the Manos project

The Manos del Uraguay yarn I ordered arrived yesterday so (of course) I immediately got to work on my Manos project. I’m doing a pattern from "The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet" by Nancy Queen called “Pocket Full of Posies Purse.” It’s a small, round green bag, felted, with two big flowers on the front. I’ve seriously wanted to make this thing for about 6 months. Not sure what my fascination is.

I finished the main body and handle of the bag and felted it before going to bed. Hopefully I can finish the flowers tonight and can do the finishing before the weekend. In the meantime, the bag is taking longer to dry after felting than my projects have taken in the past. Previously, I allowed my pieces to go through the cold water cycle and spin before I did my last minute shaping. Since Manos del Uraguay was a little more of an investment than I usually make, I followed the explicit instructions that came with this pattern and did a cold rinse and towel-blotted by hand. Maybe it will be dry by tomorrow… we’ll see.

I used maybe half as much yarn to make my bag as the pattern required though and have an entire hank of Citric green left… which begs for one last creative effort before I taper back on the crochet until next fall. We’ll see where that leads. Not to mention, I did 75% of the work for this piece in one night. Six months of waiting and now it’s over. I’m too fast I think.