I spent most of Friday night crocheting in my basement in order to keep my nerves under control as local meteorologist, Dave Murray, repeated for hours that tornados were approaching my home. Later Saturday morning, we still had no power. I crocheted to past time. It wasn’t until the electricity was restored that I realized how much devastation the storm wrought on my poor city. Seeing neighborhoods I spent so much time in as a kid looking like war zones made me depressed. In order to deal with my sadness, I crocheted. It was a bad situation, but I did get a lot accomplished.

I made this bag utilizing some embossed aluminum cans; four cans to be exact. And yet there are still so many cans in my can pile. I will get to the bottom of that pile.

I also decided that I wanted to participate in a ‘mystery-crochet-along’ via Facebook. The idea of relinquishing control and allowing myself to be surprised as my crochet project unfolded appealed to me. I would be doing something I probably would not normally do and I’d probably learn something along the way. What I learned was that I want to know what I am aiming for before I start any project. Screw that giving up control nonsense.

This is the purse that resulted from that little experiment. It’s not bad, but it’s not really that great. The mystery pattern gives the piece an interesting texture, but you wouldn’t know that since I picked such a colorful yarn that detracts from the texture. I see all the other people’s purses that participated in the crochet-along and I am envious. Mine looks like poo on the side of some of those bags made by creative peoples who apparently fortuitously made better yarn choices.

People on the bus are poking fun at me for making so many purses lately. “What cha’ making? Let me guess. A bag!” They’re right. I need another purse like my brother-in-law needs another remote control.