homemade@myplace

As you know, I really like to write my own patterns and to publish photo tutorials ... Very often it is a time consuming kind of task and the amount of work is huge, even when the item the pattern is written for is not that big... I know that many crafters had a go with my patterns and surprisingly there have not been complains about problems in understanding my words or crochet passages... phew!!! I love to try patterns written by other crafters, too. I like it especially to be aware that there are different ways to explain a work, different styles, different range of difficulties and new things to learn ... always something new to learn!!!! A pattern written by another person gives you new challenges and pushes your curiosity to new levels, right? I love all that, I really do!! So, I was really excited to join a selected group of crocheters (Nicole  @tangleandstitch , Janet  @janetleigh37 , Conny  @frogs_crochet , ...

… I found an easy pattern (with chart!) to follow in this book .. The picture of the bag was on page 12 … The chart of the bag with a rectangular base (the dark blue bag in the above picture) was on pages 52/53, so … I picked a 3mm hook and some cotton thread in navy blue and in bright yellow and, simply following the chart, this is what I came out with … I love the contrast between the base and the body of the mini bag : 23cmx22cm (not considering the handles) : do you think the same, or not ?? The only differences from the original pattern/chart are minimal : instead of one colour, two !!! I added and extra round of single crochets to end the bag body, as last round with the yellow thread, I added some slip stitches to embellish both the handles and the top of the bag, as you can see … xxxx, Alessandra I think I have a kind of love for crochet net bags, as you can see  here ,  here ,  here   and...

It has been a while, right? ;oD I've enjoyed my summer holiday back in Italy in June and July (just one week was spent in Edinburgh : beautiful and cold!!!!) and the boys, the hubby and I were back in Maputo at the beginning of August, as the school was starting again the 11th….  So we are all back to our routines : boys in school, hubby at work and I back to my blog!!!! We have just moved in our 3rd apartment here in Maputo ( yes 3 moves in one year!!!!) and maybe for this reason my blogging will have some hiccups in the next couple of weeks … you know some boxes need to be unpacked…. well, you know what I mean! I just wanted to show you today some crocheted gifts I made this summer in Italy : are you interested??? Hope so !!!! At the end of July it was the birthday of my niece Mara, so she was born under the Leo zodiac sign… In the same days there was the brutal killing of Cecil, the majestic lion of Zimbabwe… so this is what I made, thinking at both of them, Mara and C...