Floral bag

I've been working on the Floral Bag pattern from Helen Ardley's Crocheted Accesories book for a while now.

Firstly, I started it with some Wendy Fusion yarn in the Bouquet Garni colorway and I finished one half of the bag (and all my ball) before I realised that the shop I originally bought the yarn from had sold out AND, worse than that, the range has been discontinued!

So, I went to John Lewis and dribbled over the Rowan Felted Tweed that the pattern suggests you use. But at £5.50 per ball and eight balls required I thought it was a little too much money to justify.

However, the Rowan knitting consultant at John Lewis (and my Blue Kitty knitters friend), Helen pointed out that Rowan have just released an Aran and Chunky weight!! The pattern uses a pink / lilac colorway called Melody which isn't stocked by John Lewis. So, I opted for a nice teal - turquoise goes with everything, IMO!

So I bought two balls and almost finished the pattern in one night. I went back the next day to buy a third ball and the purple and green Felted Tweed to make the flowers. I was planning on using only two colours for the flowers and leaves but seeing it all come together makes it irresistible to buy more colorways! I was especially pleased with the fact that I had finished with only three balls of Aran weight, instead of 8 balls of standard.

I'm so pleased with the results - I just need to finish some of the beading on the red flowers and find a handle (so hard to find 8" handles!!)


While all this was taking place I had trawled the internet for some more Wendy Fusion in the right colourway. I find ONE shop, JUST ONE, that had any Bouquet Garni in stock still. So I ordered three balls and managed to finish the other half of the original bag. I don't plan to make flowers for this bag, but I plan to use some vintage buttons that I have. Then I'll have a matching hat and bag set ready for autumn.