Braggin' on My Baggin'

Okay, I admit the title is lacking... but the bag makes up for it ;)

I found this free crochet pattern on ravelry.com by "Chocolate Mints In a Jar"... seriously, that is her screen name.  It is sooo cute and a very well written pattern. Find her craft blog here.  Find the pattern here

I started and finished this bag in two days... and it should have only taken one, but I FROGGED so many times.. ugh, it wasn't pretty. For anyone who might not know what "frogging" means to those of us in the yarn world:  What does a frog say?  "RIP IT, RIP IT, RIP IT"... so that's what we call pulling out several rows of stitches. Cute, no?... yeah, but not when it's happening.  First it was miscounting, then it was adding stitches instead of slip-stitching... then after I had frogged the bag to the base TWICE already, I realized how big of an impact one little four letter word has in a pattern.  TURN.  Ugh, I didn't turn after each round, I just stitched in a round...  That was why my count kept getting off.  Facepalm!

Well, I was about ready to croak when I discovered this huge mistake... but I decided instead of dissecting the bag, I would try to compensate for my mistake. I will explain how I did that on my ravelry.com account for anyone who might actually be interested.  But really, my advice is just to follow the pattern!

In the end, I really like the finished product.  Perfect or not, it will serve me well.  It's just the right size for a book or two, couple of magazines, a phone, some eyeglasses (for us aging folk).  It would also be great to put my Bible in for church on Sundays.

I'm happy with the color choice, and I think I'll make a couple more--the right way-- in different color combinations. ;)

If you'd like to find me on ravelry.com, my screen name is "Iowaycrochet" :)