I'm Nobody, who are you?: Attack of the Octo-Purse

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Attack of the Octo-Purse

Many of you most likely don't know this, but I love to crochet. It's one of my favorite hobbies, to the point where I have developed calluses on my fingers. I am also left-handed, meaning that when my mother, who is right-handed, tried to teach me how to crochet, I was forced to develop my own technique for holding the hook, moving the yarn into position, etc. As a result, some of my projects don't turn out quite the way I expected...

Take, for instance, this last Christmas. My sister, whom I was going to visit during the holidays, had told me and my siblings that she would like more warm clothes for her daughters, because apparently they didn't have enough for where they had recently moved. So, I decided to put my skills to use, and throw together some hats.

I did an owl hat, a dragon hat, and a baby elf hat, all of which turned out fine. But the gift for the oldest girl, Alice, presented more of a problem.
It was apparently what is known as a Hockey Fan Crochet Hat, the pattern for which can be found at redheart.com. I thought it looked quite cute, with the little socks at the top, and hopefully nice and warm. So I gathered my yarn and hook, and began trying to put together the striped version.

I don't know what happened; as I was trying to attach the socks to the bottom, in such a way that they could be tied in a knot at the top like in the photo, I realized that the opening had become far too small for the head of a baby, much less Alice's. More than anything, it now resembled an ovular blob with two long stripes hanging from it and a hole in the bottom. Dejected, I gave up hope of trying to make it into a hat, and wondered what to do now.
Should I discard it, and start making a new hat?
But I'd spent so much time on it, and tried so hard...
Maybe I should figure out something new to make of it.

Looking at the monstrosity I had created, I had a sudden inspiration. I had made stuffed animals before; and looking at this now, I realized that I could make it into some kind of animal. Why not...an octopus? The shape was just about right.
Then my roommate, who I shared the idea with, went one step further and said that it could be a purse. Putting the two ideas together, I had an epiphany: why not both?

I attached a button to one 'tentacle,' and a loop onto the other; this way, when it was held upside down they could be connected and make the purse's strap. Then, just to be fanciful, I added two miniature tentacles to the back of the octopus (technically this makes it only a quadropus, but my fingers were tired). Finally, I created two eyes, attaching them onto the front of the creature.

I now had a creation that was basically an octopus when held one way, but when turned the other way, became a useful and adorable handbag (the extra tentacles, being hollow, could serve as handy pencil holders). And when I showed my creation to some other people in the ward, one of them coined the phrase 'octo-purse' (making me feel silly for not thinking of it myself).

Sadly, I do not have any pictures of Alice with it; however, after she received it, she kept walking everywhere with it over her shoulder, carrying useful items such as books and pencils and American Girl doll earrings inside. Looks like my creative mistake paid off after all.