, my wonderment came to an end as I used three different hook sizes for this project.
First off, I started making the foundation stitch for the body of the bag. I made a total of forty-five chains and from there I started the second row with double crochet stitches.
By the end of the second row, I made an extra five double crochet stitches into the last space; this is to give the corner of the bag and then ended the row with a slip stitch
After this, I pretty much followed the same pattern, round and round, till I got my desired length of bag. This bag isn't supposed to be too big or too small, just the perfect size for a regular outing.
After making the body of the bag, I went ahead to make the handle of the bag. This was my favorite part as I got to mix two colours (coffee brown and light brown). I really didn't know how the mixture would come out but I still did it anyway. So what do you think of the colour combination for the bag handle?
I made the bag handle long enough with some extra inches. The extra inches are for the coupling of the bag at the end.
After making the bag handle, I moved on to the centre piece for the bag. Since I had it in mind to make this bag as dynamic as possible, I made two shades of the centrepiece. I thought that it could be easily swapped until I coupled the bag and my thoughts were wrong.
However, the second centrepiece can pass as a very beautiful bracelet. The soon to be owner of the bag had a bigger wrist than me so the piece would be a good fit for her wrist. Also, it could be used as a headband too.
With the centrepieces out of the way, it was time to couple the bag. I joined the handle first, then the centrepiece. Once I sew the not-so-tight centrepiece on the bag, the bow shape came out beautifully. The last thing I did was to see in my loose ends and that was it. The bow bag was ready.
I really didn't know how long the process would be but I started by noon and by dusk, I was done making the parts of bag. I left the coupling for the next morning so I don't make any mistakes. Taking pictures of the bag was just a delight. Someday, I feel I would remake the bag in black and white.
Talking about colour combinations, what do you think of the colours I used? How about the bag? I would love to hear your views.
Until next time, stay creative
This is my entry to the #needleworkyourvalentine contest which you can find here. All images used belong to me and were taken with my mobile device except stated otherwise.
