Saturday, September 13, 2008

finished object #2 - theory tested successfully

a theory - awful yarn choice

Remember my theory?

That you could combine ANY three yarns, and still end up with a decent looking bag. I asked my daughter to choose the yarns for me... and she selected the unusual combination of a fairly bright pink/yellow and then added a brown fleck and a green fleck yarn.

Did you think it was going to work out?

I certainly would not have chosen to co-ordinate those colours!

Using three strands held together, I crafted another easy peasy crochet bag. A little embellishing, and here it is...

wall

What do you think?

closeup

The butterfly is made from an old felted jumper, recycled wooden beads, and some electric cable for the antennae.

lining

grass

27 comments:

Nicole said...

I think that is brilliant. I would never have picked those colours together and yet they look wonderful. I just love this bag. Your daughter did an excellent job. Perhaps I should be asking my 5 year old what colours to choose when making my bags hehe.
I just recently discovered your website and think its wonderful. It inspires me in so many ways.

laughing purple goldfish said...

nicole - if you let someone else choose the colours, then at least you have someone to point the finger at if it all turns horribly wrong!!!

glad you're finding inspiration in my blog... that's the best compliment you could give me :)

Alicia @ Oh2122 said...

It is so cute! I never would have thought to do this with colors I thought "didn't go," and just look at what I've been missing. Your daughter has a good eye.

I'm going to test your theory too!

Sue said...

Your daughter has a great sense of color. The bag turned out so nicely and reminds me a bit of natural surroundings, the trees and grass and sunshine all mixed together. The butterfly is very cute and I love the antenna.

Bel said...

absolutely gorgeous

laughing purple goldfish said...

oh2122 - let me know how the theory works for you... I'd be interested to hear

sue - thanks, it does have a very 'springtime' feel about it

tea - thank you :) my daughter has been dragging it all over the house with her this morning, full of 'my little ponies'

Christine said...

reminds me of a spring garden! Very nice

laughing purple goldfish said...

christine - thanks... an we are having the most magnificent spring day here in melbourne today... so it's very appropriate

Lauria said...

First of all, YAY! You've completed two of your WIPs!!! That's awesome. Keep at it and before you know, that suitcase will be empty!

Secondly, I cannot believe that those colors work together! Wow! I've been wanting to make this bag, after I finish my shawl, and now I'm definitely not afraid to put weird things together!

laughing purple goldfish said...

lauria - thanks... I am so looking forward to emptying those cases! have fun with your own bag... I'll be peeking to see how you go

Anonymous said...

Hello, Nicole!
I always come here to see the beautiful pieces that you made! I loved the idea!! I'm testing in a bag. When it's finished, I'll let you know!
Thanks
Debora (Brazil)

laughing purple goldfish said...

carat - thanks :)

debora - all the best with your bag... I'm interested to see how it works out

Anonymous said...

Ya knooooooooooooooooow, kids are so brave! They see something and that's it! Now meeeeeeeeeeee, I obsess over every choice. Thanks so much for the reminder that we all need to be a little more "kidlike" and take some chances. I think I'll go to my yarn ball stash and close my eyes and PICK! Ummmmmm, maybe I'll ened a glass of wine first! :)

laughing purple goldfish said...

leslie - you're right... kids just have no fear of consequence whatsoever!
(that glass of wine first sounds fabulous)

Karen said...

Hooray for your daughter's choice and double hooray to you for acting on her choice; her carrying her ponies around in it says it is a huge success. I think the electrical cord for antenna is super. And as we move into autumn you are moving into spring; this world is so fascinating and the Net enhances this with such instant communication and sharing. Thanks! PS I also appreciate that your word verification is clear - some are so garbled that I need to enter two or three times and this gets very annoying.

Lucky-1 said...

You never stop amazing me:D

laughing purple goldfish said...

thanks karen - and I know EXACTLY what you mean about those codes... some of them are an absolute nightmare to decipher, aren't they?

lucky - thanks :)

psmflowerlady said...

Awesome bag & I love the butterfly! You are so creative! I think it is cool to encourage that kind of creativity in our kids too! Sometimes, it seems as if our schools where I live @ least, focus so much on doing things the "right" way that kids don't learn the joy of the process! That's what I especially like about your blog! For me, I find that if I force myself to use what yarn, supplies etc. I have on hand, I have more fun and am so much more creative than if I start with what's called for in a pattern and follow it exactly. Although now that I think about it - that might explain some of my sewing failures! LOL! T

laughing purple goldfish said...

psmflowerlady - so true! it can be quite hard at times to 'let kids go' and experiment in their own ways... the results are never what you had in mind, but it's a wonderful learning and expressive process for them... I remember encouraging my kids to make their own photo scrapbooks... it was so hard to sit back and let them 'do their thing'... one son insisted on crimping every photo twice, so now all his photos have a waffle texture to them... I was horrified at the time, but now I look back over the book and think how wonderfully creative he was :)

as for me... I could have the most magnificent skein of hand painted, hand spun yarn... and it would sit in my stash untouched, because I wouldn't want to experiment with it... whereas when I force myself to work with recycled goodies, I just let myself go... i it works out YAY, if it doesn't... no great loss... much more fun if you ask me

Cats-Rockin-Crochet said...

So enjoy all you do. Can we have a tutorial on your felted embellishing? It would be so nice seeing an embellished piece coming together. Cheers Cat.

Narelle said...

That bag is sooooooo cute! Love the colours and I totally adore that butterfly!

laughing purple goldfish said...

cat - sure... I just need to remember to take photos DURING the process :)

narelle - thanks... scrap booking has taught me to be more experimental in my other crafts, and attempt things like that butterfly, which I wouldn't have thought to do before

Cats-Rockin-Crochet said...

Oh great, will look forward to it.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed at your creativity. I am learning learning learning . . . excellent ideas !

laughing purple goldfish said...

stramenda - thanks... there's always something new to learn!

Anonymous said...

this is really lovely

laughing purple goldfish said...

jacinta - thank you :)