An emergency kit...

I love puff stitch. I do not like zips. I made a random strip of puff stitches using odds and ends and then realised it was the perfect size for a small purse. I dug out a small zip which just happened to be the right size and then did a right old hash of sewing it in with a black felt lining. It functions. It's just not very neat, but luckily black hides a multitude of sins.

When I was a child I loved to kit out a small tin with string, a penknife, plasters and a small pad and pencil. I reckoned that would cover all eventualities. It pretty much did during my blissful tree climbing, nature watching days. More recently I like to go everywhere with an emergency kit which contains crochet hooks, a tape measure, a wool needle, a few stitch markers and some small scissors. I've managed to squeeze all that into this new purse. Just add yarn and I'm ready to roll.

Both crochet flowers were made in the length of time it took to drink a regular Costa coffee. The first one with the magazine pattern to hand and the second, a few days later, entirely from memory. It's amazing how I can often struggle to remember what I did the day before and yet recall a whole multi layer flower and leaf crochet pattern.