This is the long awaited bag that I began crocheting at the airport during a trip last year, but I can’t remember where I was going…??? It was probably for work… Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is that I started this a long time ago and was unsure how I would finish it; then, yesterday, I pulled it out of the drawer and completed it. Timing is everything…

I had originally thought that I’d do black wooden purse handles somehow, but wasn’t totally sold on the idea. I just really wanted to crochet a bag using cotton yarn. I had seen this on one of my favorite crochet blogs, laughing purple goldfish designs, so I started the bag (but bigger) from the bottom up and when it got pretty tall, I just stuck it in a drawer because I wasn’t sure how to finish it. Then, recently I saw this on futuregirl and I knew that’s how I wanted to do the handles, so I just chained a bridge where I wanted them and went around a few more times. I have no idea if that’s how I was supposed to do it, as I haven’t actually looked at that pattern (just glimpsed the photo of the finished product on futuregirl.com).

I was really happy with how it came out, but it definitely needed something more…an embellishment was in order. So, I used a crochet flower pattern from one of my most favorite blogs, Oh the Cuteness!. This is one of my favorite crochet flowers and this tutorial has a link to the ‘adjustable ring’. I just used the larger of the two flowers and then did a large and a small disc in black for contrast and a great button that I got from my grandma a long time ago. I stacked one large black disc, one large multi flower, one small disc and then the button to top it all off.

The lining tutorial here again at laughing purple gold fish is the easiest one I’ve ever seen and it actually changed my life. I never would have even considered lining a bag before seeing it and now I do every time.

I used black yarn and a multi yarn, both in cotton. I’m totally going to use it today…we’ll see how it holds.