Still havin' the blues (Fat Bottomed RAINN-y Day Purse)

As I continue to try and work my through my yarn stash, I am faced with 5 remaining balls of Gedifra Velato (I'd already used 4 on the cowgirl hat). What to do...

I again turn to my pattern collection for inspiration, and face three separate patterns from three different sources. Amazingly enough, they all tend to look alike (furthering the notions that no idea is truly original and that great designs imitate one another whether they intend to or not). The design is for a fat little bag with round handles. I jump at the opportunity to try something new. I have never made a purse that incorporated non-crocheted elements.

Just as with the cowgirl hat, I instantly find things I don't like about the patterns. Single crochet is too dense. Herringbone half-doubles are clunky and create holes I just don't like. None of the bags are lined. All of the bags rely on some cheesy motif for accessorizing. That just won't work for me.

I settle on simple, plain, half-doubles. I decide I'm going to line the bag with blue satin. I'm slightly concerned that some of the blue will show through to the outside of the bag, but I figure it'll just deepen the blueness of the turquoise fibers. I contemplate wrapped brass rings instead of the now ubiquitous bamboo rings, but figure that I'll give bamboo a try for now. Then I set to work.

The project worked up relatively quickly. I had a few issues with sizing; I wasn't sure how wide I wanted it and in what direction I wanted to stitch seams to go. In the end, I settled on vertical seams and a purse around 12x7". It's cute.

Lessons learned:
1) Hand-sewing satin lining into a crochet piece is an incredibly big pain in the ass
2) Cute as this bag is, I just can't see myself using it
3) Figuring out how to accessorize this purse has been difficult. I tried ribbon and motifs, but I think both are too overdone. I think I'm just going to have to keep a lookout for some cute little pin to add to it

Keep a lookout - this should be up on Etsy soon!