HOOKED, WORKED, SEWN: THE CRAFTING OF A GIFT

This was truly a labour of love.

A crafty undertaking of the gift variety.

A sneaky way to share a new addiction with a friend.

To pass on my very recent addiction to crocheting, which was patiently passed onto me by Leah of the blog Miss Pippilotta.

Because who wouldn't want to give a maker friend yet another craft to become absorbed by?

I present to you The Crochet Roll!

This is a project I found and then adapted to my own specs from Creative Makers: Simple Crochet by Sara Sinaguglia. I did forget to take a snap  of the book before returning it to my local library. Whoops!

I actually really rate this book. I made a potholder of Becky Home-eccy epicness and I'm in the process of going apple cozy crazy. I reckon any book where you actually make more than one of the patterns is a good investment. Or simply borrow it from your local library like I did.

I loved this crochet roll from the get-go. I was attracted to the mix of crochet, linen and leather. It spoke to my raveling/leatherworking/sewing proclivities.

But like every crochet project I've undertaken to date I didn't imagine crafting it for myself, but for my dear friend Anna. Anna has one of the kindest, most open hearts I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I wanted to thank her for her friendship and generosity in a personal way. This crochet roll is not just a gift of tools but a promise to teach her the craft (in my newbie, make it up as I go along way) the next time we meet.

What you see here above my friends is the outer of the crochet roll. It's a little Tunisian/Afghan crochet. Take a goooooood long look because you ain't gonna see anymore Tunisian crochet on this blog anytime this century. Oh my dear lord, the pain! The jaw clenching completion of each row (which is actually across and back) with my hands screaming. I aimed to complete only five rows at each sitting - that's all I had in me. Maybe I'm just not tough enough, but I can do any other type of "traditional" crochet or knitting for hours on end with no ill effect.

Speaking of generosity, this stunning linen/cotton inner fabric was gifted to me by the lovely Anna herself, soon after I started the outer. When it arrived I knew immediately it was a perfect tonal match for the yarn so it was absolutely meant to be.

That dodgy, crocheted, granny square type thingy on the inside? Well that was a very early attempt at working with 4ply cotton yarn before I actually had the right sized hook. So it's super loose and kinda amateurish, but it's the thought that counts right??

I adjusted the dimensions of the roll to fit my finished piece of Tunisian crochet and fastened the lot with a buttery strap of luscious leather I just happened to have lying around.

And then I lovingly wrapped it and posted it on its way with a promise for crochet lessons next time we meet. From one maker to another, and more importantly, from one dear friend to another.