Matching Crocheted Cowl and Bag

     Hey everyone, how’s it going? Hope you’re all doing well.

     I have a spot of yarn crafting for you today – some crocheting! A few months back I’d spotted a lovely crocheted beach bag made by Zeens and Roger and knew I wanted to give it a go. I couldn’t get the Caron Cakes that the pattern uses but I found another colour change yarn of greys and creams that I loved (think it’s the Tivoli Colour Surge range) so I figured I’d use that instead. I wasn’t sure if it would work up the same as the Caron Cakes yarn but I figured I’d give it a go (because you know, who needs to look up details about a yarn before starting a project!). The pattern called for a 4.5mm hook but mine seemed to have gone missing (it’s probably attached to some other project that I started and put aside somewhere), so I think I ended up using a 5 or a 5.5mm hook instead as that’s what I had. So, a completely different yarn and a different hook, off to a good start here!

     But let’s put the story of the bag aside for a moment and switch to the cowl I made. I made it after the bag because I was loving the colours of the yarn so much and it felt so nice to use. I thought it would make for a nice cowl (it was the middle of summer too and I was wishing for cooler weather).

     Actually, is it a cowl or a snood? I’m not really sure of the difference. Well, I made sure that I made it wide enough to be able to use it as a hood. It was a nice, easy and quick crochet project and I think the ribbed effect works well to have some detail but still let the focus be on the colour change.

     So I was fairly happy with how the cowl came out.

     But back to the bag!

     I started making it, following the pattern (which was lovely and easy to follow which was great because I’m still fairly new to crocheting and am also terrible at following patterns!). After a while I started thinking that it was looking a little big but I didn’t pay too much attention because I was also crocheting while watching tv so wasn’t really focusing too much on what I was making (might I add that at times I was trying to crochet while watching anime and as my Japanese is not so good, I was crocheting while reading subtitles which as it turns out is a very tricky thing to do!). When I eventually did take the time to look at it, I saw I still had several more rows to go but it was already quite large enough so I finished it up – I probably should have used a smaller hook…actually, maybe a different yarn too that would have worked up smaller. The bag was too big for me to really use. Oops! Should pay more attention to what I’m making!

      It might have been a bit big up it’s still a lovely bag and great for storing all my scarves in. Now, you might be able to see from the picture above that the bag is lined. This is definitely the point where it all went a bit pear-shaped! I wanted to be lazy and quickly line the bag so I used a pillow case….it was almost the right size…almost…

     Okay, by almost, I mean the pillow case was a few inches short of the length of my bag and also, it was a few inches short width wise as well. I folded over a section of the crocheted bag around the handle so the pillow case would fit so it does look a bit screwy.

     I guess the lesson learned from this is pay attention to what you’re doing and also, short cuts aren’t always short, especially when you don’t really know what you’re doing and making it up as you go along! A lesson learned and I’ll just have to give the bag another go, this time paying attention to size and actually cutting a lining that fits!

     Do you have any similar stories to share about projects going screwy somewhere along the line or short cuts not going to plan?