Pinterest made me do it: Retro flower bag

 Here I am with the first finished crochet project of the new year. I started this a month or two ago, so I finished it pretty quickly by my standards! I wanted it done before Christmas and nearly had it finished, but last minute food and gift preparation got in the way. I actually completed it in the last days of December, and photographed it in the first days of January, and then it's taken a bit more time to get it up here on the blog! That's ok. Good things take time, as they say.

 I was inspired by this pin, the Almond Blossom Bag from Colour in a Simple Life. I love the fun flowers and retro feel, and I had a pair of bamboo handles I'd been waiting to use. Most importantly, I wanted a bag in colours I like to wear. I used the palette from a favourite scarf and came up with a warm mushroom brown, dusty pink and cream.

The original pattern has a second round of petals inside the first. I did that at first but something was wrong with it and it bugged me. It may be that the paler shade of pink I was using just didn't go with the other colours, but I ripped it out and continued without it feeling much happier. It took a couple of goes to sew the hexagons together properly (which would have been avoided if I'd just read the pattern properly in the first place!) and I even made and sewed in a lining.

I have another pair of bag handles to use... I think a chevron design could be next!