My crocheting project - Bloom & Blossom

I started work approx. 4 weeks ago.  The office is in a building at the beginning of Canton Road, right next to Harbour City.  Everyday when I go home, I have to walk pass all these super brands before I could get off the street (it's not like they're not there in the morning, they're just not opened yet, so I could hardly notice their existence).  On the first day, I spotted this white crocheted handbag in one of the shops, gosh, it was soooooo beautiful!!  Ya, of course, it costs just about HK$15K, of course it's beautiful!  Err... well maybe not all the expensive ones are beautiful (especially the ones that are covered with logos and monograms...) but trust me, this one is.

And so, I thought, well, it's crocheted, with a bit of leather handles & trimming and all... I can live without the leather trimming and handles and...  I just like how it's crocheted.  There I was standing outside the facade of a super brand, making the decision to crochet myself a nice looking bag.  hehee

I decided that it shouldn't be white (it's gonna be summer and ppl are gonna get sweaty and the bag is gonna end up greyish or something... or when I have curry, it will get spotty).  So I went down to the wet market in Jordan, there's this stall that sells some simple yarns.  I picked the pink one (would have picked another colour if they had anything nicer than pink...), paid HK$18 (should be more than enough for even a tank top).  Went back to the apartment and started crocheting away...

One week later, it's 60% done, with a lot of trial and error -- that's what you have to do when you don't have a pattern to follow... Adrian and I went down to Sham Shui Po hunting for the handles, zipper and the yarn for the trimming.  It took us all afternoon, exhausted but we got what we wanted.

With just a bit of trimming to go and a zipper to attach, I went off the Shanghai for a workshop.  Left it home with Adrian.  Mind you, Adrian was surprised that I didn't bring it with me and finish it off in Shanghai.  C'mon, I'm there with my new colleagues, I don't want them to think that I'm a weird, anti-social new colleague that came from Malaysia -- a place that does not need this thing called sweater, hence no one needs to know how to knit or crochet...???

Anyway, I returned to HK exhausted, but I just couldn't resist the thought of using a handbag that I've crocheted for the first time!  Well, I did have something like a bag crocheted when I was a kid but it was nothing serious like this one.  This one, I am going to use it, in HK, on Canton Road, in my office, with many many many colleagues in the sportswear retail industry (some might have some hi-fashion background!!), maybe 2/3 times a week!!  So this is bloody serious!

I completed the project last Saturday (total cost of material: HK$98), this is how it looks now... I've been using it since Monday (well Tuesday didn't count coz I was on a sickie)...

Bloom & Blossom

This is one side, if you compare with the picture below, it's got slightly different buds...

This is the other side, can you tell the difference between the two sides?






My colleagues has given me a special title, The Knitting Lady (織女)... hmm...