I have a problem...

My niece asked me today why I crochet so much. I wasn't sure how to explain it to a five year old. I couldn't tell her the truth. The truth is...

It's a sickness.

I admit, I have a serious problem. I think in terms of crochet far more than I should. If I'm not crocheting or thinking about crocheting, I'm creating in some other fashion or thinking about creating something. The first step is admitting you have a problem. I don't know what the next step is, so until then, I'll just enjoy the disease!!!

When I was in high school, my dad called me the bag lady because I loved purses. I had tons of purses. Before I got married, I had boxes of bags, purses, totes, backpacks, you name it. Over the years, I have found myself sticking to one purse at a time, using it until it wears out. However, when I started seeing all of the cute purses out there covered in ruffles and flowers, it really got the obsession started again. A few months ago, I started playing around with an idea and came up with these:

I made these for a Christmas program that our stake does for needy families in the area. Of course, I had to make one for myself. I was really pleased with it and perfectly content.... until I stumbled across this purse...

While I can't claim photography as one of my skills, I hope you can still see the cuteness of this amazing purse. I found the pattern for the purse here, and the rosette here. I made the rosette much larger than the pattern indicated, I wanted something big. I believe that my beginning chain was 75. I also crocheted my own straps by crocheting a chain of 75, single crocheting in each stitch up the other side, then crocheting around the chain 100 times. Hope that makes sense.