Christmas in July…

I know it’s technically August, but the project started in July…so the title stands!

I’ve started in on my yearly Christmas gift project list. The first, a cowl for my father-in-law was completed a couple weeks ago. The second is a gift for aunt (she who crochets).

I noticed while visiting my aunt recently that she tends to use the bag in which she received her yarn purchase to hold her current project. I think this is mostly so her cat and dogs don’t get into it, but I decided that I could probably improve on her current storage system.

I saw a post on Reddit about Moss (Granite) stitch recently, and decided that it would make a good stitch for a bag. The bag took about a 20 hours to complete as Moss stitch is slow–it’s rows of Ch1, SC1, alternating (so you SC1 in the Ch1 space of the previous row). The pattern it makes is lovely and tapestry-like, but I remembered why I don’t do running rows often…I hate to count stitches!

I ended up with 3 more stitches at the end than I had at the beginning but, oddly, the end rows are shorter. I think I must have over-tightened my stitches a bit. Or something. I’m going to block the project to stretch it to proper proportions.

The fun part, for me, was using acrylic purse rings for the bag’s handles. I crocheted around these to create a fun pattern of color, then crocheted a SC border around. The ring itself is crocheted into the border of the bag, then stitched on the bottom for additional strength.

I plan to fill the bag with some goodies (some Etimo hooks and some fancy yarns) for the final present. One down, 4.5 to go!