HOOKY TREASURE

A versatile jute bag has carried Sharna Moore’s essentials on many an outing, and reminds her of a favourite holiday

My current favourite crochet project would have to be the summer bag that I made last year. I made a bag out of a massive ball of jute twine yarn and two wooden handles. It has been on many amazing journeys, met some lovely people and carried my well-loved essentials over the last year. The bag endured some damage when my husband accidentally stepped on it! He snapped one of the wooden handles, so I had to carefully replace them.

I’ve received many lovely comments on the design of the bag when I’ve been out and about and received a lot of publicity over Instagram. This encourages my motivation to keep creating. I used Nutscene Natural Jute Twine yarn and a 7mm hook to create the summer bag. The wooden handles were purchased online. The jute may feel a little hard going on your hands when you’re working with it; however the texture and strength it gives the bag is totally worth it. I made the bag starting from the top, going down to the bottom, in basic double crochet stitches, working every other row into backloops only to give to it some added texture.

My inspiration behind the design of the bag comes from recent fashion trends. If you step into any boutique or clothing shop, or happen to be strolling through the lanes in Old Town Rhodes, Greece, you would come across many bags designed with a jute style yarn. I’ve loved every single design I‘ve seen of the bag so I decided to make my own unique version.

Like I said, this bag has been on some cool adventures, one of them being last year when I visited the Greek island of Corfu for the first time. The bag was pretty much on my hand the whole time from collecting beautiful shells from sandy beaches to carrying my sunglasses and holiday novels. The crochet project will always replay memories for me every time I pick it up.

It’s also the perfect bag to accompany you to that brilliant summer party we are all longing for at the moment during lockdown; it will match perfectly with any romantic sundress and being such a strong bag it can hold a few bottles of fizz!