(re-post)
At a garage sale, in a 25 cent box, I found this gauzy Indian skirt. The colours appealed to me and I wondered just how much fibarn (fibre yarn) I could get from it.
I cut away the waistband and opened up the hem, saved the drawstring tie with the little beads, and then began to rip strips the length of the skirt using the technique of clipping in an inch or so, ripping to within an inch or so of the other end, clipping in an inch or so another width along (about an inch or so), ripping to within an inch or so….etc.
This is how much fibarn I had from the entire skirt which seems a bit piddly when I look at it now but I think it is the angle of the camera because the rock holding the wind wheel is a good size. And that is a handmade (anonymous carver; yes, garage sale) crochet hook larger than a G.
I planned to make a flat base and then when I was nearing the end of the ball bring it up a few rounds and make a shallow basket for a cat.
However I then came across Laughing Purple's easy peasy bag and used that method, starting with an eight inch by three inch base because this felt like it would suit the dimension with the amount of fibarn.
Then, as I was crocheting up the sides and it looked like I would have a bag about six inches deep, I was also reading Dolled up for Murder by Deb Baker where one of the characters trains little dogs to be purse dogs. Well, doggone, or something similar, I thought – I am making a pooch purse. Not that I would carry a dog in a purse – it was the dimensions that suggested it and it made me chuckle.
Then, I began to look for a small dog to photograph in the purse. Asked friends. Cut my eyes to any petite dog passing on the street but none seemed teeny enough. Then at a garage sale yesterday – a chihuahua.
Is he not perfect. Quiet, well behaved. Fits nicely in the bag. Seems quite content to share space with my glasses and cell phone and camera and wallet.
I crocheted two handles and criss-crossed them at either end of the bag and then threaded the drawstring from the skirt into the top of the purse.
Now I know how much fibarn is in a skirt!