The Anti-Social Butterfly

The CanCan pouch This year I've vowed to make as many gifts as I can. Not only is it more personal, it is also a gift of time and energy (at least that's what I think).  Last weekend when I'd gone shopping with her for my grandmom, I showed her my version of the Swag Bag that I'd made for my grandmom’s birthday. She loved it and tried very hard to get me to give to her, but finally she relented after I promised to make her one too. She loves the colour red and the red & black combination is her favorite for clothing items/accessories. Her choice of colours? Red and Black! No surprise there!

Complete!  This year is my grandmom's 70th birthday and I decided to make her a present rather than buying her something as firstly she is very finicky and usually wants to exchange presents and secondly I was out of ideas for new presents.  I chose the  Swag bag by Marcelle's Creative Crochet  as my bag, as it looked small and I thought I could modify it to suit my grandmom's tastes. The bag has been purposely kept free of other embellishments as my grandmother is very particular about colours and may not appreciate too many doodads on it.

The pouch when the drawstrings are tied. During the previous year's Christmas enthusiasm, I was planning on making small pouches to give away some of our gifts, but the inexperienced crocheter I was, I underestimated the time it would take to finish the pouches. To start with, I chose the wrong crochet thread for my pouch - it takes a lot of time to crochet a decent-sized pouch with cotton crochet thread! I also got caught up with stuff and couldn't even begin it in time! So, instead, I decided to make it for myself. No hurry at all, though when it was almost over I couldn't help trying to finish faster. The gestation period was just so long! In the end, it has come out rather nice, and has interesting texture. I am including a basic pattern that can be modified as you go along.

Purple = mine! As mentioned earlier, I used to love playing with beads. I was looking for a way to marry my love for beads with my new-found love for crochet, when I came across this Easy Beaded Crochet Technique by Amy Solovay . I used that technique and created a few necklaces of my own. Materials used: Beads Nylon thread for the base Crochet thread for the accent Appropriate crochet hooks Clasps/hooks

The 'V' is only prominent in the light. Perfect for a guy. Before I took up crocheting, for a very long time I was an avid beader. I haven’t done much beading in the past few years, but still carry my bead box wherever I move. My projects were usually based on patterns and I’ve made a bunch of earrings, chains and bracelets and even a few purses. I’ve even made a few original chains which I shall put up pics later. Anyhow, to the topic at hand: We had people visiting in Jan this year and with only one week to go before they left for home, I realized that while I spent considerable time and effort for the kids’ gifts, I hadn’t really given the couple anything!