HOOKY TREASURE

You can never have enough crocheted bags in my opinion; which is probably a good thing given I have a house full of them! From shoppers to hand bags, I have a crocheted bag for the occasion. So it is no surprise that I have a lot of gratitude and affection for my Seeing Circles bag, which was my first ever published design.

I remember coming up with the idea of using texture to make circles look different. I’m an absolute sucker for a raised treble crochet, and knew I just had to get these involved. I then combined the endless spiral with a back loop only which is a perfect match in my eyes. I sent the idea to with not much hope really, as being a newbie designer I had no idea what to expect. Then I got the email saying they wanted me to make it – I really couldn’t quite believe it!

Then there was the excitement of being sent a yarn delivery to make something. Over one Christmas I made lots of circles with family members asking me what I was making, but I daren’t tell them just in case it didn’t happen. Sewing all the squares together I had a fully finished bag. Off I went to the Post Office, and they asked how much I needed the sender’s insurance for – to me it was priceless!

A few months later, when the magazine dropped onto my doormat, opening it up and seeing me and my design in it was pretty amazing. The whole experience gave me the confidence to believe in myself, and know that I could do it.

Looking back, this bag was a bit of a breakthrough for me; it set the ball rolling for many more published designs, not only on my blog (my little place for crochet), but also other publications too. I tend to mainly have a geometric style, circles and squares combined, like in my Geo-Boho Blanket.

Now I use this bag all the time to take my projects out and about, so in a sense, not only does it carry my crochet day to day, but it’s also carried my crochet designing forward from that very first magazine submission. I hope you like it as much as I do.

The pattern for this blanket is available on Vicki Roberts’ Ravelry page. Find Vicki on Instagram and Facebook at @offthehookforyou and www.offthehookforyou.co.uk