Well, I came across a couple of things but the one that really fired my imagination was a small bag or granny squares. They looked to have been made quite a long time ago as the colours were a kind of 'muddy' selection. Turned out there were 36 squares in the bag, but two were really not well made and were unraveling, so I chucked them in the waste basket. I kept pawing through the remaining squares, piling and re-piling them and finally decided there was no single favourites. The pile of granny squares sat on my little chair-side table while I thought about what I could use them for.
Even tho I had made myself a new "purse" just before Christmas, I was again thinking perhaps a crochet "project bag" might be in order...
So I began. I decided to just pick up the little granny squares without too much decision making and using a favourite joining method I started.
The joining yarn, a bright red -- really was the only yarn I had in the same 'weight' as the grannies had been created in, so I settled for red -- but then I really like RED! So that was okay...
I have been noticing quite a few granny square projects on Pinterest, so I suspect that is why I bought that little bag of squares at Value Village, plus, they were only $1.99! Some of the granny square projects, especially the ones that were made into bags, were made wider, but I just wanted something to carry one small project in, and maybe my wallet, so I decided a classic simple rectangle shape... BUT, it did take a bit of figuring on how to connect the squares to make a bag without having to cut off any square... It was an interesting puzzle getting the squares to conveniently fit together! 16 squares only! And just the right size!
A year or so ago I saw a crochet 'braid' in a book or magazine and since it has stuck in my mind I decided to use it as the handles for the bag. Have you tried this one before? It is much like a knitted "I-cord". Chain 6 and join to form a circle. Then single crochet in each chain but do not join with a slip stitch, just keep going round and round and round, making sure to maintain that 6 stitches around. Make the 'braid' as long as you need. I really like this and have even used it as an edge on crochet hats and a few other things as a detail edge. It is simple and quick and is easy to attach, longways or just at each end to make the handles for the bag.
The granny squares all connected and looking like a very bright little bag -- it has the 'feel' and 'look' of a time gone by -- it very much reminds me of a "Hippie" style from the late 1960's or early 1970's -- Very Vintage -- Ah Well, that is my Vintage too, so we should work well together!
Well, then. Keeping with that 'Summer of Love" idea I thought I would check through my fabric stash, as I was sure I had a couple of fat quarters of cotton sheet fabric from that era...
I put the lining together, simply by tracing around the crochet bag shape, which when the seams were sewn allowed the lining fabric to fit perfectly inside the crocheted bag. I did put a pocket into the lining -- just in case I wanted to carry a small item or two, like a pen or a crochet hook, that is always hard to find when it is just plopped into the bottom of a bag...
And there. My 'Summer of Love' Project bag!
And.
I have enough granny squares still to make another one! But do I need two such bags? I don't think alot of other people really would want to be seen carrying something so "old fashion" but like the poem by Jenny Joseph says
"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple. With a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me, And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves."
Enjoy your Sunday!
