Openwork Lace #2049 Purse

A Pinterest Find

I recently got into Pinterest, and I’ve gotten addicted to it. There are so many inspiring images there, and many of them lead to great blogs and tutorials out on the WWW. I found some really great crochet patterns on a site called MyPicot.com. They are basic patterns that you can adapt in whatever way you’d like—for scarves, handbags, apparel, you name it.

MyPicot.com’s Openwork & Lace #2049

So, I chose to try out this pattern, #2049. I just used some Caron Simply Soft yarn I had around. The pattern shows 13 rows, but I continued on until I’d done 20 rows. Then I thought hmmmm, maybe a cute little handbag? So I made a gusset all the way around 3 sides which consist of multiple rows of  9 half double crochets. Then I made the other side consisting of another 20 rows that I will slip-stich on to the other side.

Here are some pics of my progress so far:

Before blocking. I find it saves time if I don’t try to smooth things out too much while I’m crocheting… I used to get anal every few stitches and figured out that was tripling the time it takes to finish something!

After blocking—I just smoothed it out by hand, and pulled the clusters of 3 double crochets away from each “flower” center so the flower petals, created by the empty spaces, would show up more.

With gusset crocheted onto the first rectangle of 20 rows.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far… I’ll keep you posted on my progress! I have no idea yet what this will turn out to look like… I’m thinking of making an insert of contrasting fabric, maybe a cream color. To show off the pattern. We’ll see!